New Tank - Ph Rose From 6.8 To 7.6 In Less Than 24 Hours.

[eaglesaquarium]

So, for anyone who hasn't been following along the other thread - I added 7 fish (rescued - 3 harlequin rasboras, 2 zebra danios, 2 panda cories) to a partially cycled 56 gallon tank. At the same time, I added the filter from the tank they came from. For two days, the ammonia and nitrite remained at zero. I had planned to add a few fish, so yesterday I went and added some fish to increase the numbers of the fish I rescued (I added 6 more rasboras and 4 panda corys). (Other things in the tank are: driftwood - which I expected to LOWER the pH; there are some stones, etc. - but they haven't affected anything before now. Nothing new has been added to the tank, aside from the fish, and nothing has been removed.)


All was going swimmingly. My pH has been steady at 6.8 during this whole time. However, 24 hours after adding the new fish, the pH has jumped up to 7.6. I just completed a 30% water change. My pH has dropped back to 7.4 since the water change.


Here are my tap water parameters:
pH: 6.8-7.0
NH3: 0.25ppm
NO2: 0ppm
NO3: 0ppm
kH: 3
gH: 5-6


Before adding the first fish my parameters were:
pH: 6.8
NH3: 0ppm
NO2: 0ppm
NO3: 10-20ppm
temp: 74F

My current parameters are:
pH: 7.4
NH3: 0ppm
NO2: 0ppm
NO3: 10-20ppm
temp: 74F



What can I do? Why would the pH rise up like that?! If I know the cause I can prevent it from happening in the future. I know the pH value isn't the concern, but that the stability of the pH is. My concern is not the pH value, but the rise in 24 hours. Should I look to keep the nitrates a little higher to drive the pH down? What's going on here?



EDIT: Really weird. I just tested again, and NOW the pH is 6.6! I would think that I had done a bad test earlier, but the truth is that I did both a low pH and a high pH test and they both pointed to 7.6! Then after the PWC, it was 7.4 on BOTH tests. Then, I waited 5 hours and now it is 6.6! I can't figure out what is going AT ALL now! Any insights?

 

[bristlenoseitplecoman]

I think that your tank has low alkanity. that is the kh on your test strip. It keeps your ph stable if it is not too high or too low. please reply to my topic.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

What topic?


Yeah, I know I have low kH... But, I don't know if I should look to increase it or not. (Also, I don't currently have any space available in my filter to add crushed shells. I will soon though.) Also, I'm not sure if I want to raise my kH value much based on the pandas. They are supposed to be a little more sensitive.

 

[bristlenoseitplecoman]

my topic about my fish having spots on their fins

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sorry pal, if that happened to me, I'd be posting here about it too. I can't give you any advice on that. I think that may be ich, but I'm clueless really. My best wishes for you, I hope someone can help you with that.