s3xtcy Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 Hey all, I moved my tank yesterday and now my PH has gone down really low, really quickly, Ive read that I can use Baking Soda to raise the Ph Level - is this true? Whats the safest way to use it? How much should I use? I will perform a 30% or so water change and hopefully that will help But please respond ASAP with how to use baking soda effectively! Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcs Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 Dont raise it really quick. The quick change will kill your fish rather than the low ph. do it gradually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 Hey all, I moved my tank yesterday and now my PH has gone down really low, really quickly, Ive read that I can use Baking Soda to raise the Ph Level - is this true? Whats the safest way to use it? How much should I use? I will perform a 30% or so water change and hopefully that will help But please respond ASAP with how to use baking soda effectively! Cheers! How low is really really low? And you probably don't want to raise the PH too quickly. Easiest way is just siphon out a bucket of water, put a bit of baking soda in the water, stir, pour back into the tank. And how high of a PH are you wanting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted May 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 ok, so WC, still 30%? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 ok, so WC, still 30%? Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted May 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 great, thank for the fast response!! just out of interest now.. can baking soda be used? - and how? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaway Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 What made your pH go low? What fish are in the tank? What is the actual pH reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted May 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 6.0 according to my chart, I started typing this, checked pH last night, just under 7.0, Ill just paste what I had to start with - except now I know the answer to why the fish are acting a bit wierd.. but if theres anything else that anyone can think of to correct I would be grateful for any input Hello all, sorry about the vagueness of the title, but my fish are being a bit weird... I moved my tank yesterday, from the lounge/dining where it was getting too much sunlight (and turning the water so green you couldn't see through it in 2days) to the hallway where its a lot darker so hopefully the water stays clearer! Anyway, I removed the fish and put them all together in a large large bucket, with water from the tank and a heap of stress-coat, I put the plants etc in there too so they could hide out , And I also kept as much of the original aquarium water as possible (a full CF1200 Filter, 3x 10litre buckets and however big the huge green bucket is (approx 25-30L). When I moved the tank I moved the substrate around a little, and added some nice stones etc in there, which of course made the water very cloudy and probably sent the ammonia levels through the roof, I then sucked out most of the water that was cloudy, and started refilling the aquarium with water from the buckets and fresh water treated with plenty of stress-coat. After that I had a minor heart attack, I heard a fizzling sort of noise coming from the tank, as I walked closer I heard a loud POP and could smell burning electrics, and saw pieces of glass floating to the bottom of the tank, I raced and turned off the electricity, and found that my heater had disintegrated and was hanging in about 3 different parts :evil: :evil: thankfully none of the fish started floating, as I thought they may do! I noticed last night some of the fish (mainly the two sword-tails, one male, one female) are hanging around the ground area a lot, and the rainbow sharks were doing the same. This morning they were a little more lively however I'm still a little worried, the sword-tails are not as active as they were... the female is hanging around the top alot, just with her mouth at the edge of the water.. The angels have gone back to fighting and the Odessa's are chasing eachother around again and the Tiger Barbs have their orange back, but I a a little worried, the Rainbow Sharks are not very active and neither are the swordtails, particularly the female, any ideas? Can take pics if required? Please tell me if I am just being paranoid or if something needs to be done! Many thanks!! FYI - Tank - AR620T Filters - Stock AR620T filter and Aqua One CF1200 Substrates - Medium Black gravel & Mixed stones Plants - Unknown Names, Will post pics if required Temp - 27 Degrees pH - 6.0 - Crap just realised this is bad bad bad, - and this is where I started this thread from. Fish - 1x Black Lace Angel (Male) 1x Marble Angel (Male) 1x Marble Angel (Female) 2x Large Golden Striped Loaces 4x Tiger Barbs 4x Male Odessa Barbs 2x Female Odessabarbs 1x Black Male Sword-Tail 1x Black Female Sword-Tail 1x Golden Bristle-nose Plecostomus 1x Rainbow Shark 1x Albino Rainbow Shark Sooo in answer to you're question, not sure what made it drop so suddenly, could it be lack of sunlight? compared with heaps yesterday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 6.0 is fine for those fish though? Rapid changes in pH are more likely to harm fish than the level on its own. Calm down dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N1CK Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 6.0 is fine for those fish though? Rapid changes in pH are more likely to harm fish than the level on its own. Calm down dude. +1 I would just leave it as it is, changing the PH level again is likely to stress them out more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 yeah , don't stress out too much about the pH. I found one of my tanks had low pH (it was 6.2) and I usually aim for around 7.0. My tap water is a lot higher so I just did 20% water changes every second day and it slowly came back up again at a rate that didn't stress the fishies out. It seems to have stabilised. In my case, I think there was a build up of too much organic matter..the water changes help with that too. Perhaps the stirring up of the gravel gunk when you shifted the tank had an effect. Do you have any TLC or other bacteria supplement you can add? It might help get things into balance again after the tank shift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 yeah, don't worry about the pH. my puffer tank sits at about pH4.5 or so. best not to alter it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaway Posted May 9, 2010 Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 Agree with everyone. Don't worry about pH going just one point below 7. Just because a fish website quotes that a certain fish needs to be kept at pH 6.8-7.2 doesn't mean you have to have it EXACTLY within those parameters. Having the pH drop for a bit will not be detrimental to your fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted May 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2010 ok, thanks for the feedback, last time it dropped this low i lost half my fish so was starting to worry again, was an expensive exercise... the tank has always sat at pretty much bang on 7.0, my chart only goes down to 6.0 and it was on the yellower side of the chart, thanks heaps for the feedback Perhaps the stirring up of the gravel gunk when you shifted the tank had an effect. Do you have any TLC or other bacteria supplement you can add? It might help get things into balance again after the tank shift. I have the normal Cycle stuff, and stresscoat, is this what you mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N1CK Posted May 10, 2010 Report Share Posted May 10, 2010 ok, thanks for the feedback, last time it dropped this low i lost half my fish so was starting to worry again, was an expensive exercise... the tank has always sat at pretty much bang on 7.0, my chart only goes down to 6.0 and it was on the yellower side of the chart, thanks heaps for the feedback A PH of 6 isn't that low, are you sure something else didn't kill them?, or is the PH charts lowest measurement 6? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted May 10, 2010 Report Share Posted May 10, 2010 ok, thanks for the feedback, last time it dropped this low i lost half my fish so was starting to worry again, was an expensive exercise... Is it possible to get insurance on fish?? Like if the tank breaks or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted May 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2010 A PH of 6 isn't that low, are you sure something else didn't kill them?, or is the PH charts lowest measurement 6? Yes, 6 is the lowest on my chart.. Bright yellow, does the range exist further either side? my range goes from 6.0 to 7.8, What would happen and is it possible, for the test to turn say red? Is it possible to get insurance on fish?? Like if the tank breaks or something? The tank wasnt worth it, was a 2nd hand job on a old chest-of-drawers, and luckily for me I had moved the fish out the day before as some had died overnight and I was eliminating options in a cheap way - if they didnt die in the new tank, chances are somthing was up with that tank anyways, the point being, at 0730 on a monday, late for work, i heard water, joy... the story went 160+ litres on the floor. Brand new carpet. grrr all fixed now though and back down to one tank.. anyways in answer to you're question, the tank aparantly could be claimed under insurance, (I have house and contents), and as for the fish im not sure, anyone done it before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted May 10, 2010 Report Share Posted May 10, 2010 Depending on the brand you can get high range and low range test kits. The colour at the top and bottom of the scale are as far as that particular kit will measure and the colour will not change at the high or low end of the scale, so whilst it may appear that you have a ph of 6 it may be in fact much lower and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted May 11, 2010 Report Share Posted May 11, 2010 I'd test for ammonia again, it's quite possible that because of the disturbances your biological filter is out of sorts and not processing your fishes' waste as well. Ammonia tends to make pH drop, especially if your water has quite a low KH. As with most problems, a few water changes should bring it up a little and in a few weeks your biological filter will catch up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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