Ph Crash Again...

[Geoff1991]

Well, im fishless cycling and my pH has crashed for the 3rd time.

Should i add bicarbonate of soda, or just keep doing water changes?

My KH is about 5dKH

Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

How many days on average is it taking to "crash" and what pH do you mean by "crash?"

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Geoff1991]

About, 3 days and by crash i mean, from 7.6 to <6.0... My cycles stalled about 3 times.

 

[waterdrop]

Well then, certainly sounds as if you've made the efforts to solve the problem with water changes and its not been enough, so the use of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) seems in order.

You understand the underlying guideline that its better to restrict this to fishless cycling and the hopefully once you get fish the acid effect will be enough less that once again water changes will be enough and you will not have to resort to artificially raising pH, and that if you did so, crushed coral or limestone chips would be more recommended than baking sode, right?

So I'm assuming this is your 60L and you're still fishless cycling with some plants, right? Thinking out loud, I always work from the observation that a teaspoon of baking soda will generally raise KH by about 4 german degrees without reaching the point of raising pH in a 50L tank (useful to know, but of course we want more here.) So I'd go for a nice tablespoon (equal to 3 teaspoons) in your 60L as a nice safe starting point and see how things go with that.

You can sit back and just watch how pH and time change from this action or you could consider getting your hands on a liquid KH kit (or of course liquid KH/GH kit) and that would allow you to see much more clearly how the two graph curves of KH and pH operate in relation to each other when you use bicarb.

Give us plenty of clear feedback data.

~~waterdrop~~
ps. personally I like to do a large water change and then dose the baking soda and recharge the ammonia to 5ppm right after the fresh water has gone in

 

[Geoff1991]

Thanks waterdrop,

Yeah the tanks 60l with plants and fishless cycling.

I have a KH kit (the liquid API one)

Ill add some bicarbonate of soda and watch it carefully.

I know my cycle has stalled because since yesterday my tanks been sitting without the water stats changing. Im guessing i should dissolve the bicarb in tank water before throwing it in the tank?

 

[waterdrop]

You can stir it in a glass to completely dissolve it if you want. Some of the little bits take longer than others but personally I never cared, just dumped it in and some bit sat in contrast to my black substrate but eventually they completely dissolved.

What you should find is that KH should measure some degrees higher of course and then over some days (certainly more than 3 we hope!) the KH will finally start to drop slowly and then when its getting down to 3 and 2 that is your leading indicator that pH will be beginning to drop too. So in that sense its a "leading indicator" (lol, your very own tank economics.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Geoff1991]

Thanks for the help.

Ill give it an hour or so to circulate. Then ill test and post results. Then Ill check it when i finish work later on (7 hours time whatever time that is for you)

Ill keep posting my stats so everyone can see the effects, this may help someone with the same problem.

Before adding bicarbonate of soda,

pH <6.0
KH 5dKH

EDIT:

It may also be worth noting that ive just finished installing my nutrafin co2 kit so my pH may drop slightly anyway.

 

[lana]

Thanks for the help.

Ill give it an hour or so to circulate. Then ill test and post results. Then Ill check it when i finish work later on (7 hours time whatever time that is for you)

Ill keep posting my stats so everyone can see the effects, this may help someone with the same problem.

Before adding bicarbonate of soda,

pH <6.0
KH 5dKH

EDIT:

It may also be worth noting that ive just finished installing my nutrafin co2 kit so my pH may drop slightly anyway.

WaterDrop what about adding Crushed Coral to the filter as i did and that really help mine from crashing all the time , in fact i still have use it

 

[Geoff1991]

Havent had time to test for KH but its raised my pH nicely to about 7.4

Will report back after work.

 

[Geoff1991]

Back from work, pH is still 7.4 and cycles kicked into action.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi lana, Crushed coral will eventually work but it doesn't have the instant gratification like Geoff just got. Sometimes crushed coral can take as much as two weeks to even get started. Of course its slowness is exactly what makes it preferred after one has fish!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[lana]

Hi lana, Crushed coral will eventually work but it doesn't have the instant gratification like Geoff just got. Sometimes crushed coral can take as much as two weeks to even get started. Of course its slowness is exactly what makes it preferred after one has fish!

~~waterdrop~~

lmao i knew that

 

[degsod]

Thanks for the help.

Ill give it an hour or so to circulate. Then ill test and post results. Then Ill check it when i finish work later on (7 hours time whatever time that is for you)

Ill keep posting my stats so everyone can see the effects, this may help someone with the same problem.

Before adding bicarbonate of soda,

pH <6.0
KH 5dKH

EDIT:

It may also be worth noting that ive just finished installing my nutrafin co2 kit so my pH may drop slightly anyway.

I would not use CO2 while doing a cycle, this will deffo drop the ph, after running for 8 hours the pH can drop from 7.4 to 6

 

[loraxchick]

if you cant find crushed coral, or dont want to spend the money for a whole bag of it, you can use clam shells that you boil and scrub...smash them up with a rock or hammer and add them to your filter.
that's what i did (i have soft water) and it works GREAT! bought a bag of clams at the market for far less thanwhat a bag of coral cost...and i had a nice dinner out of it too .. i couldnt justify spending the money for a rather large bag of coral when all i needed was a handful...and its all the same stuff- calcium carbonate.
just a tip...always good to know where to cut costs in the hobby.

 

[Geoff1991]

Thanks for the help.

Ill give it an hour or so to circulate. Then ill test and post results. Then Ill check it when i finish work later on (7 hours time whatever time that is for you)

Ill keep posting my stats so everyone can see the effects, this may help someone with the same problem.

Before adding bicarbonate of soda,

pH <6.0
KH 5dKH

EDIT:

It may also be worth noting that ive just finished installing my nutrafin co2 kit so my pH may drop slightly anyway.

I would not use CO2 while doing a cycle, this will deffo drop the ph, after running for 8 hours the pH can drop from 7.4 to 6

Mines only the nutrafin co2 kit, nothing pressurized, its been going for over 12 hours and i havent seen a drop in a pH drop yet.