Low Ph

[Xraymark]

My tap water ph 6.6 when measured 24h later. In my tank it drops to yellow on the API tester which means its 6 or lower.

I've had the odd ammonia spike. Ive recently cycled the filter(fishless) so I don't know if this really low ph is stopping my bacteria growing.

I had rocks in the tank. Took them out and tested them in a bucket of water and they are not the culprit. I've tricot black sand, several plants and some made for aquarium decor. I add liquid carbon and fertiliser for the plants daily. Have a tetratec ex 1200 filter.

Any ideas why my ph is dropping?

 

[KISSfn]

Presuming your cycle is complete: Low pH is not a bad thing. With pH on the low side ammonia levels can go higher before they become toxic to fish. Your water may have a low Carbonate or General hardness which will keep your pH on the low end. A stable pH is more important than messing with pH to get it higher. If the species of fish you plan on keeping can tolerate low pH they should be fine. I recently did a survey of members here and about half of them, myself included, had pH in the 6.4 range. Messing with pH can be a dangerous game. Low pH will not hurt your beneficial bacteria either.

 

[Xraymark]

The thing is, it is not stable. There is something in the tank which is dropping the ph. I don't know how low it's going as the tester stops at 6.

 

[KISSfn]

Do you have fish in the tank?

 

[Xraymark]

In my sig

 

[KISSfn]

Give me a minute to look up the pH requirements of your stock.

 

[KISSfn]

These are the lower end of the pH scale your fish are recommended to be kept at: Bristlenose Plec 5.8, Black Neon Tetra 5.5, Corys 5.6, Pearl Gourami 5.5, Betta 6.5. So it appears all are in range except for your Betta. How long has the Betta been in and how does he look, act, eat etc.?

 

[Xraymark]

The betta only introduced yesterday. Appears fine so far. I wonder is it the addition of the liquid carbon to the water a partial cause. Extra co2 is mean't to drop ph. But the the plants should use it up.Maybe should add some coral chips to the filter.

 

[KISSfn]

I would try testing your water with a tester other than API as I have experienced inaccurate readings from their kit. You could add some coral to your filter but be very careful to raise the pH very slowly! I asked here if I should add coral since my pH was 6.4 and was told not to mess with it! I would also recommend getting some other member's opinions first also. CO2 will lower pH and I believe plants absorb it at night so you may want to test your water late at night. I think your Betta will adapt to your present water parameters but I could be wrong. Give us your opinions members!

 

[Akasha72]

My PH fell from near enough 7 to about 6 when I added my lump of bogwood. My fish don't seem bothered at all. I've not tested for a few days but at the last test it had settled at around 6.4-6.6.

Personally, unless the fish are affected I really wouldn't mess with it and as Kissfn says, with a lower PH any ammonia presents as ammonium which is less toxic to the fish = win win to me lol.


All the advice I've read on here is to not worry too much about PH. Ammonia and Nitrite are the main badies

 

[Xraymark]

I suppose my main worry is at the moment every 3/4 days I start to pick up ammonia, 0.25. Still checking twice a day. So my filter still has some catching up to do with the current bio load.
If my ph is 6 and lower, will my filter bacteria have a chance to grow, or worse die off. If this the case, then I could use some coral chips to bring it above 6.6 until I stop getting any ammonia readings.
Even though low ph and ammonia is safer I still freak and do a decent water change. LOL.
@KISSfn. I think the API are fine. I've checked various water samples, tank, buckets straight from tap and the readings are consistent. From a bucket of water 24h later and straight from tap its about 6.6 every time. The tank after water change is 6.6 then 24 h later it's at most 6.

 

[Akasha72]

if your worried about ammonia you could try not feeding for a couple of days, or feeding really really lightly if you can't bear to leave them without

 

[Rummynose]

I've had this problem also. My tap water already is at 6.5 and my tanks ph had dropped to just above 5. I only checked the ph because I had some fish die and everything else was in the norm (Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10). I have soft water, so I need to add minerals (hardness) to buffer the ph.

I've added a very small amount of crushed coral in a bag to my aqua clear filter, and in my Betta tank I changed the substrate to sand, and mixed a small amount of aragonite sand into the top layer of sand.

Since then my ph has been between 6.5 and 7, no more deaths! I check my ph regularly so that I don't miss the time when I have to add more crushed coral or aragonite sand.

I chose this action rather than adding chemicals at every water change because I'm thinking it will keep the ph more stable. (ph in tank always close to ph in tap water)

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Although a low pH is perfectly liveable with you should still try to find out why the pH is dropping so rapidly as that is not a normal situation. I don't know if the liquid CO2 will drop the pH but, as already mentioned, any additon of 'real' CO2 will definitely drop the pH. There's nothing else in what you've said that hints at a source of a pH drop so I would stop dosing the liquid CO2 for a couple of days and see what effect that has.

Do you have a lot of aeration happening in the tank, for example air stones and/or the filter outlet agitating the surface of the water?

 

[Xraymark]

No air stone . The surface is agitated quite a bit. But I don't think overly much. Hard to gauge these things at times.
My understanding of this is oxygen in and co2 out with agitated water.