What If It Was Yours?

[Yanks15]

Here's my situation....... 10 gal community tank. 7 black neon tetra, 2 honey gourami, and 4 guppies. Fake plants. The tank has been cycled for some time now. Since cycling, I can't keep the pH above 6-6.2. My tap is about 7.8. My KH is 1 But even after 50% WC, the pH still won't go above 6-6.2.

If this was your tank, would you try to raise the pH or just leave it be? Do more water changes? How often?

I've thought about adding crushed coral to the filter but it sounds like a hassle. Is it?

Thanks for your opinion.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

I'd leave it alone. If you try messing with it you could very well kill the fish trying to add things to the tank to raise it.

 

[Tolak]

Take a bucket of tap water, add dechlorinator, let it aerate with an airstone for at least 24 hours. Check the pH, this might be the situation.

If it doesn't drop something in the tank is causing this, with a kH of 1 this is more than possible. Process of elimination, if you have any driftwood this is the likely cause. Start removing things, one by one.

 

[Yanks15]

Haven't been on for a while, so thanks for responces I'll pick up an extra air stone and give that test a try. The strange thing is that this tank reads 6.0 pH and my other tank reads 6.8. Same tap water, same declor, same process of water change. Both have fake plants and statues. Nothing living or pH altering that I can think of. The only real difference between the two is the gravel. The 6.8 tank has river rock type and the 6.0 has multi-colored fine gravel. Can this be the problem?

Thanks for the help.

 

[drobbyb]

Your problem seems the same as mine. I have a KH of 0 and my water comes out of the tap at 6.8. I use crushed coral in my filters to combat this pH crash. Since I have been running it in my filters, I have not had a single pH crash that I know of.

Of course there are a few disadvantages to running it, like you have to do your waterchanges on time. If you let the tank go for a bit the pH will dramaticailly rise and the water may harden leaving you with a sticky situation on your next waterchange.

So it's always an option, but not one to be taken lightly.

 

[Yanks15]

Just got back from lfs...needed ammonia test. The owner told me to try a seachams(sp?) product that stabilizes the ph. Anybody ever try this? I left without it to try and do some research and see if it works and how much of a bother it is. The last thing I want is to lose the fish so if nothing looks rock solid, I'll most likely not mess with at all.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Smoke14

Please take Tolak's advice and try to identify the source of the problem and resolve it once and for all. Using chemicals will just be more or less a patch job and will usually prove unsatisfactory in the long run.