Water change...

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Kirsty90

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So... I did a partial water change yesterday (about 50%) and this morning the water is quite murky/cloudy. I have bought a new test kit (API freshwater master test kit) and all the readings are perfectly ok except the PH slightly lower than I'd like.
I added one new live plant and a new decoration, apart from that everything is the same. Any ideas what might have caused this and how long it will take to clear or how I can help it to clear?
 
Photos always help 👍🏻 might just be a bacteria bloom
 
6.2. I have ordered some PH up
What sort of fish are you keeping?

If you have tetras, angelfish or gouramis, they are fine with a pH below 7.0.

If you have livebearers, rainbows or goldfish, add some shells, dead coral rubble or limestone to get the pH up.
 
What sort of fish are you keeping?

If you have tetras, angelfish or gouramis, they are fine with a pH below 7.0.

If you have livebearers, rainbows or goldfish, add some shells, dead coral rubble or limestone to get the pH up.
Mostly angelfish and gourami. Some plecos and a couple of platys in there.
 
The platies need a higher pH so add some shells, coral or limestone
 
The water is a greeny cloudy colour. Rang my other half at work. He's added some of this... Could that be what's done it?
 

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First on the cloudiness...this can be due to stirring up the substrate (moving plants you mention), in which cdase the particulate matter will settle out. It can be a bacterial bloom (if whitish) due to the high organics in the tap water added (or stirred up from the substrate and/or filter) and the bacteria that consume organics (different from the nitrifying bacteria species) multiplying rapidly (roughly every 20 minutes). If it is green (photo does not suggest this to me) it is an algae bloom caused by the rapid reproduction of unicellular algae. Any of these should clear on their own, though that can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

On the pH...do not use pH Up or any other chemical to adjust pH. These usually are not effective (the pH is closely connected to the GH and KH, and other factors) and fluctuating pH is worse for fish than leaving it alone. However, you do have an issue here as Colin noted. The platies are livebearers and these need moderately hard water, a GH of 10 dH minimum, in which case the pH will naturally be above 7. However, the other fish mentioned are all soft water species and they are fine with a low GH and acidic pH. Natural methods of raising GH and pH are safest, but this is not as easy as it sounds.

Before going down that road, what is the GH (general hardness) of your tap water? This will tell us how to proceed. The GH is of more importance to these fish than pH, so if there is to be any adjusting of water parameters it should be the GH that is targeted; the pH will follow suit.
 
Kirsty90's water company is the only one left in the UK which does not give numbers for hardness. But they do say her water is "soft" which in water company language means somewhere in the range 0 - 50 ppm and 0 - 2.8 dH. I don't think the actual number matters here, below 50 ppm/2.8 dH is all we really need to know.

Edit - very few UK water companies give KH (or alkalinity as they would call it)
 
Kirsty90's water company is the only one left in the UK which does not give numbers for hardness. But they do say her water is "soft" which in water company language means somewhere in the range 0 - 50 ppm and 0 - 2.8 dH. I don't think the actual number matters here, below 50 ppm/2.8 dH is all we really need to know.

Edit - very few UK water companies give KH (or alkalinity as they would call it)
Thanks for that @Essjay I only just jumped on x
 
@Kirsty90 I noticed in your other thread where we discussed GH the screenshot from your water report gives the pH as 8.0. Have you tested your tap water, both a freshly run sample and a glass that's been allowed to stand for 24 hours? Where pH is low, water companies sometimes add a chemical to temporarily raise pH so their pipes don't get corroded. It would be interesting to know just how high your freshly run tap pH is compared to some that's been allowed to stand.

Post #10 here
 
@Kirsty90 I noticed in your other thread where we discussed GH the screenshot from your water report gives the pH as 8.0. Have you tested your tap water, both a freshly run sample and a glass that's been allowed to stand for 24 hours? Where pH is low, water companies sometimes add a chemical to temporarily raise pH so their pipes don't get corroded. It would be interesting to know just how high your freshly run tap pH is compared to some that's been allowed to stand.

Post #10 here
I haven't but I shall do so and update you with results. Thanks 😊
 

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