Ph Levels

[JackoUK]

As you may have read in the emegencies forum I am curently having a problem with PH. I have moved my tank to another part of town and the tap water PH has changed from 6.5 to 5.5. Now I know this is dangerously low but my fish seem absolutly fine, healthy in fact. My Panda Corydoras which always seemed so suseptible to change seem fine and my Angels, Gourami and Bolivian Rams seem to have improved if anything. I have lost a couple of Guppies but I do seem to struggle with guppies so I haven't necessarily put that down to the PH change, even though I know Guppies prefer a PH of around 7.5. I was wondering if anyone else had encountered a similar occurance with keeping fish happily in a PH that was far too low, or high, for them? Also if anyone has had to adjust their PH, ways and means would be graetly appreciated.

Thankyou in advance.

 

[WILDER]

http/www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html

 

[JackoUK]

Thanks for the link Wilder, very interesting. I think rather than altering the PH at the moment I will just monitor the fish.

 

[celaeno]

with a ph of 5.5, i'm honestly surprised your fish are still alive. when my ph was 6.0 for a few days due to my neglect, 2 of my albino cories died. i would add pure baking soda at every water change and gradually raise the ph if i were you.

 

[rdd1952]

Most fish today are tank raised so they are able to adapt to a much wider pH range than the ones that were wild caught. Some fish (true altum angels, for example) would actually love your 5.5 pH. If they don't seem stressed, then monitoring them is probably best. Anytime you start trying to alter pH, you stand a chance of running into major problems. If you do decide to try to raise it, crushed coral is probably the best way to do it. Also some rocks such as limestone will raise pH.

 

[JackoUK]

with a ph of 5.5, i'm honestly surprised your fish are still alive. when my ph was 6.0 for a few days due to my neglect, 2 of my albino cories died. i would add pure baking soda at every water change and gradually raise the ph if i were you.

I am very surprised myself. Not only are they alive but they also seem to be thriving. Even my Panda cories are full of life and actively feeding most of the time. I have checked my PH with two different test kits now to make sure and they both say a reading of around 5.5. Also a friend of my mothers who lives across the road says she's always had PH issues too but never really lost any fish to it.

Most fish today are tank raised so they are able to adapt to a much wider pH range than the ones that were wild caught. Some fish (true altum angels, for example) would actually love your 5.5 pH. If they don't seem stressed, then monitoring them is probably best. Anytime you start trying to alter pH, you stand a chance of running into major problems. If you do decide to try to raise it, crushed coral is probably the best way to do it. Also some rocks such as limestone will raise pH.

Yes, I will keep monitoring for the time being. Although as you mentioned, I am considering a couple of lumps of limestone to maybe alter it to around 6.0.

 

[JackoUK]

Also, I have a small BN catfish in the tank and I have yet to but a small piece of bogwood for it because of the worry of lowering the Ph even further. Do you think this would happen or do you think because it's so low now it wouldn't lower even further?

 

[cheesy feet]

Also, I have a small BN catfish in the tank and I have yet to but a small piece of bogwood for it because of the worry of lowering the Ph even further. Do you think this would happen or do you think because it's so low now it wouldn't lower even further?

A small peice of bogwood should hardly effect it

 

[rdd1952]

Actually, depending on the KH of the water (which I assume is low for the pH to drop as it has), even a small piece of bogwood could have a significant effect over a period of time. With the pH already at 5.5 though, I don't know it would have any effect at all.

 

[cheesy feet]

Actually, depending on the KH of the water (which I assume is low for the pH to drop as it has), even a small piece of bogwood could have a significant effect over a period of time. With the pH already at 5.5 though, I don't know it would have any effect at all.

To have his tapwater at a Ph of 5.5 i was assuming his kh must be stable so it wouldn't

 

[rdd1952]

The KH really isn't something that fluctuates. I guess if you are on well water, it could vary based on weather (don't really know). Or you coulld ave something in your tank that raises or lowers it. But if you're on a city or minicipal water supply, it would be what ever they made it. Usually it is low as they try to keep the alkalinity down (to make the water taste better) and offers very little buffering capacity. It can be raised with baking soda, adding an airstone to drive out CO2, thus increasing oxygen, or with commercial products made for that purpose.

 

[JackoUK]

Thanks guys. I am on a municipal mains water supply, that is strangely so different from the one I moved from a month ago. My last one was a stable 7.0Ph.

Thanks for the advice, I think i'll chance a small piece for my little BN, he doesn't know what to do with himself without a piece of bogwood.

 

[Iron Man]

I've been through similar....my ph is even lower than yours at 5.0 and I have goldfish which like it in the middle range. What was suggested to me is put only enough crushed coral into my filter that will raise it up to say 6.5 to 7.0 and then change about 20% on water changes so they don't go through severe flunctuations in ph.

So I think with the limestone, if that's what you want to do, is a good idea. Or you can do like me and put some crushed coral in there to bump it up a bit. The more fine the grain of crushed coral the more/faster it will disolve, so take that into account. That being said, don't use what looks like the whole shell fragments....they won't work as well. I use what is in between the fine sand grain and the shell fragments.

It works very well.

Good luck.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Ian's tank sits around 5.5 and it's fine, have a look at this topic all about pH

http/www.fishforums.net/So-You-Want-To-A...Ph-t187893.html

 

[rdd1952]

The one thing you have o be careful of in a tank with a pH that low is overfeeding and introducing new fish (increasing the stocking load). At pH levels below 6.0, nitrifying bacteria stop metabolizing and multiplying. So if you added more fish or overfed, the bacteria would not multiply to handle the extra load and your ammonia level would rise.