pH question

[jolliolli]

I seem to be battling a constant falling pH problem in my tank. i have a 180 litre aqua one tank with CF1200 filter. Despite waterchanges every couple of weeks my pH keeps falling. I highly suspect the driftwood i put in the tank around 2 months ago and it leached lots of tannins for around a month and during this time my pH has constantly been falling. The leaching seems to have slowed or stopped but my pH continues to fall. My tap water is 7.2 and today my tank water is around 6.2. Its taken only around 1 week to drop that fast. I changed the gravel in the tank as well and wonder if that is causing the ph to continue to drop.

So... my question is other than using pH up solution (which is what i am using at the moment) how else can i increase my pH? Also how long should i expect that the driftwood will continue to lower my pH. Its obviously annoying my golden barbs as the acidity is making them flick? Any suggestions?

[HummingBird]

Coral sand will buffer the pH up, as will limestone.

[SpidersWeb]

Yep, I recommend a handful or two of coral sand too, put it in a pantyhose in your filter. Sounds like your water has a very low KH making it easy for the pH to swing.

[jolliolli]

thanks guys, can i get coral sand from the lfs?

[Guest Anonymous]

any that have marines,

[jolliolli]

ok thanks, its strange that my 300litre tank has stable pH whereas this one continues to drop

[herefishiefishie]

What is your water reading out if the tap. ph, gh & kh. Redland Bay water in brissie does what yours is doing & that is because they have soft water.

Maybe just a simple case of adding a little bicarb soda or epsom salts when you do water changes.

Frenchy

[Freakyfish]

Or if you want to use a high quality product

Get Nuetral regulator this product will buffer your water to 7

Very easy product to use and keeps fish tanks perfect

Brad

[herefishiefishie]

Or if you want to use a high quality product

Brad

Whats wrong with my good old cheap & nasty bicarb & epsom :lol:

The product Brad mentioned is a made by Seachem{high quality} & does do chlorine & chloramine.

Where I used to work we sold a similar product to those in the redland shire.

Frenchy

[Ira]

I use bird grit, easier to find than coral sand. Handful of coarse bird grit in the filter works for ages.

[jolliolli]

thanks for the suggestions, i might try the bicarb and epsom salts first, is there a particular dose rate i should use?

[alanmin4304]

Do a 50% water change each week-- less hassle, less money.

[SpidersWeb]

Bird Grit in the filter is a lot easier, as the pH drops more of the grit dissolves, so it sort of self-manages itself. I use coral sand because I bought a 10kg bag of the stuff. Bird grit will be easier to get though. Another option is just putting a shell in the tank.

But with baking soda, the 'rule' of sorts is 1tspn per 50L raises the KH by 4 degrees. I dont know what your KH level is, but I'd guess around 1 or less. I like a KH of 3, so lets say 1tspn per 80L, which would mean 2 tspns for your whole tank, and 1/10 of a teaspoon whenever you remove two buckets of water (bucket being 8 litres).

To see the affect of any of the methods above, you want a KH testing kit (Carbonate Hardness/Alkalinity). KH is the 'buffering capacity', more KH the less the pH swings, but it also raises the pH at the same time. Most my tanks sit at 7 - 7.5.

In all honesty though, with all that messing about, I'd just get some bird grit :lol:

[herefishiefishie]

The problem with grit & calcium carb.... is when will you know it is not buffering anymore?{ I do know the answer too lol} How often do you replace?

Buffer with powders will have slight variances.

Each way has a slight hassle,

Get your water tested first see what all the levels are. Remember epsoms raises the gh, bicarb kh.

1 tablespoon epsom,

1 teaspoon bicarb

1 teaspoon marine salt

per 20litres of water

Will raise RO water from

6.6ph, 1gh, 1kh to

7.6ph, 32gh, 8kh.

Frenchy

[SpidersWeb]

Oh and 'pH Up' is basically Baking Soda in a bottle.

[herefishiefishie]

Thats all that it is :lol:

The sechem product is very good, has different mix of chems.

Frenchy

[Lady-Lene]

Ok so let me get this straight ....

Bicarb raises the kH (and the pH in the process) and the higher the kH the more stable the pH.

Now ... epsoms raises the gH. What does gH do? and what should it be on? I never test the gH (even though its in my tester kit)

Thanks in advance

[jolliolli]

Ok well i'll try getting a test kit for kH and gH and then try sorting it from there either with bird grit (is that what its called in the shops?) or bicarb

[alanmin4304]

Bird grit is broken up oyster shell

[Ira]

The problem with grit & calcium carb.... is when will you know it is not buffering anymore?{ I do know the answer too lol} How often do you replace?

I never replace. JUst top up. It's pretty foolproof, unless you go nuts with the amount of grit it's going to slowly go up a bit above neutral and after a while slowly drift a bit below neutral. Just check the PH every few weeks if you're worried about it, which you'll need to be doing if you're adding baking soda anyway.

[herefishiefishie]

The gh is the hardness of the water. Which is more important with the Rift lake cichlids.

I don't check my ph etc. But someone that is new, or has varying factors with their tank should check their ph etc no matter what they do, especially in this case.

Frenchy

[TM]

You could cause more problems by adding chemicals to the water, not natural.

Best idea is (as Alan said) do more water changes.

Do you gravel clean?

How many fish are in the tank?

Is the filter due for a clean?

Is there good air flow around the tank?

Airstone?

All these things can help with ph problems.

Oh and Chch water tends to be quite hard so has quite good buffering.

[herefishiefishie]

You could cause more problems by adding chemicals to the water, not natural.

What unnatural chemicals have been mentioned?

You are right the most important reason is why the ph is crashing? That was the point of my question at the start, what are the gh, kh readings out of the tap? kh of 70 ppm and less will initiate the pH crash.

& Alans idea is good, if you can do it. But the water is dropping quickly too, you are still shocking the fish once a week, especially at 50%. Remember tank has dropped from 7.2 to 6.2 in one week. Maybe needed every 3 days.

Could always try taking the wood out for a couple of weeks and see what happens. You have to look at what is different between the 2 tanks, as other tank in the house is fine. Is it just the wood? Is the spray bar set upon the cannister so the top of the water is disturbed?

If it just the wood & it is not wanted to be removed, then you only need a short term fix.

Frenchy

[jolliolli]

You could cause more problems by adding chemicals to the water, not natural.

Best idea is (as Alan said) do more water changes.

Do you gravel clean?

How many fish are in the tank?

Is the filter due for a clean?

Is there good air flow around the tank?

Airstone?

All these things can help with ph problems.

Oh and Chch water tends to be quite hard so has quite good buffering.

Gravel Clean once every 2 weeks with around a 30 - 40% water change

Tank is 180 litres with 5 medium size goldfish, 2 Ruby Barbs, 6 Golden barbs, 2 danios, 3 Rosy barbs, 2 bristlenoses.

Filter proably is due for a clean, i replaced filter wool around 4 weeks ago, flow seems very good. Spray bar is positioned close to the surface and i get good water disturbance and ripples, so haven't added an airstone.

I thought chch water was soft?

[herefishiefishie]

Will someone test it please :lol:

Frenchy