Help With Ph During Cycling

I know, I lied, my last question wasn’t my last.
I’m doing my fishless cycling and I’m on the home stretch with the nitrite levels waiting to come down. My tank is processing 2ppm ammonia to 0ppm in less than 24 hours.

I checked the PH level 24 hours ago and it was at 6 or less, lowest on the apI chart, so I did a water change and it went back up to the same as the tap water, 7.4ish. I just checked it again and it’s at 6.4. I do have driftwood in there but it’s been in there since day one practically and have had a 7 ph reading 4 days ago (didn’t test again until yesterday)

What do I do? Can the cycle handle it going this low each day? Should I do water changes each day that it drops that low? Is this normal?

Thank you!

Oh! And the ammonia right now is at 0, nitrites at 5ish & nitrate at 80ish.

 

I know, I lied, my last question wasn’t my last.
I’m doing my fishless cycling and I’m on the home stretch with the nitrite levels waiting to come down. My tank is processing 2ppm ammonia to 0ppm in less than 24 hours.

I checked the PH level 24 hours ago and it was at 6 or less, lowest on the apI chart, so I did a water change and it went back up to the same as the tap water, 7.4ish. I just checked it again and it’s at 6.4.

What do I do? Can the cycle handle it going this low each day? Should I do water changes each day that it drops that low? Is this normal?

Thank you!

the pH goes up and down throughout the cycle, mine only went up though. I was told to just ignore pH until the cycle is done

 

Ok thank you I’m hoping it won’t stall the cycle

 

If you PH is less than 6 your cycle will stall. You'll have to get that under control. The bacteria dies under 6. It's good you did a water change. The more ammonia in the tank the more the PH will be low.

 

“Nearly all the beneficial bacteria in your tank will prefer slightly alkaline conditions, from a pH of 7.5 to 8.5, eventually shutting down at 6 (but not dying). While we tend to think that high ammonia or high nitrite caused a cycle stall, it's most likely that low pH caused it.

In fact, a fall in pH is a natural part of cycling: the process of converting ammonia into nitrite lowers pH and in tanks with low buffering capacity, the water may turn quite acidic. Any accumulated nitrite in this acidic water can then turn into nitrous acid, which makes the tank even more acidic. Increasing (by adding , or sodium bicarbonate) or performing water changes are both ways to raise pH” - Minnowette

 

Thank you! I added some bi-carb to the tank and I have the ph up to 7.4! I’ll test again tonight (8hrs) and again tomorrow morning and see how it’s handling it.