About To Have A Ph Crash... I Think

[Geoff1991]

Well fishless cycling seems to be working for me, my ammonia is dropping, nitrite rising and i started on wednesday.

Ive noticed my pH has gone down a bit and will probably crash.

When it does, ive read about baking soda or something to raise it a bit...?


What would you recommend if it does crash?

 

[djl08]

From what ive read of other fishless cycles, depending on the Ph of your tap water, a water change sould sort it.


- Dj -

 

[liamg1285]

happened to me when fishless cycling and a big water change brought it bk up again

 

[backtotropical]

As the others have said, the first thing to do is a water change. If it drops again and you need to do another water change, you probably have water with a low KH (this means it will be susceptible to pH changes).

If that is the case, you can use bicarbonate of soda to raise the KH and keep the pH more stable.

It does depend on the KH of your current water though. Maybe a water change will be sufficient and you may not need to go down the baking soda route.

Do the water change first and then keep an eye on it.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Geoff1991]

Well its been set up a while and its always been a stable 7.6

Its only like 7.4 at the moment.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Well its been set up a while and its always been a stable 7.6

Its only like 7.4 at the moment.

Im sure someone with far more knowledge than I have will be along, but until then, I'll chime in based on my experience.


A drop from 7.6 to 7.4 would be normal I think, cycling process drops ph a bit. Next time you add ammonia it should bring your PH right back up. I dont think you necessarily should start thinking "crash" if you havent had issues before. Keep an eye out for sure, just dont think you have a problem right now.

 

[Geoff1991]

Well its been set up a while and its always been a stable 7.6

Its only like 7.4 at the moment.

Im sure someone with far more knowledge than I have will be along, but until then, I'll chime in based on my experience.


A drop from 7.6 to 7.4 would be normal I think, cycling process drops ph a bit. Next time you add ammonia it should bring your PH right back up. I dont think you necessarily should start thinking "crash" if you havent had issues before. Keep an eye out for sure, just dont think you have a problem right now.

Yeah, i know thats not a problem,


I was just asking so i know what to do if it happens. Save me posting a thread and sitting here refreshing to get an answer

Although, a water change seems pretty obvious now...

 

[buckiejim2]

Well fishless cycling seems to be working for me, my ammonia is dropping, nitrite rising and i started on wednesday.

Ive noticed my pH has gone down a bit and will probably crash.

When it does, ive read about baking soda or something to raise it a bit...?


What would you recommend if it does crash?

Actually if your ph is already 7.4 you could do with it coming down a little if you wish to keep the normal community fish like tetras etc. The use of bicarbonte of soda will only bring the ph back up after it already has come down and will need regular testing. A much easier way is to just simply add a cleaned shell or a pice of small limestone. Also a small pice of coral will do just as well and these items will actually start to work immediatly the ph starts to drop thus preventing any serious quick drop in ph when you are not there to see what is happening.

BJ

 

[Geoff1991]

Well, i think most fish can be adjusted to different pH and will probably have been bred in the same pH as mine is if i by them locally. So i wont bother touching the pH...

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Well fishless cycling seems to be working for me, my ammonia is dropping, nitrite rising and i started on wednesday.

Ive noticed my pH has gone down a bit and will probably crash.

When it does, ive read about baking soda or something to raise it a bit...?


What would you recommend if it does crash?

Actually if your ph is already 7.4 you could do with it coming down a little if you wish to keep the normal community fish like tetras etc. The use of bicarbonte of soda will only bring the ph back up after it already has come down and will need regular testing. A much easier way is to just simply add a cleaned shell or a pice of small limestone. Also a small pice of coral will do just as well and these items will actually start to work immediatly the ph starts to drop thus preventing any serious quick drop in ph when you are not there to see what is happening.

BJ

If he is cycling he doesnt want to bring the PH down...he wants it where its at, if not a bit higher.

 

[Geoff1991]

As the others have said, the first thing to do is a water change. If it drops again and you need to do another water change, you probably have water with a low KH (this means it will be susceptible to pH changes).

If that is the case, you can use bicarbonate of soda to raise the KH and keep the pH more stable.

It does depend on the KH of your current water though. Maybe a water change will be sufficient and you may not need to go down the baking soda route.

Do the water change first and then keep an eye on it.

Cheers

BTT

Actually had a pH crash yesterday, down to about 6.0 from 7.6.

I bought a kh/gh test kit made by API and ive found that my kh is 89.5ppm

Is that considered low?

 

[LionessN3cubs]

As the others have said, the first thing to do is a water change. If it drops again and you need to do another water change, you probably have water with a low KH (this means it will be susceptible to pH changes).

If that is the case, you can use bicarbonate of soda to raise the KH and keep the pH more stable.

It does depend on the KH of your current water though. Maybe a water change will be sufficient and you may not need to go down the baking soda route.

Do the water change first and then keep an eye on it.

Cheers

BTT

Actually had a pH crash yesterday, down to about 6.0 from 7.6.

I bought a kh/gh test kit made by API and ive found that my kh is 89.5ppm

Is that considered low?

No way...thats HIGH. My KH is 3 LOL

 

[Geoff1991]

As the others have said, the first thing to do is a water change. If it drops again and you need to do another water change, you probably have water with a low KH (this means it will be susceptible to pH changes).

If that is the case, you can use bicarbonate of soda to raise the KH and keep the pH more stable.

It does depend on the KH of your current water though. Maybe a water change will be sufficient and you may not need to go down the baking soda route.

Do the water change first and then keep an eye on it.

Cheers

BTT

Actually had a pH crash yesterday, down to about 6.0 from 7.6.

I bought a kh/gh test kit made by API and ive found that my kh is 89.5ppm

Is that considered low?

No way...thats HIGH. My KH is 3 LOL

3ppm or *dKH?

 

[LionessN3cubs]

As the others have said, the first thing to do is a water change. If it drops again and you need to do another water change, you probably have water with a low KH (this means it will be susceptible to pH changes).

If that is the case, you can use bicarbonate of soda to raise the KH and keep the pH more stable.

It does depend on the KH of your current water though. Maybe a water change will be sufficient and you may not need to go down the baking soda route.

Do the water change first and then keep an eye on it.

Cheers

BTT

Actually had a pH crash yesterday, down to about 6.0 from 7.6.

I bought a kh/gh test kit made by API and ive found that my kh is 89.5ppm

Is that considered low?

No way...thats HIGH. My KH is 3 LOL

3ppm or *dKH?

Yikes...thats a bit over my head. My API test kit says to add the KH drops until the color changes, mine takes 3 drops..whatever that means LOL

 

[waterdrop]

Lioness is at 3dKH and Geoff is at 5dKH (89.5ppm) (the conversion factor is 17.9)

Geoff, what that KH=5 means is that you would probably do ok with a large water change refreshing your KH/pH rather than having to mess with baking soda, at least for now. Measure your tap KH and it'll probably be even higher!

~~waterdrop~~