Low KH high GH, pH problems?

TimeHalt
  • #1
I have a cycled medium-planted low-light 10 gallon tank, and I was having some pH problems. I did add driftwood that might've lowered it, but I think very very high nitrates might've also been lowering my pH. I will post my pH log at the end.
I want to make sure my pH is stable before adding one pea puffer to the tank. After testing, I got 3 KH and 9 GH. Is this reasonable? Should I try to lower/raise this? The GH seems a little high and the KH seems a little low from what I read.

ph 4/10 - 7.6
ph 4/11 - 7.6
ph 4/14 - 7.6
ph 4/18 - 7.4
ph 4/21 - 6.6
ph 4/22 - 6.6
ph 4/22 - 6.0
ph 4/22 - 7.0 (after water change)
ph 4/22 - 7.2 (after baking soda)
ph 4/23 - 7.4
ph 4/24 - 7.4
ph 4/25 - 7.0
ph 4/26 - 6.6
ph 4/26 - 7.4 (after water change)
ph 4/27 - 7.2
ph 4/27 - 7.6 (after water change)
ph 4/28 - 7.4
ph 4/29 - 7.4
ph 4/30 - 7.4

My pH has been stable the past few days. How long would you wait before adding the fish if it remains at 7.4?

My nitrates were sky high from around 4/22 till that last water change on 4/27, so I am hoping that might have been causing the pH drops? I have only found two sources online saying that could affect pH so not sure
 
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Deku-Cory
  • #2
Yes, nitrates do drop pH, since nitrates are acidic. Most of the time it's not enough to change much but if you had a nitrate spike it could have dropped it like that.
 
TimeHalt
  • Thread Starter
  • #3
Yes, nitrates do drop pH, since nitrates are acidic. Most of the time it's not enough to change much but if you had a nitrate spike it could have dropped it like that.
I think my nitrate was 300+ ppm because I was dosing ammonia to 3 ppm every day (and it was converting to nitrate within 4 hours)
 
wishuponafish
  • #4
It's not the nitrate, I have the exact same kind of water, driftwood drops my pH from 7.6 to 6 in a day or two. That's why I put limestone in my tanks to keep them at a stable 7.6 if I have driftwood and want to keep hardwater fish. Eventually the wood will stop lowering pH if you keep it in there long enough though.
 
Deku-Cory
  • #5
I think my nitrate was 300+ ppm because I was dosing ammonia to 3 ppm every day (and it was converting to nitrate within 4 hours)
Oh yeah, that would do it. Your PH should be ok now.
 
Islandvic
  • #6

 

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