the product is more of a water conditioner than a ph stableizer.. thats just one of the xtra perks, along with ammonia control and dechlorinizing. not to mention that i only used this new product in 2 gallons of the 4 that i added .. the other two gallons i had set out over nite with my regular water conditioner. all my readings came out good last night too.. ammonia at 0.. ph was a little below nertral.. (as it has always been) nitrates were right.. the only thing that was a little off.. was my kh.. and that too has also been off for a while now... which id gladly take some ideas on how to fix! : )
It could be that your city has soft water. So does mine. Low kh and gh! Ph from the tap is 6.5.
Then one day, after months of everything running smoothly I had a whole bunch of fish die after a w/c, and I couldn't figure out why, until I thought to check the ph. It was down to 5! I couldn't believe it!
The reason why my fish died after the w/c was because I changed the water every 8-10 days, doing a 80% w/c. This large amount changed the ph drastically, and they died.
After consulting with people here and on another site, I've decided to add a small handfull of crushed coral to my filter in the 30 gallon and changed the substrate in my Betta tank from gravel to sand mixed with a little amount of aragonite sand in the top layer. This adds minerals to the water which helps buffer the ph so it won't drop.
That's why it is important to do weekly 50% w/c, because it will help replenish the minerals which are needed to buffer the ph!
I had considered adding Seachem buffer, but decided it would be a lot less hassle not having to add the correct amount of chemicals each time and letting the water stand over night.
I hope this helps! If anyone knows that there is something wrong with what I'm doing, please don't hesitate to correct me here. The last thing I want is pass on wrong info!!!
I now do 2 time 30% w/c every week which comes out to about the same as doing 1 time 50%, but my ph stays more stable!
