Setting Up New Tank Questions

[harris_hpe]

It may be that the test reagents involved when you get up over pH=9 become a problem.

~~wd~~

Sorry if Im being a complete idiot, but I don't understand what you mean!

 

[harris_hpe]

Right, well, I couldn't stand my unmeasureable ph any longer. I know the ph out of the tap is 7.5 so there must be something in the tank making it go up. So I did about a 50% water change and took some of my rock out aswell. I added ammonia to bring it back up to 5ppm. I measured the ph as 8 so Im feeling a little happier now I will keep an eye on it over the next few days and see what happens.

The water now looks alot clearer than it did before aswell

 

[rabbut]

What rocks were you using? Any Lime-based ones?

 

[harris_hpe]

Not really sure to be honest!!! Will lime based rock make the water look abit milky??? Would this type of rock make my ph go sky high???

 

[rabbut]

Lime based rock (Ocean, Limestone e.t.c) will all crank the pH up The lime content ups the KH which in turn would raise the pH. To test and find out, drop a small quantity of vinegar onto the rock(s) and observe. If it fizzes, you have lime based stuff, if it does not, it isn't lime based

 

[harris_hpe]

Lime based rock (Ocean, Limestone e.t.c) will all crank the pH up The lime content ups the KH which in turn would raise the pH. To test and find out, drop a small quantity of vinegar onto the rock(s) and observe. If it fizzes, you have lime based stuff, if it does not, it isn't lime based

Ok ill try that, thanks rabbut

The thing is I have removed most of the rock (theres still a couple of bits in there) and when I did about a 50% water change the ph dropped to about 8ph and then I checked it the next night and I got the same blue reading that I was getting before! Now the only other things I have in my tank are a piece of plastic pipe that I hid under the rocks as a kind of passage way to a cave in the corner of the tank and I also have a peice of plastic flooring under my sand to protect the glass if I was to have a rock fall down, so I can't really understand what is altering my ph and I hope its not affecting my cycle as I still have not processed any ammonia. Surely if my rock is lime based, the small amount I have in there at the moment isnt enough to raise the ph that much!!!

 

[rabbut]

It may be worth vinegar testing whatever substrate you are using also...

 

[harris_hpe]

But I have play sand as substrate and I thought a lot of people on here used it. I got it from Homebase, maybe there is someone who could confirm that this is ok?!

 

[rabbut]

Most sands are, but it won't hurt to check The handful of of sand you pull out can be rinsed and put right back in if it is ok

 

[harris_hpe]

Most sands are, but it won't hurt to check The handful of of sand you pull out can be rinsed and put right back in if it is ok

Iwill check