Ph And Bogwood

[Schmill]

I am currently fishless cycling my tank, and the Ph reading has climbed from 7.4 at the tap, (and originally in the tank), to now reading 8.0
I've also recently bought & soaked some bogwood, so I was wondering, should I put that in the tank now? I believe that bogwood sometimes brings the PH of the water down a little?
I don't know how high the PH can go in the tank before it would stall the cycle?

Thanks

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Schmill,

You can add the bogwood now if you want to. You are correct that it can reduce the pH, but it depends on the hardness of your water. Also, unless you have lots of bogwood, the effect will probably be slow and negligable.

From reading your fishless cycle log, your pH appears quite high and stable suggesting that your water is probably quite hard, and so the bogwood may not affect the pH whatsoever.

Adding it to the tank shouldn't have any negative effect.

I'm not sure why your pH has risen in the tank. Ammonia is alkaline and may raise the pH slightly. Other than that, I'm not sure. What type of gravel are you using? Anyway, i wouldn't worry too much about it for now. A high pH is a good thing for a fishless cycle (the bacteria seem to like it) so it won't do any harm.

The pH would have to rise above what is reasonably probable to stall your cycle, so nothing to worry about. I'm not sure of the exact figure, but i think it is somewhere around pH9.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Schmill]

Once again, cheers

 

[petertr]

Strange for the pH to rise. Do you have crushed-coral as a substrate by any chance?


I'd throw your bogwood in if I were you.