Help, Highly Acidic Water

[daveyravey]

I've done a search for this problem, but can't find an answer to my problem.

My tank is cycled & i've slowly added fish over the past few weeks.

I kinda obsessive about my water quality, so test 2-3 times a day without fail.

Trouble is, my PH has gone through the roof. Ever since i started the origional tank cycle it's remained between 7-7.5, but now it's dropped to under 5 ..... Tizer colour !!!!

Even did a PH test on my tapwater to see if it was something to do with the test kit, but it was ok at 7.

I did add a new fancy rock/tunnel type thing, it's a deep red colour on saturday & i've since removed it after my 10pm check.

I'm gonna check again in an hour & if it's still acidic, should i do an emergency water change to sort the PH out, or leave it til the morning to see if it settles down again ?

A quick response would be appreciated, as i don't want to get up to a tank of dead fish.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ebross67]

It sounds like your tap water has a low KH reading (the ability to buffer). You can add baking soda to increase the the ph and stabilize the water (table spoon).

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Did you add any bogwood or anything? If so the wood probably leached tannic acid into the water turning it that reddish color and dropping your ph.

 

[daveyravey]

I'll add some baking powder if thats the same thing.

No, no bogwood, just that offending rock thing.

Weird tho, it only dropped during the 12hrs between tests today & not before.

Fish are still looking happy strangely enough

 

[daveyravey]

Ok, added what we had left of the baking soda (not quite a table spoons worth) left it 15mins & retested.

The PH is now 7.5, which i'm more than happy with.

I even tested the water in the bucket where the rock was placed & it's reading 5.5.

Needless to say, the rock is gonna be placed in the garden as an ornament.

Going shopping for more baking soda tomorrow, but i'm gonna have to explain to the mrs to stop using as much !

Thanks to Ebross67 & Mr Fishy for your help & quick response, it's appreciated.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Instead of baking powder you can also consider placing a small bag of crush coral in your filter which will release calcium carbonate and raise the pH / KH of your water. Baking powder has sodium bicarbonate in it, and the sodium will be released into your water when the acids react with the bicarbonate.

 

[OldMan47]

Leave the baking powder on the shelf. If you decide to use a powder, use baking soda, not powder. Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate which is what you want to quickly raise the pH of water. A more controlled pH increaser is the calcium carbonate in the form of crushed shell or crushed coral.

 

[daveyravey]

Tried to buy some Baking soda today at the local shop, they don't stock it.

I'll get to my LFS in the morning & see if i can get some crushed shell or coral.

The PH has tested neutral today on 3 seperate tests, so it looks like the rock has been the problem after all.

Thanks to everyone for their help.