Driftwood PH help?

I've been searching the forum for a while but couldn't get the answer I was looking for. I recently added three pieces of Malaysian driftwood to my tank. Prior to adding them my ph was pretty much stable at 6.6-6.8, which is the reading from my tap water. A week later the ph is below the minimum reading on my liquid test kit. My question is will the wood eventually stop lowering the ph, and are my fish in danger now at a reading so low. All other parameters are right where they are supposed to be. Btw I soaked them for two weeks then boiled them. No brown color leeching, just low ph. Thanks in advance.

 

HI Tony. I have a couple of questions for you so that we may be able to provide a more satisfiying answer for you.

What is your current water changing routine? How much, and how often.

Do you have a test kit that you can test the GH/KH? (General hardness/Carbonate hardness) If so, what are the levels?

 

My gh is about twenty and my kh is a little over 0. I do a weekly 30-40% water change and treat the water with prime.

 

If it's below the minimum reading, I would be worried about your cycle as a low pH (below 6.0) turns ammonia into ammonium which is a less that desirable food source for beneficial bacteria.

 

The tanks is fully cycled. Prior to the addition of the driftwood all parameters were on point. I'd really like to keep the driftwood, especially that I've attached marimo ball to them.

 

I would toss in a little crushed coral, or use something to boost the alkalinity in the tank like a pinch and I mean a literal pinch as in less than 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking soda

If you want to see what the baking soda does to the water take a cup out and put some in and then test the water.

 

I had same problem when adding dirftwood to tank for my pleco.Went down to about 6.8Ph.Added a little oyster shell into filter media and my ph has gone back and stayed at 7ph for over 6weeks.Good Luck

 

Yes, with the KH being so low, you don't have any real buffering capacity protecting your pH from the tannic acid that's leaching from the driftwood thereby dropping the pH below desireable levels. As people have stated above, putting a little bit of crushed coral or crushed oyster shells into a media bag and placing it into your filtration system, will increase your GH/KH and pH. It's safe for your fish as long as you don't add too much at once. Add a little and wait a few days to see the results. Add a little more to the bag until you reach desireable test results.

Monitor ammonia and nitrite levels because as Girlsbeforefish tried to explain I believe, (but with some slight errors) when pH drops below 6.0 beneficial bacteria goes dormant and can no longer process ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates so your cycle will no longer work as it should. When pH levels drop below 7.0 ammonia starts becoming ammonium. (That's slightly incorrect but for the purpose of this explanation it will work) Ammonium is still a product that is used by beneficial bacteria, and is still converted to nitrites as long as the beneficial bacteria hasn't gone into a dormant state. Ammonium is less toxic to fish than ammonia, (A reason they developed Prime to convert ammonia to ammonium is to protect fish from the ill effects of ammonia).

The problem with the fact that we would like to see you raise the KH and pH levels in particular is that, if you add too much of one of the products we mentioned, there is a chance that you could raise your pH levels above 7.0 if it's not done carefully. If pH is raised above 7.0 and you do have tests indicating levels of ammonia, (ammonium will read as ammonia in testing) then any ammonium present will convert to ammonia, and this could put your fish into a danger zone of lethal toxins rather quickly, so please do make the adjustments with the crushed coral or crushed oyster shells very slowly and carefully, giving them a few days to alter the water chemistry before adding more.

Don't use any quick pH up products. These will be unstable and will subject your fish to radical changes in pH, and can seriously harm them. It is far better to use the products I've mentioned to slowly make changes in the chemistry of the water. It will be much more stable and safer for your fish.

I'm hoping this doesn't sound like jibberish, so if I am confusing you, please ask questions.

 

Had the same thing happen to me Had to recycle my 125 gallon tank . As said above I slowly added crushed coral until my ph was at 7.4.I run crushed coral in all my tanks now with driftwood.

 

Monitor ammonia and nitrite levels because as Girlsbeforefish tried to explain I believe, (but with some slight errors) when Ph drops below 6.0 beneficial bacteria goes dormant and can no longer process ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates so your cycle will no longer work as it should. When Ph levels drop below 7.0 ammonia starts becoming ammonium. (That's slightly incorrect but for the purpose of this explanation it will work) Ammonium is still a product that is used by beneficial bacteria, and is still converted to nitrites as long as the beneficial bacteria hasn't gone into a dormant state.

Thanks for the correction :]

 

Wow tootsie, so much appreciated. Couldn't have found a more helpful answer. Thanks everyone for your time. I've been to the local fish stores and no luck with crushed coral. Where is the best place to buy it and what brands are the best?

 

Thank you Tony.

If you click on the "Buy It" in this CaribSea link, it will help you find places near you that sell their product.

You can buy crushed oyster shells at any farm supply animal food store as chicken grit (most employees will know what product you want if you do ask for it by crushed oyster shells). You can also find it in the bird section of most pet stores. Birds eat it as a calcium source to make their bones and egg shells stronger. Hagen is one brand you may find in the bird section. If you happen to enjoy eating oysters, you can also just use the shells from them after washing them in plain water and boiling for a few minutes.

Which ever product you choose to use, rinse it well with plain water before you place it into the filter.

Girlsbeforefish, you're welcome.

 

Thanks tootsie. Bought some caribsea crushed coral online last night. 15 pound bag with shipping came out to 17 bucks. Gonna add some to the media bag in small amounts. Hope it works out. Really like the way driftwood looks. Does crushed coral lose its buffering qualities over time? Kinda like carbon?

 

Good morning,

In the description above, it doesn't mention anything about losing its effectiveness. It does state that Crushed Coral is good for housing beneficial bacteria needed to sustain the cycle which is great!

Ken

 

great link ken!

Alkalinity unfortunately is something that a lot of people have problems with as it really does help the buffering capacity of the water.

 

Yes, crushed coral will loose it's buffering effectiveness over time. It's hard to say how long it takes, because several things affect it, but with 15 pounds worth, I'd say you have years and years of supply. Just monitor your pH, when it starts to drop, it's time to change it.

 

the only thing I would say with that is do not change the coral and the filter within a couple weeks of each other as it will all contain beneficial bacteria.

 

Thanks everyone. Coral should be here by the end of the week. Hope to update soon with good news.

 

Good luck Tony.

 

Thanks everyone. Added about half a cup of crushed coral directly to my filter media and two days later I'm getting a reading of 6.8. I'm worried I may have a little too much since it was a pretty sharp spike in ph. I'll monitor it daily for until it levels out.

 

Yes, keep an eye on it, you can always take some out if you need to.

How are your ammonia and nitrite levels doing?

 

Ammonia is at .00 and nitrite level is low as well.

 

Oh good. Thank you for letting me know. It's less scary with your pH getting close to the 7.0 range.

 

Kinda of a side question to the above issue...I'm looking to get some driftwood for my tank in the near future. Should I pick up some crushed coral / oyster shells before I do just in case? Right now I have a pretty high stock PH (between 7.4 and 7.6; it's at the high end of the PH test and the low end of the PH high test). so if it lowers it to the low 7's I'm not going to be too concerned but should I worry if it goes lower than that?

 

As long as you have a good buffering capacity, (KH) the driftwood is very unlikely to make much of a change in your pH, especially if you practice good large weekly water changes on your tank. Tannic acids that are released from the driftwood are absorbed by the bicarbonates that make up KH and provide a buffer to keep pH stable. Over time, yes these acids could build up enough to affect things, but weekly water changes help to dilute these acids as they build. The weekly water changes also refresh your KH so that it is able to continue to absorb more acids and continue to provide a stable pH.

Really, driftwood usually only affects things to any real degree when the source water already has a very low KH reading, or extra large amounts are used, or when tanks are neglected and the tannic acid is allowed to over accumulate, but usually adding driftwood to a tank that has good buffering capacity presents no issues.

It is very unlikely you will need to use crushed coral, or oyster shells just because you add driftwood. Testing the KH is the best way to predict if there is a potential problem to watch out for, and if the KH is already low, adding one of those two products to the filter may be needed to address any issue.

 

I have high KH

I have a tank here that has HEAPS of wood in it and the PH is sitting at a steady 8.2, the wood does absolutely nothing to the tank parameters LOL

 

With a high KH (lots of buffering capacity) it takes a lot of an acid to have much effect on pH. That's why a strong buffering capacity is important for a stable pH. Low KH is affected much more easily.

 

If the addition of driftwood into a tank does affect pH, I understand that you need buffering capapcity to keep it under control, but then how will you keep the pH stable if you have an acidic, soft water tank.

Would it just be better to cure the driftwood a lot longer?
Increase the kH to medium levels?

I'm not sure how you would do that?

 

Ryan, what are your GH/KH and pH levels? What type of driftwood are you wanting to use? Some driftwood leaches more tannins to start with than others, so that can play a part, but also knowing how much driftwood is going to be used plays another part.