Ph - too low?

[Lady-Lene]

Hey all.

400 ltr tank is doing well except for a couple of hiccups.

First problem is my pH seems a little low. Sitting between 6 and 6.5. Is that a problem? Fish don't seem to mind too much around 6.5 but when it gets around 6 my gouramis sit on the bottom a little too much (not good as one little powder blue is recovering from being sucked up the filter ). What can I do to boost it a little? I tried Baking Soda as I thought that would raise the kH and maybe make it a little more stable but it just keeps dropping. Tap water is only 6 so water changes make it worse. Some shells maybe? Annd if so how much?

Second is green algae. Have scrubbed and cleaned and used algae fix, turned the lights off and still it persists on coming back on my driftwood. Any suggestions.

Is it likely these problems are related?

Cheers

[Rozski]

pH should be fine as long as it is stable. I use rainwater in my tanks and the pH is low in them too. My big tank was measuring around 6.2 the other day, raised to 6.4 when I last checked as I put a cuttlebone (bought one of the budgie ones) into the filter. Have neons, bristlenose, danios and now two cories in my tank, all seem fine (neons were spawning the other day even)

As to the algae...do you have any algae eaters? Tho my bristlenose isnt doing a great job of cleaning the green hairy specs on my front glass. That'll have to wait until I put some Otos in (I hope they'll clean it)

Had dwarf gouramis in my small tank which also has a low pH. No luck with the males, but apparently they are hard fish to keep alive sometimes. I don't think the pH was the problem. Female is still doing well *shrugs*

[Ianab]

pH of 6 should be OK for most gourami...

What else have you got in the tank? Some other species prefer more alkaline water, but generally I think most fish prefer stable pH rather than fluctuating around the 'ideal'.

Any algae eaters? Bristlenose or Oto cats should help keep algae under control, or as you have a decent sized tank you might have room for a bigger Goldspot pleco. Mine seem to do a pretty good job on the algae

Cheers

Ian

[Lady-Lene]

I put a cuttlebone

- Cool - I think I'll give that a try. Its at least stable!

I have 2 male cobalt blue gouramis, 1 male pearl, pair of honey dwarf gouramis, 8 corys, 2 platys, 8 cardinals, 1 red tailed shark, 1 rummynose, 3 clown loaches, 3 black tetras, 2 Basaam Tetras, 1 female siamese fighter, 2 glass catfish and one 'something' ... ah I think thats it. Which of these would be most likely to be upset by low pH?

do you have any algae eaters

No - been meaning to get some pitbull plecos but they don't have them at LFS so have to go to Hams to get them. Best get onto that :lol: Used to have a large pleco but he was into landscaping my planted tank so had to give him away.

Doing some renovating so have to move the tank (twice). Not looking forward to that

Thanks for your help.

[Ianab]

Used to have a large pleco but he was into landscaping my planted tank so had to give him away.

Yup.. they do make like a blundering elephant around the tank :lol:

A couple of the the smaller species should suit you better

The cuttlefish idea should be fine, it will only adjust the pH slowly and in a fairly stable way. It will increase the hardness of the water too, but I'm guessing your water is very soft at the moment if the pH is low, so that wont hurt.

Cheers

Ian