I have three tanks, a 20 gal community tank, 30 gal community tank, and a 55 gal Malawi Cichlid tank. The pH should be 7.5, 7.5, and 8.6, respectively.
The pH falls constantly, and I put pH Up in fairly often. We just came back from three weeks out of town and the pH was 6.4, 7.2, and 7.5 in the three tanks (and a cichlid was dead). This constant drop in pH has been going on for years and I can't find any reason for it, and can't figure out what to do.
Water coming out of the tap varies between 7.6 and 7.8. I siphon junk out of the tanks once a month or so, and pour a couple of gallons in every tank every week to make up for evaporation. Possibly related to the issue is that all three tanks have a lot of white scale which I scrape off every now and then. I have not analyzed it but I expect it is calcium, so take that out of the water and it will become more acidic, but the question remains, what do I do? I would prefer some solution other than constant pH Up.
The pH falls constantly, and I put pH Up in fairly often. We just came back from three weeks out of town and the pH was 6.4, 7.2, and 7.5 in the three tanks (and a cichlid was dead). This constant drop in pH has been going on for years and I can't find any reason for it, and can't figure out what to do.
Water coming out of the tap varies between 7.6 and 7.8. I siphon junk out of the tanks once a month or so, and pour a couple of gallons in every tank every week to make up for evaporation. Possibly related to the issue is that all three tanks have a lot of white scale which I scrape off every now and then. I have not analyzed it but I expect it is calcium, so take that out of the water and it will become more acidic, but the question remains, what do I do? I would prefer some solution other than constant pH Up.