Into each life a little rain must fall. PH problems.

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ancient11

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I don't really know how to correctly explain what is going on but a reading of 6.0 PH (that's as low a reading as the test strip show) it may actually be lower than that. My tank just does not act like a fully cycled tank should. I have ordered 10 pounds of crushed coral with the intentions of putting 1/2 cup into a bag and lowering into my tank next to the water outlet of my canister filter. I do not believe this will be enough to shock my tank but I am not absolutely sure. I really want to be careful and ever so gradual on raising the PH. I would like to take six months on raising the PH to at least 6.3.

A friend of mine had low PH years ago and he went a little crazy with the crushed coral and his fish paid the price. I wish to avoid that by adding a tablespoon at a time. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you very much
Ancient
 
Yes, we must know the fish. And, what is the GH and KH and pH of the source water (not tank water). These are inter-connected.

There is a wide-spread myth in this hobby that every fish tank must have pH buffering with a pH of "x" or the fish will die. False. My tanks have zero GH and KH, the pH in some is well below 6, probably in the range of 4-5, and the fishes thrive. But I have very soft water species. Species requiring harder water with a basic pH are different.
 
Looking at the hard water map most of south eastern USA , they have soft water 1-3.5 grains per gallon except around Florida where it is 7-10.5 grains per gallon if that helps. Most states are completely soft water there.
 
I'm looking up gh and kh on google. I have platies, mollies, neon tetra's, honey gourami's, zebra danios, Oto's, Beta, siamese algae eater's and Cory,s. I also have shrimp and snails.
 
I'm looking up gh and kh on google. I have platies, mollies, neon tetra's, honey gourami's, zebra danios, Oto's, Beta, siamese algae eater's and Cory,s.

OK, I now see the trouble. Let's get the GH and KH pinned down and go from there.

But you have fish that need softish water (tetras, gourami, otos, cories, betta, danios) and you have fish that must have moderately hard or harder water (mollies, platies). We are not likely to find a common ground here, but the starting point is still the GH/KH/pH of the source water.
 
Your water is perfect for neon tetra's, honey gourami's, zebra danios, Oto's, Beta and Corys. You should probably not try to keep mollies or platys, at least not in the same tank. If you have a separate tank for them you would have a use for your crushed coral.
I haven't mentioned tha SAE because I have no idea of its needs.
 
I wish my water was as soft as yours, I have to lug around 5 gallon jugs of RO water to soften my water for my neon and other tetras and cory. It is easier to harden your water than soften it. Like @seangee said add crushed coral for your hard water fish. I keep my soft water and hard water fish separate in their own tanks.
 
Ok, PH 6.0, KH 0, gh 75 I hope that helps

The GH of 75ppm (= 4 dGH) is very soft water, and the zero KH means there is no pH buffering. So as the organics are broken down by bacteria which produces CO2, this in turn creates carbonic acid and the pH will lower. It will end up at some point where the chemistry/biology of the individual tank is stable. That explains what is naturally occurring, why the pH is and will remain low.

You have fish that will be fine with this, but you also have fish that cannot survive for long (the livebearers). Increasing the pH is not the answer, because the real issue for the fish is the GH. This is the level of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water, and livebearers must have this so when the water is assimilated into the fish as it is continually the minerals are then extracted and used in the physiological process that maintain the fish's life. This means the GH must be significantly increased. The pH will naturally rise with it, and this too is important for these fish but the GH and pH must be addressed.

Soft water fish have the opposite issue. If they are kept in harder water, the minrals are extreacted from the water entering the fish through osmoregulation, a function of the kidneys. Unfortunately, these fish have evolved to live in soft to very soft water, and the calcium salts extracted from the water remain in the kidneys and block them. The fish weakens over time and dies.

I have separated this into hard water and soft water to make it easily understood. There is some degree of overlap, depending upon the fish species and the GH/pH. The livebearers cannot be maintained in good health unless the GH is increased to at least 12 dGH, and the pH will naturally be above 7 if this is done. This is quite an increase for the soft water species which are happy where the GH/pH now sits.

This brings us back to your initial question, of buffering with crushed coral. This is not the answer. First, crushed coral is not a good buffering because it lacks the magnesium. Dolomite and aragonite are good for this. Back in the 1990's I used dolomite in a nylon bag in the canister filter to raise pH because I was told it was "needed." About half a cup of dolomite raised the pH from below 5 to 6.5 in my 115g tank. Of course, the GH was still zero. Fortunately, I had soft water species in the tank so this low GH was ideal, and as the pH was stable (it never varied for several years from just the one half-cup of dolomite) and they adjusted to the pH (which was still below 7 fortunately) and all was well. But in hindsight it was unnecessary.

First thing is to decide on the fish. Increasing the GH/KH/pH means having to do this for every water change by preparing the water outside the aquarium before you can add it. It will be much easier to separate the fish, and either return the livebearers or set up a tank for them. If you do the latter, this means a tank with a substrate of aragonite sand, or using rift lake mineral salts. I did the substrate method when I did this for my mollies.
 
Aragonite (not crushed coral) is what I bought. I am in the middle of changing from live bearers to egg layers. Frank is going to take the large live bearers and try to catch a few fry but they are soooooo many.

The water supply readings are Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
TH 75
TC 0.5
WA 50
PH 6.0
 
Last edited:
I was under the impression that aragonite is calcium carbonate like coral

while dolomite is calcium magnesium carbonate
 
I was under the impression that aragonite is calcium carbonate like coral

while dolomite is calcium magnesium carbonate
That was what I thought too, but I spend more time trying to soften my water than harden it ;)
 
I was under the impression that aragonite is calcium carbonate like coral

while dolomite is calcium magnesium carbonate

It was dolomite that I used in the 1990's, and before that in the 1980's for livebearers. I was told that aragonite similarly was calcium and magnesium, but that obviously was not correct.
 
I told someone to use aragonite on another forum and was told it didn't contain magnesium so I checked and found it didn't.



I collect mineral eggs and use mindat a lot :)
 

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