PH..too low

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plecoguy

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okay...no matter what i do my ph in my tank keeps going lower. Now its at 6.0, so i was thinking, i have this large piece of brain coral, could i put that in there to raise the ph? Would it hurt my fish and water and stuff? if not what kinds of things do i have to do to get it prepared first?(boil, soak?) i would appriciate the help, thanks.
 
you could try that ...,if that doesnt work...maybe try a little crushed coral...add small amont till you get desired ph
 
u could always try a pH buffer......u can buy pH up and pH down.....my lfs has got some stuff that u pour in and u can buy different ones for different pH's

u can get 6.0......7.2.......7.5.....and 8.0

maybe u could give this a try n see if it works

Tek :fish:
 
Hi plecoguy

The pH keep droping because the fillteration process acidifies the water, and removes alkilinity. The softer your water to start with, the qiucker the pH will drop.

You need to add calcium back to the water, you can try the coral, buy some caclium (looks like gravel), add bi carb (the type used in cooking), try a KH buffer (kent marine do a good one, despite the name, it is for freshwater), or you could try one of the pH buffers.

What ever you use, you need to keep a very close eye on the water parameters, as it is very easy to overdose with any of the above, and you only want to make small adjustment to the pH at any one time. No more than 0.4 at a time.
 
What are you using as substrate? Gravel should help buffer the water and stop it from dropping too low.PH dropping that low is normally only assosiated with older tanks,trapped particals in the substrate and filter acidify the water as they break down so a good over haul of the tank may help.
What is the PH of your tapwater? Very soft water is very low in natural buffers,it may be a idea to buy your water in (RO or distilled) you can then add the trace elements back in to the desired PH and hardness,messing with PH altering chemicals is dangerous,as dolphin said you must not raise (or lower) the PH by more than 0.4 in 24 hours and it is very easy to overdose but very hard to rectify.
 
Hi CFC

You do not need to buy RO/DI water to be able to add trace elements into it. You can add the trace minerals to tap water to add TDS to the water. But these tend not to have much affect on the KH value, thus the KH buffer which I mentioned in the last post.

All

When you start to mess with the pH buy adding chemicals etc. you need to be more aware of the chemistry of water, and how messing with one thing can affect somthing else.

If your tap water is of a higher pH than your tank, just increase the level/frequency of your water changes.
 
I know that trace elements can be added to tapwater but by using pure water rather than the tapwater he may avoid the PH drops,i must admit im a bit of a RO water freak,since i converted over to using it my fish look healthier my plants have grown better algea has been greatly reduced and there has been no sign of disease,plus i can keep the PH low where as if i used tapwater it would have a PH of 8,not good for SA catfish.
 
Sorry for not replying...i was sleeping. I forgot to mention, i think the main reason my waters ph is so low is because of the HUGE piece of malaysian wood that is in there, but i keep it for my plecos. I was just wondering about the piece of coral i got, cause i just bought a new tank...so i dont have any money to buy much other stuff. So would the coral counter act the wood? Thats all i want to know right now, i have used buffers before, but i dont like them. Plus that piece of coral would look nice in my tank. SO what do you think? (btw, i used filtered water, cause my house water runs through a water softener, and i have a gravel substrate)
 
cfc - do u say that the pH would be 8.0 from exp. or just that the tap measures that? Just cuz my tap's very soft and alkaline, but water changes don't seem to push the ph far beyond neutral in my tank.
As for pure/RO water....these have 0KH (which would add to the drop)..which is why u need to add stuff, salts, etc.


plecoguy - think the main reason is the very soft water...it can't maintain the pH. Yes I think the coral piece sh. be ok. I use crshed coral in filter myself. What happens is the coral dissolves in acidic values, so once u reach neutral, it sh. stay there abouts...as i undedrstand it, anyway. As far as preparing it...can't help there, sry. :/ Where is it from?
 

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