Low Ph In Relocated Tank. Any Advice

[scoobydoo]

Hi ,
Could anyone recommend the best action to take. I have bought a second hand tank , It came with fish which was unexpected. The tank is a fluval 800 (approx 130 litres) with two fluval 3 + Filters. These were blocked with gunge when I got the tank.I cleaned these in siphoned tank water.
On moving the tank I took 30 litres of water from the original set up.
FISH
1 Siamese fighter
1 Dwarf Gourami
1 neon tetra
5 glowlight tetra
2 Danios
1 catfish
The guy had cleaned the gravel before I picked the tank up
I have set the tank up a week ago topping up the rest of the water with correct temp water and de-chlorinator.
then released the fish as per float bag wait etc
The fish seem ok but the PH is only 6.0 which seems very acid. I have a small tank with fish and PH on that is 6.8 to 7.0
Should I carry out a water change . If so should do about 20% . Or should I add something to the tank. I have tried not to use chems in the past.
All other tank levels i.e. ammonia nitrite and nitrate are ok. I.e only 25-30 ppm on nitrates

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmm it's probably just the ph of the water where the previous owner is that was more acidic to yours.

so long as the ph is stable then 6 is alright for most fish.

if this is the case then just do water changes as you would normally (something like 30% weekly is normal) and it will gradually come up to where your tap water is.

or i have heard that in older tanks the ph falls naturally, i can't remember exactly why it is but it's fine.

the key thing to remember is that a stable ph is better than a fluctuating one even if the stable one is a little low or high. so just monitor it and as long as it doesn't swing and the fish are healthy then don't worry about it, however you may want to take it into account when adding any new fish, it would be better to add those who prefer a lower ph or have been bred and raised in it.

 

[BigIan]

Hmmm, with only 30= litres of water from the original tank i can`t see how the ph could be so low....
It could have been caused bu crud stired up from changing the gravel ect has broken down in the water messing with the chemistry.
if it were me i`d just keep up with regular water changes, and closely monitor the fish, if they show any signs of stress then start to tinker with the ph. myt tank is so acidic that it dosent register on a ph test. and my fish are fine with it,
just remember that the ph scale is logarithmic
I.E, a ph of 6 is ten times more acidic that a ph of 7 and a hundred times more acidic than a ph of 8
so you don`t wat to change the ph to fast, or you will shock your fish

 

[scoobydoo]

Hi thanks for your info.
I think that I will just keep up with the water changes and keep an eye on everything.
There certainly was a lot of crud because the guy said he hadn't got round to cleaning anything for a while as he knew he was selling.
Silly Question. When adding de-chlorinator on say 30 litres of water . Do you add enough dechlorinator for just 30 litres according to the bottle or enough de- chlorinator to cover say 130 litres if that was your tank size . In the past I've put at least enough in for the water that i'm changing but not necesarily the measure for the full tank. ( The fish haven't complained and they look O.K .)
Many thanks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

just what your adding, it works almost instantly so fill a bucket with water, add enough dechlor for the bucket, quick stir if you like then put it in the tank.

 

[scoobydoo]

Thank you . That's cleared that up.