Ph Questions

[KathyM]

Hi all

I want to add more bogwood to my tank ASAP, but I'm worried about the pH falling any lower. The current piece of bogwood has kept the pH at 6.6-6.8 and I'm concerned that adding more will be a problem.

The bogwood I'm adding has been repeatedly soaked long term and also in boiling water and has been in tanks before, but still leeches.

Is there anything I can put in the tank to avoid having to use phUp/similar?

Thanks

Kathy

 

[@ombomb]

Do you know the KH of the tank?

What fish do you keep in there?

As long as the KH is REALLY low and the fish don't specifically need hard water with a high pH, I wouldn't worry too much. If you KH is low, you may want to add an additional buffer to the water like baking soda. You'd need to check the exact amounts need before dosing the tank though.

 

[KathyM]

I'm embarrased to say I have no idea of our KH. I'll look into getting a test kit (I only have a master test kit).

 

[@ombomb]

What about the fish?

What do you have / plan to have in there?

Bogwood as a minimal and gradual affect on the water, I wouldn't worry too much tbh.

 

[Xebadir]

By adding a KH powder you will also stabilise your Ph to 7(this is in most cases). If you need to go any higher, add KH powder+ pHup: this should create a more stable system at a higher pH if required. Having said that be very careful with adding too much KH powder, else youll be stuck at 7 forever. Note that it is a delicate balance, and remember to slowly balance your pH so as not to kill the fish from pH shock( im sure you know this kath).

 

[KathyM]

What about the fish?

What do you have / plan to have in there?

Bogwood as a minimal and gradual affect on the water, I wouldn't worry too much tbh.

Sorry, will teach me to skim posts

We have 2 young angels (who I know prefer about 6.5), 8 black widows, 5 penguin tetras, 6 cories, a young gibby and a baby ancistrus triradiatus.

Yeah Xebadir, we don't want to do anything drastic, it's just I worry about putting another piece in when this one has dropped the pH (tap water is bang on 7 and I worry about water changes etc).

Edited to add: the extra bogwood is for a young Royal coming home tomorrow.

 

[4ftguppy]

Bogwood as a minimal and gradual affect on the water, I wouldn't worry too much tbh.

yeah, I wouldn't worry either - unless youre tank water turns brown immediately, and visibility gets a problem. As long as you do regular water changes, and your water is not too soft bogwood will change water chemestry too slowly to really cause any problem. And besides these gradual changes are easily tolerated by most fish

 

[@ombomb]

Personally I'd never use any type of chemical that actively adjusts the pH as this destabilises the tank and can cause wild swings in the pH.

None of the fish you mentioned would mind too much if the pH dropped another couple of notches.

 

[KathyM]

Thanks very much!

I've got to admit, I didn't want to use stuff like pHUp etc because of the idea of it swinging the pH up for the bogwood to swing it back down, and the yoyo effect worried me. I'm very relieved to hear it's not as big an issue as I thoughT, thank you for your help.