Acidic Water Help

[JessiMommy]

Hi all. I'm having a problem & need some advice on how to handle it. My 12 gallon tank is fully cycled and has been for a while. Everything tests out just right except the pH. It used to be fine, somewhere between 7.0-6.8 or so. A few weeks ago it started slowly getting more & more acidic. I know it's not good to drastically chage pH and I wouldn't know how to anyway. What do I do? It's so acidic now it's almost off my test chart. I've been doing many 15-20% water changes. (Every other day) that doesn't seem to help. I know there is a chemical that supposedly raises or lowers pH but I'm not big on chemicals in the tank. What are my options? What can I do? Fish seem fine. But I don't know how acidic this is going to get....Why is this happening? Thanks for your help!

 

[Alien Anna]

The problem is most probably that your KH (temporary, carbonate hardness) has dropped too low, which makes your pH very unstable. Can you test your KH for us?

In the meantime, bicarbonate of soda added to the water (a few teaspoons) should help buffer the pH and stop it dropping further. Have you got bogwood or something like that in the tank? That can make your water more acidic, but is only a problem if your KH is below 3.

What are you doing water changes with? If its RO you need to add some chemicals to stabilise the KH and pH. If you're using conditioned tap water, and your tap water is just naturally very acid that may be the root cause of your problem.

Once you've checked your KH measures you can take (other than bicarbonate) include adding a bag of coral sand to your filter and adding some tufa rock to the tank.

 

[JessiMommy]

The problem is most probably that your KH (temporary, carbonate hardness) has dropped too low, which makes your pH very unstable. Can you test your KH for us?

In the meantime, bicarbonate of soda added to the water (a few teaspoons) should help buffer the pH and stop it dropping further. Have you got bogwood or something like that in the tank? That can make your water more acidic, but is only a problem if your KH is below 3.

What are you doing water changes with? If its RO you need to add some chemicals to stabilise the KH and pH. If you're using conditioned tap water, and your tap water is just naturally very acid that may be the root cause of your problem.

Once you've checked your KH measures you can take (other than bicarbonate) include adding a bag of coral sand to your filter and adding some tufa rock to the tank.

Ok the KH is probably the only thing I've never tested for. I guess I need to?! I'll go get a kit this afternoon. I'm sorry to sound ignorant but what is bicarbonate of soda? I do not have any bogwood in the tank.

My tap water is not at all acidic before it goes in the tank. I declorinate the water before adding it. In the beginning I adjusted the pH to the new water before adding it. Now with the problem I am having I either alter the pH only slightly or not at all. What do you mean by what I'm doing water changes with? What is RO? I use conditioned tap water. What is coral sand & tufa rock? I'm sorry to seem so dumb... I just started this a few months ago.

I'll post again tonight after I test my KH. Maybe that reading will be of some help.

 

[Alien Anna]

Ok the KH is probably the only thing I've never tested for. I guess I need to?! I'll go get a kit this afternoon. I'm sorry to sound ignorant but what is bicarbonate of soda? I do not have any bogwood in the tank.

My tap water is not at all acidic before it goes in the tank. I declorinate the water before adding it. In the beginning I adjusted the pH to the new water before adding it. Now with the problem I am having I either alter the pH only slightly or not at all. What do you mean by what I'm doing water changes with? What is RO? I use conditioned tap water. What is coral sand & tufa rock? I'm sorry to seem so dumb... I just started this a few months ago.

I'll post again tonight after I test my KH. Maybe that reading will be of some help.

Bicarbonate of soda (sodium bicarbonate) is often used in baking as a rising agent.

If you tap water is not acidic something in your tank is dropping the pH. The only things I can think are things like wood, peat and maybe some kinds of aquatic compost. pH does generally drop with time anyway but maybe if your KH is extraordinarily low, that is the explanation. What is the natural pH of your tap water?

When you said you "adjusted the pH of the new water before adding it" what exactly do you mean? Were you using some kind of chemicals? If so, that is such a bad idea. pH, as you're probably gathering now, is an extremely complicated beastie and it is so easy to completely mess it up and kill all your fish. You need to get your pH altering chemical out of the water as maybe it is that that is messing things up. I would not recommend any beginner to touch pH altering chemicals with a ten foot pool! I'd put some carbon in your filter and do some major water changes to get the stuff out of your water.

RO is Reverse-osmosis water, a kind of distilled water sold in LFS's for keepers of sensitive fish like discus. As it is free of minerals they have to be added according to the type of fish you're using the RO for, or RO is "cut" with ordinary conditioned tap water. RO has a neutral pH.

Coral sand is as it sounds. It's commonly used in marine tanks and in African Cichlid tanks, where the high pH it produces is necessary. Tufa rock is an artificial kind of limestone used in marine and African cichlid tanks. Both can be purchased from good LFS's.

 

[Alien Anna]

Ok the KH is probably the only thing I've never tested for. I guess I need to?! I'll go get a kit this afternoon. I'm sorry to sound ignorant but what is bicarbonate of soda? I do not have any bogwood in the tank.

My tap water is not at all acidic before it goes in the tank. I declorinate the water before adding it. In the beginning I adjusted the pH to the new water before adding it. Now with the problem I am having I either alter the pH only slightly or not at all. What do you mean by what I'm doing water changes with? What is RO? I use conditioned tap water. What is coral sand & tufa rock? I'm sorry to seem so dumb... I just started this a few months ago.

I'll post again tonight after I test my KH. Maybe that reading will be of some help.

Bicarbonate of soda (sodium bicarbonate) is often used in baking as a rising agent.

If you tap water is not acidic something in your tank is dropping the pH. The only things I can think are things like wood, peat and maybe some kinds of aquatic compost. pH does generally drop with time anyway but maybe if your KH is extraordinarily low, that is the explanation. What is the natural pH of your tap water?

When you said you "adjusted the pH of the new water before adding it" what exactly do you mean? Were you using some kind of chemicals? If so, that is such a bad idea. pH, as you're probably gathering now, is an extremely complicated beastie and it is so easy to completely mess it up and kill all your fish. You need to get your pH altering chemical out of the water as maybe it is that that is messing things up. I would not recommend any beginner to touch pH altering chemicals with a ten foot pool! I'd put some carbon in your filter and do some major water changes to get the stuff out of your water.

RO is Reverse-osmosis water, a kind of distilled water sold in LFS's for keepers of sensitive fish like discus. As it is free of minerals they have to be added according to the type of fish you're using the RO for, or RO is "cut" with ordinary conditioned tap water. RO has a neutral pH.

Coral sand is as it sounds. It's commonly used in marine tanks and in African Cichlid tanks, where the high pH it produces is necessary. Tufa rock is an artificial kind of limestone used in marine and African cichlid tanks. Both can be purchased from good LFS's.