smidey Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 Hi all, I have a 200L tank, 2 xAngels, 2xPearl Gourami, 2xClown & 2x Skunk Loaches, 1xBN catfish, 4xSerpae Neons, 10xNeons & 5 glowlights. My tank has been running with stable water approx 6 months now. In the last two weeks the PH has been rising. Co-incidenitily I added a CF1000 filter two weeks ago also. It has always been 7.2. It has been getting to 7.6 which is the peramiter of my test kit. How often do you vacume the gravel in your tanks for the fish faeces? I usually do it every week or fortnight. I do have an area that has a few tall rocks & plants which I basically have to remove the lot from the tank to be able to vacume so I think this may be the cause, do you agree? All thoughts welcome. Smidey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted September 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 also i dont have a test kit for nitrates & nitrites so will take sample to LFS tomorrow for testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 I wouldn't remove the plants and rocks to vacuume, its just not worth disturbing the tank so much. The plants will do better have the 'food' and you should be getting too much under the rocks. First thing is to be sure you are testing the PH at the same time of the day, I don't have a fresh water tank anymore but in my marine tank I have an electronic PH meter, my PH goes from arounf 8.0 or lower first thing in the morning and up to 8.3 in the evening. Fresh water tanks will do the same thing, it is mostly caused by the plants (or corals in my case) changing the amount of C02 as they use more or stop using it as the lights go on and off. In a fresh water tank I would expect it to change at least as much because you are unlikely to have anything like as much buffer (kh) holding the PH stable. Also that PH reading (7.6) is in the completely acceptable range so don't try and adjust it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 adding the filter shouldnt have increased your ph, what media is in the filter? but as long as your ph isnt too high (7.6 is totally ok) then dont bother about it, fish are very adaptable and prefer a higher than natural ph than a swinging one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopy Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 We would be lucky to do a gravel vac 2 times a year in our main tanks. To be honest we used to have alot of losses when we did things the shop told us to when we first got fish and we lost alot of fish in that time. Now we hardly do anything in the tanks apart from upset the fish due to rearranging their furniture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted September 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 The PH is higher again today, didnt get a chance to take sample to LFS but will do tomorrow. The cf1000 has the standard filter wool pad, two gauzes along with ceramic biorings & bioballs. The hood filter has filter wool & ceramic biorings. The problem I have with the rocks is I cant vacume between them but if i don't need to vacume very often all the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 You haven't added any new rocks have you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoban Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 If you usually remove the rocks maybe something rubbing off them .. what type of rocks are in the tank ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowfax Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 hi, i gravel vac mine once a week, its always amazing how much poo you scoop up over such a short period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me love fishy Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 I gravel vac once every two weeks, and it definitely needs it by then. Maybe new rocks could be the culprit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 thanks all, i haven't changed anything for months, i do the same cleaning weekly, same water changes etc. thats why im so confused about the PH increasing, it has levelled off around 7.6 today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 You could check with your local council to see if the water supply has changed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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