Sudden PH drop

njdsmer

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2010
6
4
33
new jersey
I have a canister filter that I installed about two weeks ago and all of a sudden last night my PH suddenly dropped. Is this a problem caused by Purigen? I do have crushed coral in the substraight. I am now battling a bacterial/fungus bloom and lost two africans already. I treated it with aquarium salt and API fungus cure powder. Has anybody ever experienced this and can help me?
 

PDRed302

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2011
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66
Fort Worth Texas

duanes

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When you added the canister, did you take a seasoned filter out of service?
Did you add seasoned media to the canister?
A pH drop is usually associated with filter media not being able to process fish urine.
Biological filtration is not about stuff you can see like feces, its about processing what you cannot see, fish urine.
Fresh water fish are constantly urinating thru the gills 24/7, and seasoned bio media, and a totally cycled tank can usually process the load.
New media cannot, and a pH crash and ammonia buildup are sometimes the result, especially if your water change water is low in alkalinity (buffering capacity), and you are not doing frequent water changes.
 

Apexden

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jan 17, 2011
73
0
36
55
USA
what is your GH and KH at?
 

njdsmer

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2010
6
4
33
new jersey
It was a brand new canister filter, but I do have the biowheel that has been there since the beginning and has been through the cycling of the tank. I have been averaging about a 7.2-7.5 ph and that was because I have crushed coral on my substraight. Without the crushed coral I average about a 5 in ph. My Africans were just fine for several weeks but then suddenly over the weekend everything went down hill.
 

njdsmer

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2010
6
4
33
new jersey
No, I did the water testing the day after doing a 5 gallon water change, that's when my ph dropped and all of my other levels were dangerously high and so I did a 15 gallon water change. It's a 55 gallon tank and the next day 2 of my Africans died.
 
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