Water Issues

[axeman]

New to this forum.

I'm having issues with my tank!!!!!!!!

Had it running again since Xmas and my water chemistry is ??

Done the test strips now doing doing the Water drop tests..

I have a 35 gl tank with rocks live plants drift-wood runnig 2 power filter plus an Aqua clear filter.

tank is nice and clear fish are active BUT about every 5 days or so my PH drops??

Don't know why?? Guys at the store where i get my fish are not sure on why my tank keeps dropping in PH.

Needing some help with this..

NO2 tests are always good and Ammonia is also very save 0mg/l

I have started to test my GH and KH but not sure on how to read them.??

Test kit i have is the Tetra test Laborett. Not sure if this is a good one or not but its cheaper than the dip sticks.

After doing a PH boost yesterday. PH was at 5 or so now at 6.75 or so Need to bump it up again later tohight.

My GH was 8 drops before it changed from red to green and the KH went staight to Yellow with no blue to start.

Tap water PH just shy of 8 KH had 5 drops before colour change and GH was 9 drops at change.

Any help in controling my water would be great..

 

[WILDER]

I have the tetra laborett and its a good test kit.

Don't use ph adjusters more trouble than there worth.


What substrate do you have in the tank. As some substrates can lower ph
What ornaments do you have in the tank.
Do you have any bogwood in the tank
What the name of the rocks as some can alter ph.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Try to get a liquid test kit, like an API Freshwater Master Test Kit to test for Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte and pH.

First of all, wood will lower the pH of water, while rocks, if they contain lime, will raise the pH.

Your pH is effect by your KH.

If you have a higher KH, your pH will not change that much when you add stuff like wood and rocks to the tank.

On the other hand, if you have a lower KH, your pH will be more prone to changes when adding wood and rocks to the tank.

What you want to do is raise the KH of your water, that way your pH will be more stable.

By adding crushed corral to your filter, this can raise the KH.

I am going to ask a mod to see if they can't move this thread over to the beginners section, their you will get more replies.

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I agree with Wilder, your tests sound fine, and we need to inventory and think about the things you have in your tank to see if anything might be dragging the pH down.

GH (General Hardness) is an interesting (and important sometimes) thing to know, but its really KH (Carbonate Hardness, and really a measure of Total Alkilinity) that is an "action item" for your situation. With hardness test kits like these, the usual way they work is that you begin dripping the test liquid into the test tube of tank water and you count how many drops it takes to make the color change. That usually represents the number of degrees of hardness on the German scale, which is our usual way of talking about them.

You are actually going down a very common path. Someone discovers their pH is too low or dropping faster than they expected. They buy a GH/KH test kit. They perform the KH test as directed and are confused because the drops seem to be the wrong color right away on the first drop. Actually, the test is probably quite correct! You have ZERO degrees of carbonate hardness, which means your water is extremely "soft" and "has no buffering capability." pH is a measure of H+ ions in the water - the more of them the lower the pH or the more acid your water is. Very "hard" water has lots of "negative charge" ions in available in the water and these can attach to the H+ ions and "neutralize" the acidity or "buffer" the water to keep it from being so acid. You just don't have any of this buffering capability. No bid deal.

Before you take any action that will change your maintenance routine forever, you want to carefully collect all the data pertaining to the situation. For you that means measuring all your tap water parameters (including especially KH and pH!) and also have the discussion about all the junk in your tank. If, after all that, we determine that you really do have extremely soft, acid or fairly acid water coming in at the tap, then you might need to make the decision to modify your tank via the accepted practice. That practice is using crushed coral in your filter, as FHM has mentioned, but its a serious decision and has some ramifications, so first you should collect your info as I've mentioned.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rabbut]

What Waterdrop meant to say in English, was can you post numerical readings for;

Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
pH
KH
GH

with what ever units the kit gives. (no units for pH, dKH for KH and GH and mg/l for the rest with a Tetratest kit ) Do this both for the tank and the tap water you are using Once we know what the tank and tap water stats are, we can give you "customised" advice on how to fix your low pH

to TFF
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, that

 

[Dave Spencer]

I'm having issues with my tank!!!!!!!!

tank is nice and clear fish are active BUT about every 5 days or so my PH drops??

It sounds to me that you are having no issues. I run planted tanks at nigh on 0dKH with a lot of wood, CO2 and ferts all dragging the pH down to God knows where. I have no issues because all the inhabitants are happy.

You have it the wrong way round. Your happy fish should have you relaxing and enjoying the hobby, and your test kits should go in the bin if all they are going to do is make you worry.

Dave.

 

[drobbyb]

That's ok Dave