10 Gallon Tank PH Went Up

I've been cycling my tank for almost four weeks now, and this week, everything's been crazy. Ammonia levels sank, nitrites spiked, and now nitrates fully appeared.

However, I'm confused. Yesterday, I checked my PH with the normal testing and it was 7.6. Today, I checked it with the high PH tester and it's indicating between 7.4 to 7.8? I thought PH is supposed to go down when nitrates begin to appear? Did something wrong happen?

What I'm mostly worried about is I'm planning to add a betta; WHICH is recommended to be at a PH of 6.8 and 7.5. The tank mates would be fine I believe, since mystery snails and pygmy corrys will be fine up to 8.0 PH.

This is my journal so far for this week:
THREE WEEKS PASSED 3️⃣
Day 22: (10/08/2020)
PH: 7.4-7.6
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
Nitrites: 0.25ppm
Nitrates: 0-5.0ppm
NOTE: Nitrates appeared? NITRITES FULLY APPEARED!!! The test was PURPLE!

Day 23: (10/09/2020)
PH: 7.4-7.6
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
Nitrites: 0.50ppm
Nitrates: 0-5.0ppm
NOTE: Nitrites have SPIKED. Whereas nitrates are not as clear as yesterday, but still there. Ammonia dropped.

Day 24: (10/10/2020)
PH:
Ammonia: 0.25-0.50ppm
Nitrites: 2.0ppm
Nitrates: (Unchecked)
NOTE: Ammonia significantly dropping.

Day 25: (10/11/2020)
PH: (Unchecked)
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrites: 2.0ppm
Nitrates: (Unchecked)
NOTE: Ammonia significantly dropped.

Day 26: (10/12/2020)
PH: 7.4-7.6
Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm
Nitrites: 1-2ppm
Nitrates 0-5.0ppm
NOTE: Ammonia is almost zero. Nitrites going down a bit, and Nitrates starting to appear. The nitrates are now closer to 5ppm than 0ppm.

Day 27: (10/13/2020)
PH: 7.4-7.8
Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm
Nitrites: 0.50ppm
Nitrates: 5.0ppm
NOTE: Nitrites have lowered and nitrates have appeared for real. But the PH is higher? Ammonia is basically almost zero.

Should I be worried about the PH? Since day 1 the PH has been consistent on 7.4-7.6. But the moment nitrates fully appeared, it went up a bit.

This is how my tank looks like (in case you find any factors affecting the PH):



Thank you for reading

 

I read through this and it looks like your pH has stayed the same.. can you explain a bit more?

 

I don't see any problem. pH doesn't matter too much to most common fish, and .2 isnt much of a change to affect anything.

 

Ok, I can't see anything that would raise hardness and pH in the tank, so my suspicion is, that your water is a bit harder. You don't give any hardness readings, so I guess you don't check those. Check your taps and tanks KH and GH and I bet then we will know what's going on.

Edit: And I agree with the others there is not much of a change. It's just obviously on the alkaline side.

 

mattgirl

 

I've been cycling my tank for almost four weeks now, and this week, everything's been crazy. Ammonia levels sank, nitrites spiked, and now nitrates fully appeared.

However, I'm confused. Yesterday, I checked my PH with the normal testing and it was 7.6. Today, I checked it with the high PH tester and it's indicating between 7.4 to 7.8? I thought PH is supposed to go down when nitrates begin to appear? Did something wrong happen?

Thank you for reading

ph can actually fluctuate during the day. If you tested one day at 8am and the next day at 3pm you will very likely get a slightly different reading. It doesn't mean something it is wrong. Seeing nitrates doesn't mean the pH will start going down. The cycling process has been known to cause the pH to go down but that doesn't happen in every tank.

 

I read through this and it looks like your pH has stayed the same.. can you explain a bit more?

Oh? I've been doing completely nothing, just adding some food every morning and leaving the rest to nature. I've been waiting for the PH to go down so I could do a water change, so it took me bu surprise that it's going up rather than going down.

I don't see any problem. pH doesn't matter too much to most common fish, and .2 isnt much of a change to affect anything.

Ohhh, okay, I'm very glad to hear that XDDD I kind of panicked a bit cause I heard making PH go down is MUCH harder than making it go up. Thank you

Ok, I can't see anything that would raise hardness and pH in the tank, so my suspicion is, that your water is a bit harder. You don't give any hardness readings, so I guess you don't check those. Check your taps and tanks KH and GH and I bet then we will know what's going on.

Edit: And I agree with the others there is not much of a change. It's just obviously on the alkaline side.

I wish I could check them, but in the store they didn't sell anything that could check em. Only PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. Still looking if there'll be any available in the store next time I go. If the hardness is going up, is that good for my incoming snails?

ph can actually fluctuate during the day. If you tested one day at 8am and the next day at 3pm you will very likely get a slightly different reading. It doesn't mean something it is wrong. Seeing nitrates doesn't mean the pH will start going down. The cycling process has been known to cause the pH to go down but that doesn't happen in every tank.

Ohhh okay, thank you so much once again!

 

My PH went from 7.6 to 8.2 during cycling. 8.2 is my ph on all my cycled tanks

 

My PH went from 7.6 to 8.2 during cycling. 8.2 is my ph on all my cycled tanks

Ohhh, that's really reassuring, thank you so much!

 

My PH went from 7.6 to 8.2 during cycling. 8.2 is my ph on all my cycled tanks

This is another perfect example of how each of our tanks are different. What our tanks do often depends on the chemistry of our source water. Unless we live in the same house using the same water supply we are gong to see something slightly different than someone else.

 

Also, you might wanna fix your aquarium details on the cycle thing. It says you don't know about the cycle, but obviously you do from this thread...

 

Also, you might wanna fix your aquarium details on the cycle thing. It says you don't know about the cycle, but obviously you do from this thread...

Sorry what do you mean? What is that? Do I change something when I post?

 

Sorry what do you mean? What is that? Do I change something when I post?

Hopefully screenshots help. First one is what I/other people see. Second is where you have to go. Third is the dropdown that you change

 

Hopefully screenshots help. First one is what I/other people see. Second is where you have to go. Third is the dropdown that you change

Ohhh okay! That I didn't know, I'll try to figure it out ^^ Thanks a lot

 

Ohhh okay! That I didn't know, I'll try to figure it out ^^ Thanks a lot

Click on your screen name up at the top of the page. Then on your account details. There you can add all the information about your tank(s).

 

I wish I could check them, but in the store they didn't sell anything that could check em. Only PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. Still looking if there'll be any available in the store next time I go. If the hardness is going up, is that good for my incoming snails?

No, the hardness is not actually going up. It is already up judging by your pH. It would just be very helpful to know it so you can actually bring everything in relation to each other. KH is connected to pH and GH is influenced by the amount of calcium.

 

No, the hardness is not actually going up. It is already up judging by your pH. It would just be very helpful to know it so you can actually bring everything in relation to each other. KH is connected to pH and GH is influenced by the amount of calcium.

Ohhh, ic ic, Ill try to find a test kit for GH and KH. Thank you

Click on your screen name up at the top of the page. Then on your account details. There you can add all the information about your tank(s).

Got it, thanks!

 

Got it, thanks!

Perfect. Now that we have all this information it is easy to just look over there under aquarium details and get answers to some of the questions we would be asking.

 

Perfect. Now that we have all this information it is easy to just look over there under aquarium details and get answers to some of the questions we would be asking.

Ah, yes, thank you XDDD also, I have another question, so I just checked my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. The result is:


Day 28: (10/14/2020)
PH:
Ammonia: 0-0.25
Nitrites: 0.25ppm
Nitrates: 0-5.0ppm
NOTE: Ammonia closer to 0.25ppm now but nitrites dropped to 0.25ppm. Nitrates slightly went down as well, but still closer to 5.0ppm.

So the nitrites are going down a lot but my nitrates aren't significantly moving up at all? Is that because of my plants?

 

That is very possible. Plants are great for removing nitrates. It looks like you are getting very close to a cycled tank.

 

Ohhh, okay, thank you!!