My Ph Has Dropped Drasticly, What Can I Do?

[mark1979]

i changed my water last night,50% and this is my results

i tested the tap water before the change and it was 7.0, i added this into the tank and treated it with stress coat like normal

2 hours later i tested it again and my ph had dropped to 6.0 (possibly lower) the test kit only go's down to 6.0!!!!

surely it shouldnt drop that quick should it?

 

[Bobtastic]

Do you know what the GH and KH of your tap water is? If they are low then the bogwood would probably have a greater effect on the over all pH of the tank.

As I understand it the GH & KH indicate your waters level to hold it's current pH. If they are high your pH will be nice and stable, if they are low they are likely to drop and fluctuate. Adding bicarb and/or crushed coral or shell will increase the GH/KH and buffer the water so that it holds it pH better and possibly raise it slightly.

The pH of my tap water is really low (6) and I have used CC in my internal Juwel filter (small bag) and a ball in the tank to raise it a little, but it never gets much higher than 6.5-7. Even at that level I have managed to complete a fish-in cycle and have 4 platies (+ 2 platy fry) and 3 albino corys happily swimming about.

 

[mark1979]

I dont no the gh and kh,i will buy a testing kit this lunchtime if my lfs has any!!

will this low ph affect my bacteria? as since this has been happening i have had ammonia spikes,nitrites spikes!!

i have also added about half a kilo of crushed coral in a media bag into my juwel internal,i presume it will take a while to make any affect?

 

[minxfishy]

Sounds like your water has no buffering capacity, but the crushed coral should have helped a little. For now I would say stop doing large w/c as you are just raising the ph and then its dropping again, small more frequent changes to cope with the ammonia/nitrIte will be needed, but wont change the ph, which is making it unstable and harder for the fish to cope with. They will be ok with the lower ph.

The spikes may be (but not definately) due to the low ph, bacteria doesnt work so well with a low ph, however ammonia is less toxic to fish at lower ph levels.

You might want to think about removing the wood, if this is indeed what is causing the ph to drop.

 

[Bobtastic]

pH drops have been known to stall cycling so it's not beyond the imagination to think that a drop will stop the bacteria from processing.

It's interesting that I've been able to cycle my tank at a low pH and other ppls cycles stall. Maybe u can aclimatise bacteria to lower pH's as well as fish?

 

[mark1979]

Sounds like your water has no buffering capacity, but the crushed coral should have helped a little. For now I would say stop doing large w/c as you are just raising the ph and then its dropping again, small more frequent changes to cope with the ammonia/nitrIte will be needed, but wont change the ph, which is making it unstable and harder for the fish to cope with. They will be ok with the lower ph.

The spikes may be (but not definately) due to the low ph, bacteria doesnt work so well with a low ph, however ammonia is less toxic to fish at lower ph levels.

You might want to think about removing the wood, if this is indeed what is causing the ph to drop.

removing the wood

that would be a nightmare,as my whole tank is set up around the wood.

i gather there is no way to tell if the wood is causing this,unless i take it out and see if this drop remains.

im screwed if it is the wood as it will look stupid without it,5ft of nothing,great!!! lol

 

[minxfishy]

May only be a few pieces, is it all mopani? But yep the way to know is to remove the wood, however, you could do a test on a piece of it, to see, take out one piece, put it in a bucket of tap water, test the water 1st, then test it again 24 hours later and see if its dropped.

 

[mark1979]

May only be a few pieces, is it all mopani? But yep the way to know is to remove the wood, however, you could do a test on a piece of it, to see, take out one piece, put it in a bucket of tap water, test the water 1st, then test it again 24 hours later and see if its dropped.

yes its all mopani,does that matter?

i do have a piece that didnt go in the tank,i could use that as a guide couldnt i?

 

[minxfishy]

You could, although it may take a while for it to work. I would use a piece that has been soaking in the tank already.

 

[mark1979]

You could, although it may take a while for it to work. I would use a piece that has been soaking in the tank already.

ok,i will get 1 out 2nite.

if this does affect it,does it mean bye bye wood? i cant be doing with artificial stuff again

as for the smaller changes to get rid of the ammonia/nitrite.how small would you say?

 

[minxfishy]

If it is the wood, then you would need to remove some of it, possibly not all of it, or you could just accept you have a low ph.

20% changes each time, to not change the ph drastically should be fine. The bacteria should still be working, but maybe just not as quick because of the low ph, but it should catch up eventually. It may not even be due to the ph crash, but because of the media trf, sometimes it does create a mini cycle when you trf media from one tank to another, it happened when I trf media from a 30g to the rio 400, same amount of fish, but I still had a nitrIte spike for a week, which soon went with w/c to keep it low.

 

[mark1979]

i just cant understand why its dropped so much, i thought wood would drop it,but only slightly like you said.

my tap is 7.0

the tank go's to 6.0 or below within 2 hours.

i no my previous tank had no wood in it,but it was stable at 7.2. the only difference in this new 1 is wood and manmade gravel,rather than natural gravel

does new wood realease acidity? as all my wood was new.i soaked it for 3 weeks before it went into tank

 

[minxfishy]

Its the tannins that are released from the wood that I believe has the effect on the ph, softening the water. But if you have soft water already, then I guess it makes it even softer, reducing the ph.

If you can, get the test kit kh/gh and post the results, not that I know anything about kh/gh but someone else will know if this is the reason for the low buffering capacity of the water.

 

[mark1979]

tested just a minute ago and it wasnt as low,it was 6.2!!

so it is rising slightly,maybe that coral is working.

im hoping it will rise to around 6.8 or there abouts

 

[mark1979]

will my new betta be ok with a low ph?

i just thought that my small tank will be the same!!