Ph Very Low @ 5

[mwilde]

Please help.

I have a community tank containing a couple of small discus with other general tropical fish. For a month or 2 over the Christmas period I neglected the tank and end up with a hair algae problem. I ended up throwing all the decorations away including all the live plants - I cleaned the gravel the best I could, and introduced RowaPhos - or what ever it’s called into my external filter.

I then put a new piece of bog wood into the tank, and then first took the PH and it was about 5. The fish seem okay but im now worried. I didn’t test the PH for a while before I cleaned up the tank and can’t remember what it was a while back.

Because it was very low I took the bog wood out after reading the internet that said bogwood can lower the PH. This didn’t seem to make a difference (only gave it a week or so). So I read again and found it may be because of Co2 (I don’t supplement C02) so I bought some new live plants in the hope this would reduce c02.

These are my readings

PH 5 (out the tap 7 - with Aqua Safe added 6.5)
GH 60mg/c
KH <10mg/c
No2 0mg/c
Ammonia 0

I have read things all over the internet and as far as I can tell my levels look good other than the PH & KH. I have been doing 50% water changes every few days (only for about a week). Nothing makes a change.

Am I being impatient? Does any have any ideas why it’s so low? How can I increase it ideally without using chemicals?

Thank you
Matthew

 

[CFC]

How long has the tank been running and what kind of filtration do you use?

 

[mwilde]

How long has the tank been running and what kind of filtration do you use?

The tank has been running since June last year - its got the internal Juwel filter and an external Fluval 305., also got a large external UV filter.

 

[CFC]

Excellent, i may have the answer for you then.

Remove all the filter media and baskets from the juwel filter box and using a length of hose syphon out the inside of the box making sure to get right to the bottom of both cavities and give it a good stir. If i am right you will find there is a lot of, for want of a better description, "black gunk" stuck at the bottom of the filter box which will be breaking down and releasing organic acids into the water, these acids eat away at the calcium buffers (KH) that stabilise the pH and cause the pH to become more acidic.

 

[mwilde]

Thanks that’s great – I really appreciate your help because this has been worrying me.

I have just had a look and yes there was loads of black junk.

I siphoned it out, give the sponges a quick squeeze in the water and put it all back.

How long will it take too see a change?

 

[CFC]

It will take a while for the KH and pH to restabilise and you dont want to rush it as your fish could go into pH shock if it rises too fast, i would recomend doing small 5-10% water changes (litterally a bucket or two) with tapwater every day for a week or two to get the KH and pH back up to the levels they should be. Once the tank is running well again make sure you hoover out the inside of the juwel filter box at least once a month, this a common problem with this horrendously badly designed filter unit.

 

[mwilde]

Great thanks - tap water - do you mean without my aqua safe?

 

[mwilde]

I also seem to have a problem with hair algae - i got rid of all my plants, rocks and bog wood, and have put some slate in, and some more plants.

I put some plant food in and within a day or so the hair algae is coming back on the slate.

I have put ROWA Phos in my filter - my Phosphate levels are through the roof.

Someone once told me i will get it using the Aqua Safe - i need a HMA or RO filter?

I have read the only way is to bleach everything

There are loads of products.


Do you have any ideas please?

 

[CFC]

You do need to treat the tapwater with a de chlorinator before adding it to the tank.

If you go down the R/O route you will need to add back the essential trace minerals that are removed by the process before it is safe for use, personally i feel unless you are keeping very sensative species which require tailored water R/O water is an unnessesary expence.

The source of the high phosphate levels could be the plant food but i am not experienced enough with plants and planted tanks to really add much to this. Try asking in the planted forum section for advise on dealing with hair algea and safe nutrient dosing.

 

[QuotheRaven]

sorry to Hi-jack but my PH has been very low at 6.0 with the tap water ph at over 7.5. I cleaned my filter and at the bottom was a very dark green gunk...this was in the cannister not the internal basket. Could that be the cause or merely algae Lol.