Naturally Raising Ph

[stef_uk]

I'm currently doing a fishless cycle and have done a partial water change due to Ph dropping to below 6.

A friend of mine has said that the water here has a buffer in it so it comes out f the tap at 7 but within a couple of days it starts to drop.He uses Ph Up to keep his levels up but after reading things on here,i dont really want to use any chemical methods to keep my ph up.

After yesterdays water change my Ph went back up,but already today it is back down to around 6.4.

Are there any NATURAL ways to keep my Ph above 6.6 ish?

 

[yvez9]

If you're doing a fishless cycle, why bother with the pH?

The ammonia you put in will offset your pH right now for sure

Your tank will buffer the pH itself and it is better to not try to fool around with it

if you absolutely must have a higher pH, you can add snail shells, coral rock....

Adding driftwood will lower the pH too so if you have some, you could always remove it

6.4 is fine for pretty much any fish.

A stable pH is better then any pH IMO. You're right about the pH buffers they sell. Your friend could stop using and it would make no difference to the fish. Only a few species of fish will not tolerate lower or higher pH but most will be fine with what you give them!

 

[nckate]

I had a problem with my tank not cycling (with fish) because the pH was below 6 and the water was extremely soft. (1 degree KH. No lie.) Evidently, bacterial growth slows at lower pHs. This article is a good read: http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/khgh.html

Figuring a non-cycled tank with the potential for pH swings was more dangerous to the fish than adding something to the tank (and after talking to some lovely people here who helped me figure out what was going on,) I put some baking soda in there to raise the KH. Worked like a charm -- my pH is steady at 7.6 to 7.8, KH is a low but not ridiculous 3 to 4 dH, and my cycle is progressing nicely. (Would have added crushed coral, but I couldn't find any.)

This is not for everyone -- my gouramis and bristlenose are okay with this slightly alkaline pH, but some others won't be. You also have to fool around with the amount of baking soda you add. Get a KH/GH test or ask the store to test it for you.

One last thing: baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. It will raise the KH and pH, but NOT the GH (which is a measure of how many dissolved minerals are in the water.) And it doesn't promote algae growth like commercial pH buffers.

 

[stef_uk]

Thanks for the replies.

Im not too bothered about the ph in my tank right now as like i said im doing a cycle and will do water changes if it drops too low to stop it stalling.

I was just wondering for future reference when its stocked as i dont want to come in one day and find a load of floater due to a crash.

I'll get down to the local lfs tomorrow and see if they have some natural remedies as you've suggested.