Overly stock and ph

[duanes]

Fresh water fish constantly urinate....uric acid.....pH drops.
But as RD stated, the alkalinity of your water (its buffering capacity) has the ability to neutralize the acid (urine).
If you have tap water with a high alkalinity, you can in theory, overstock a little, and with enough water changes to replenish the acid buffers, the pH may not crash.
If the alkalinity of your water is low, and you overstock, pH can easily crash, and your fish are living (?) in acid/urine.

 

[RD.]

And one can always increase the buffering capacity of their tank water by using media bags of crushed oyster shell, crushed coral, etc in their filters.

 

[noelsfishland]

See what your ph is now if its on the bottom end of low ph I would add crushed coral I have been doing this for while now and its works great.to give you an example were to start. I use a 40 pound bag and mix into my red river gravel and that brought my ph up to 6.8 to 7.0 I have found out threw trial and error that is better to get a larger size crushed coral because the coral starts to break down and dissolve from the chemical interaction.get at least #8 or 10 size it will last longer than the smaller aginite.you still need to weekly maintenance of vacuuming and trying to keep organic waste low or your nitrites could surge.my tank is over stocked and that is what I do to keep my fish healthy and happy

 

[RD.]

it's not his tank ........

 

[noelsfishland]

what do you mean its not his tank?

 

[RD.]

Read the first post, the OP was asking about a tank that he saw, not his/her personal tank.

 

[noelsfishland]

I lost track from the beginning but my advice would be the same.of coarse coral would be relative to any size tank,my comparison was to get a an Idea how much coral retaliative to water in gallons rather than actual size of what ever size aquarium he decided to set up.

 

[Pomatomus]

The pH drop is directly correlated with the nitrifying process (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), and is natural in the aquarium. If you have denitrification, the opposite happens. Your nitrate production is correlated with the amount of proteins and other nitrogenous products added to the aquarium (i.e. feed)...

...So the more you have to feed, the more your pH will drop. And when you have more fish you have to feed more. A little baking soda will add alkalinity to your system, preventing the pH from dropping as much. pH starts to become a big issue when it drops below about 6, and "old tank syndrome" sets in.