20 Gallon Tank Substrate is lowering pH dangerously low

Hello All!
so, I've got low tech cichlid tank with all mbunas and some valls, crypts and some salvinia.

The substrate I'm using is this one. It is said to lower the pH to best suit the plants.
Being a classic rookie, i did not pay attention while getting this soil and now my tank is all setup and up and running.
The fishes are absolutely fine as i follow a very strict water change schedule, but i just cant balance the pH.
My tap water has pH as high as 8.6 to 9.0

Is there anyway, i can increase the pH by adding some other soil/substrate without disturbing the existing setup?
I've been told not to use any products like pH UP and DOWN as they will cause more harm than good.

 

Soil only lowers pH for a while. So after some generous waterchanges (with weekly 50% this means maybe a month or two) the effect wears off. So you don't have to do anything but waterchanges until the levels are stable.

Also, what do you call "dangerously low"? You only give a number for your tap water and I would rather call that dangerously high. With the likely KH of your tap the effect of the soil should be gone even quicker.

What fish do you keep?
Many fish can tolerate astonishingly high pH swings (+/- 3, if not within the hour is not a problem). For a while that's ok, but shouldn't become a habit. Depends on the species whether they take it well or not.

 

Soil only lowers pH for a while. So after some generous waterchanges (with weekly 50% this means maybe a month or two) the effect wears off. So you don't have to do anything but waterchanges until the levels are stable.

Also, what do you call "dangerously low"? You only give a number for your tap water and I would rather call that dangerously high. With the likely KH of your tap the effect of the soil should be gone even quicker.

What fish do you keep?
Many fish can tolerate astonishingly high pH swings (+/- 3, if not within the hour is not a problem). For a while that's ok, but shouldn't become a habit. Depends on the species whether they take it well or not.

Hello MacZ,

Oh.I did not know that the soil's ability to lower the pH will wear off. That's good to know.
And yes, I've been doing water changes quite often (20% everyday and 50% over the weekend)

Oops! My bad, i forgot to mention the tank pH. So when i tested today the pH was 6.6. Is that dangerous to my mbunas?

I keep 18 Demasoni Cichlids (i know it's kinda overstocked) of which, some I'll be moving to a new 70gall soon.

So i should wait for the soil to stop altering the pH, right?

 

You have MBUNA?! 6.6 is indeed dangerous for hardwater fish like fish from Lake Malawi.

Goodness, then why did you get plant substrate in the first place? Out with it! Replace it with sand asap!
Or keep them bare bottom until the bigger tank is ready. You have no use for soil in a Malawi tank. Plants will be eaten and dug up anyway. It's just simply the worst type of substrate in that type of setup.

Please don't take this personally. I have bred Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids for a decade and whenever customers put the fish they got from us in low pH/low hardness the fish were usually dead within a month or two tops. People came to us for refunds, but the mistake was always on their side. Soil wasn't available yet back in the 90s so we never had to warn people about that.

20 is indeed much too small, but 70 will also be just temporarily. Long term 350 liters (~90 gallons) is the least this species needs.

 

You have MBUNA?! 6.6 is indeed dangerous for hardwater fish like fish from Lake Malawi.

Goodness, then why did you get plant substrate in the first place? Out with it! Replace it with sand asap!
Or keep them bare bottom until the bigger tank is ready. You have no use for soil in a Malawi tank. Plants will be eaten and dug up anyway. It's just simply the worst type of substrate in that type of setup.

Please don't take this personally. I have bred Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids for a decade and whenever customers put the fish they got from us in low pH/low hardness the fish were usually dead within a month or two tops. People came to us for refunds, but the mistake was always on their side. Soil wasn't available yet back in the 90s so we never had to warn people about that.

20 is indeed much too small, but 70 will also be just temporarily. Long term 350 liters (~90 gallons) is the least this species needs.

Is there any other work around to this? Maybe if I cover tbe substrate with sand or something?
I really don't want to remove the soil and the plants.
And actually it's been more than 45 days for the setup. The fishes seem fine, infact they are growing fast and I their color is also getting deeper.

I'm sure, given your experience what you are saying is true, but it'll be great if you could suggest some workaround rather than removing the be entire setup.

Thanks.

 

I'm sure, given your experience what you are saying is true, but it'll be great if you could suggest some workaround rather than removing the be entire setup.

Sorry, I have no shortcut for you. :/

 

Sorry, I have no shortcut for you. :/

Ok. Thanks for all your help though!