Tsarmina Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 the PH levels in almost all of my tanks has crashed. in my girl guppy tank: 6.2 boy gups: 6.0 knife & pleco tank: 6.0 comm tank: 6.2 blonde gup tank: 6.2 wcmm tank: 6.4 tap water: 7.0 i am, very slowly, adding PH up to the tanks. any ideas as to what may have caused this?? there has been nothing foreign added to any of the tanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Adding pH up without knowing the cause is a bad idea. It is not a permanent fix and the pH will drop rapidly again. Fish will tolerate a steady but high or low pH more readily that a wildly swinging pH which is what you are going to get. Most likely cause is something in the tank - gravel, driftwood or other common item present in all tanks, overstocking etc. By the way, 6.0 isn't a crash, merely a drop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Do you use a gas heater? could be CO2 in th air. Or the water company might be adding CO2 to the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsarmina Posted July 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 we have just started using a gas heater, which coincides with the time the ph levels dropped. is there anything that would help keep the ph at an even level? my guppy boys were not doing well and i have also lost 3 girls and a neon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 ph crashes when your kh isnt high enough to buffer it i think. i have to put shell grit in all my tanks to counteract this as out of the tap we have 0/1 dgh which means big ph swings you can put some grit in your filters if you like (the stuff you get from teh supermarkets birds eat) but it will up your ph a bit. i found a handful got the ph to 7.2 from 6.8 and the kh up to 3, gh up to 4 (i think, it was a while since i tested it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 Also check the carbonate hardness of the water out of the tap. Becareful when raisng the ph, this should only be done wih water changes. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freakyfish Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 Also one question Whats the maintenance on your tanks like? PH will naturally lower in your fish tank if there is nothing to keep it buffered up this is a result of the Nitrogen cycle. as everyone has said check your KH and GH levels and make sure they are high enough to stop another crash Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted July 6, 2006 Report Share Posted July 6, 2006 How's your tanks Tsmarina? Did you find out what caused all your tanks' pH to drop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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