Ph & Wood Issues

[owen.h.lewis]

Hi all,
Recently i have noticed that my PH is quite low, and i was wondering if it is due to the inclusion of imported mangrove root wood to my tank. I have prepared the wood by boiling it for some time, along with taking it into the shower with me (dedication) and soaking it in water.

My tank is a 145 litre setup and has the following fish/plants etc -

3 x small plattys
4 x small guppies
2 x spotted corys
2 x angelfish
4 x neon tetra's
2 x glo light tetra's

I have got a bunch of amazon sword planted, along with some hairgrass, and also another bristly plant which i am unaware of the name.

I have an inbuilt filter that came with the tank, along with the lighting (gets 12 hours of light a day), and also a side mounted airpump which seems to act as a filter also (has a sponge like unit that is in the tank).

My tap water parameters is as follows:

Ph: 6.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
GH Degree: 1 degree

My tank pre wood was as follows:

Ph: 6.5 - 6.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: less than 5
GH Degree: 4 Degree

Today (one and half weeks after adding wood) my results were:

Ph: 6.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: less than 5
GH Degree: 5 degree

I am worried about the low PH and wondered if this was due to the inclusion of the wood. Do i just need to do a water change and then it should hopefully hover around the 6.5 mark where it's ideally been at.

Any help would be great.

Cheers.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yes, some wood does lower pH.

You should get a KH testing kit to test your KH.

As a higher KH is going to hold the pH in one spot without fluctuating.

There are ways to raise the KH of your water.

-FHM

 

[Bobtastic]

If you don't want to take out the wood you could add some crushed coral (CC) into your filter to try and off set it. The CC should up you KH and improve/buffer your pH.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with both of the above.

In your situation is is helpful to familiarize yourself with good reading of both the KH and GH in your tank. You can get combined KH/GH liquid test kits if that GH you are giving us is not from a liquid kit, or you could just find a straight KH kit otherwise.

After you know those numbers from testing tap and tank a few times you could discuss them with members here. Then it might very well turn out that CC would be a good option for you.

~~waterdrop~~