Questions About Ph And Kh

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erm ... *snigger* I'm half way through washing the old pebbles to put back in the tank this weekend :shout:

There's already loads of black pebbles all over the place in the tank :shout:

Decisions, Decisions ....


Okay ... here's the thing. Sand is annoying the you-know-what out of me. It never looks clean, water changes are a nightmare as there's always escaping sand on the carpet afterwards and I have to use a pipe to syphon the poop off it everyday. There's also no hiding place for fry. The only plus is that the cories prefer it ...

So the pebbles - never show up that much poo that I feel the need to clean the tank daily, because they are black any fry hide well and weekly maintenance is a doddle ... the only down side is the cories again


Oh c**p ... I can't win can I
 
:hyper: :crazy: I think I'm going to go insane ... this mornings test ..

PH 6.4 or just below
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0

I feel like a dog chasing my tail.

The sand is going to have to go ... I'm so sorry cories :(
 
no, it's supposed to be relaxing not so frustrating!

Just tested again and the PH is back down to 6.

The sand is coming out one day this week when I have a day to myself
 
UPDATE:

Well, the sand came out today and back went the gravel. The only fish I removed was the oto's so the poor guys left in there were a bit stressed out.

Anyway, the tank is now back to how it was with my black gravel and when I last checked the PH was at 6.4. I'll check it again in the morning.

The only problem I have now is my poor fish.

They're all sat on the bottom looking really sad. I'd got used to seeing them zooming around on an evening. I'm now concerned I've done the wrong thing. Maybe they liked the low PH and the sand!!! They certainly don't look very happy at the moment ... unless they're just reacting to the stress of having their home ripped apart :sad:


Have I messed up? :unsure:
 
Give them a chance to adjust, and keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrite. Chances are, they will pull through just fine. Sounds as if they have gone through quite a bit of stress, and they need some time to adjust is all.
 
well after all that ... guess what ... this mornings PH test is ..... *drum roll* :lol:

6 :hyper: :angry:



I give in.


As for the fish. Happily munching their breakfast and swimming about like nothing has happened *phew*


So THE PLAN -

See how much cash I have left after my food shop and bill paying and if there's enough I'll head out and get a small amount of black sand.
The black pebbles can be pushed to the back of the tank as they hold the plants in much better than the sand did and then the front section of the tank will be black sand for my ickle corydoras :D


As for the PH - I'm done messing with it. My water has changed and there's nothing I can do about it
 
You can get a nylon sock foot or a mesh filter bag and put a hand full of washed crushed coral substrate (like the kind used for african cichlid or marine tanks) and put it in your filter to stabilize your pH, like is described in the article linked in my signature. This is a very inexpensive and effective method (plus there are no repeat buffering solutions to have to buy over and over again.)
 
I have read a number of the posts. Do you have any aeration in the tank? This could help some of CO2 gas off and help raise your PH.
As folks have menitoned PH can be affected by many variables. It sounds like you are doing proper water changes and from all that I have read KH and CO2 play a huge role in your PH.

Things like crushed coral and peat can affect ph one way or another.

best of luck,
jb
 
thanks drobby and jb.

Yesterday I got a 12.5kg bag of unipac black sand (only paid £15 - bargain!!) so I plan to get that washed over the weekend and get the tank exactly how I want it (pebbles to the back and sand at the front) if then the PH is still staying stubbornly at 6 the coral rock I bought will be getting a bit broken off it, crushed up and added to the filter.

As for aeration - there's only the filter - I've never added anything more. I did add a long length of air stone and my air pump and created a small bubble wall but the buzz of the pump eventually drove me nuts and I got rid of it - plus the cost of running that all the time worried me!

After all that I've tried with this I can only come to one conclusion now - Yorkshire Water has done something to our water supply and it's changed to even softer water than it was before.
I've been running tanks for about a year now and my PH has always been stable at 6.8/7. Perhaps the deluge of rain we had has done something ...

All that said though, it doesn't explain how the fry tank is running at PH7 ... :unsure: :hyper:
 
the KH test arrived today. I've followed the instructions and I'm not sure if I'm doing things right.

one drop did nothing, 2 drops turned it slightly yellow. 3 drops turned it a bit more yellow. 4 drops a bit more yellow ... um what does that mean?

I read the instructions and it was supposed to turn blue but it never did. It said to keep adding drops until it turned from blue to bright yellow ...

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks in advance :)
 
It means your KH is nigh on zero, probably. No buffering capacity in the water thus low pH that will vary depending on which way the wind is blowing.
 
It means your KH is nigh on zero, probably. No buffering capacity in the water thus low pH that will vary depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Yeah, I thought someone would say that ... oh bum :sad:
 
Yeah, your KH is just like mine, zero. The only solution I have found is crushed coral in my filter and regular water changes to keep my pH from rising more than .5 The point is to keep it from crashing and to keep my bacteria processing the ammonia and nitrite.

This sin't a bad thing though. It just means you have really soft water. Perfect for soft water fish :)
 
Yeah, that is a lot like my tank water too. I am just finishing a fishless cycle in mine, and had major PH issues because my water is so soft and KH/GH are almost nada. I have had to watch it everyday now, and I've had to add bicarbonate of soda to buffer it to keep my cycle from stalling again. I just look forward to the fact that it's going to work more in my favour when my cycle is done because I want to do a blackwater setup, so soft, acidic water is perfect for the fish I want to keep.
 

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