chuckles Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 PH level is 5 and tap water is 7. Should I do a water change?? If so how much?? Fish a looking a little sad Have had 4 deaths in the last 5 - 6 weeks. Changed about 20% of water after last death two days ago Fish in tank are Tiger barbs x3 Danio X1 Crib x 1 Kak loach x2 ..........and counting downwards HELP PLEASE :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman98 Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 if you want to rasie ph buy a ph rasier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Welcome chuckles. What size is the tank and how long has it been set up? Is the pH usually that low in it? Does it have live or plastic plants and is it well planted or quite bare? How often do you do water changes? What are the ammonia nitrite and nitrate readings? What else is in the tank (eg decorations, driftwood etc) and what filtration are you using? I would suggest you find the cause of the problem rather than mask it with products to raise the pH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polgara Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Baking soda................But you should do a water change. I was allways told 1/3 a week. Sometimes I am a bit lazy and it is every two weeks. But yes water changes are very important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 You definitely need to do regular water changes. If that doesn't keep your PH up then baking soday works for a short term fix. For longer term I like to use bird grit in the filter, though, I'm guessing from the stocking of your tank it's a small one so you're probably not using a cannister. That makes things more complicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Hi Chuckles, Just to repeat some of what people have said already. Yes do water changes - nothing too extreme as it is recommended that any pH change be gradual. You should be doing about 25% water changes fortnightly just as regular tank maintenance anyway. As Ira and Polgara have mentioned baking soda is a temporary fix - probably the easiest way to add it is to dissolve it in the water change water - how much does depend on what your tap water pH is (7 in your case) - I'd probably add about 1/2 a teaspoon per 8 L bucket (assuming your only doing a 20-25% water change). Remember to monitor your pH (ie add a bucket of water, allow it to mix and test pH) - you don't want too rapid a change or to go the other way. The fish that you list are going to prefer the water neutral to slightly acid anyway so I'd probably be trying to get the water up to around 6.7-6.8 pH. I'm also curious about what a Kak loach is - not a very appealing name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 I suspect a typo Rob and it was meant to be a Pak (Pakistani) loach but I may be wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 good long term buffers, calcium carbonate, most people use here for there african set ups(buy as stone chip form), coral grit(cant get here now as its illegal), sea shells.....& the like. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Hi Chuckles, Hope you will return... been a couple of weeks since you posted If your pH is at 5, then something is causing it to be so low, so as Caryl points out.. Find the cause first. Have you any logs.. bits of wood... peat in the substrate or in a plant mix of sorts... ? All these will lower your pH, so check this first. Bird grit (as Ira says) will raise the ph. Pop some in a corner filter and it will raise the pH slowly. Replace every few days as it loses it's value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Why put bird grit in if u have to keep replacing it?? Be easier to use calcium carbonate, most common substract used here in aussie. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 When I first started putting bird grit in my biggest tank I tested the PH every couple days because I wasn't sure how long it would last. I stopped after about two months of no noticable drop in its effectiveness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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