PH crashes in Ray Tanks

[Thekid]

Fish in the wild aren't exposed to any of the chemicals such as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. The dilution of the water keeps the fish healthy. There's no tank that's big enough with the smallest fish in the world to replicate this. I know there was a member on here who was running a high tech Co2 system that forgot to do a waterchange for a month and ran the ph down to 3.0 with his angels.

There's different strains of bacteria for different levels of ph and different temps and that all plays a role in spikes, crashes, or stability. If You want to keep your tank at 6.0 do it, if you want to keep it at 3.5 and 55 degrees you can however you'll need a much larger bio filter to compensate for the needed much larger colony.

 

[MHcblues119]

I honestly think you need to leave your tank alone. Do weekly 50% water changes. Cut down on feeding. Every other day is more than enough. The only think I have ever added to my tank is salt. Run your temp at like 82, keep up with water changes and cut down on feeding and your tank should turn around

 

[Reedmaster16]

Don't know your filtration system or tank details. Reading your responses I would wager that either you are overstocked, underfiltered, did not allow tank to fully cycle, or a combination of the three. I did not mention overfeeding because your filtration should be designed to support the feeding volume and bio load.

If your water chemistry and nitrogen cycle knowledge is proficient. You would know that pH can drop if waste and ammonia build up and contribute to an acidity level KH (carbonate hardness) cannot buffer. That's the most likely explanation with current feedings of 1lb per day to 5 large rays. You said you lost 3 to a prior PH crash, meaning you potentially had 8 rays in one system. <-- My rationale for the overstocking guess.

You want to have your tank water and source water chemistry close to prevent parameter fluctuations inducing stress during water changes. That is unless you have bad water, and require a water ageing system that dials in water chemistry to the desired level before using it for water changes. The crush coral bandaid alters chemistry of tank water from source adding stress during water changes.

SHARK13 had sound advice regarding stability and consistency and you called him a jerk. Not the best play when asking for help.

 

[DB junkie]

Well I was going to add my 2 cents but people are already being called "jerks".

Why post a thread about something IF you already have it made up in your mind that you know the answer?

A reliable source has told me he took readings from the amazon where the PH was so low it actually gave the skin a burning sensation, WELL under 6 (believe 4.5) fish were fine in it.

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Who told you to put crushed coral in a ray tank?

 

[greenerinks]

Lol @ db junkie I'm weary to comment but in my personal experience my water hovers between 5-7 pH with mostly 5.5 ish and my fish seem to be very happy and comfortable. I do 40-50% every 3 days. After my WC, it's usually close to 7 and before my WC it dips to 5.5. So the pH is constantly dropping from all the waste being produced. It's all from feeding as when I don't feed, the water can be maintained in pristine conditions. The lowest I had found water to be after heavy feedings and no water change for like 5 days would reach 4.9 which would scare me lol and I immediately do a WC. For the most part I've learned that fish are pretty adaptable and I haven't tried to use baking soda to nullify the pH only rather doing heavy water changes. I suspect the effect from baking soda that is carried in the water that the rays are sensitive to. Just try doing more WC, i know it's a pain in the ass but it's part of the hobby. I had a electricity leak from something in my piranha/exodon tank and I couldn't even stand to touch the water because of the strong electric current and the fish were absolutely fine.. Just my two cents.

 

[SHARK13]

Lol @ db junkie I'm weary to comment but in my personal experience my water hovers between 5-7 pH with mostly 5.5 ish and my fish seem to be very happy and comfortable. I do 40-50% every 3 days. After my WC, it's usually close to 7 and before my WC it dips to 5.5. So the pH is constantly dropping from all the waste being produced. It's all from feeding as when I don't feed, the water can be maintained in pristine conditions. The lowest I had found water to be after heavy feedings and no water change for like 5 days would reach 4.9 which would scare me lol and I immediately do a WC. For the most part I've learned that fish are pretty adaptable and I haven't tried to use baking soda to nullify the pH only rather doing heavy water changes. I suspect the effect from baking soda that is carried in the water that the rays are sensitive to. Just try doing more WC, i know it's a pain in the ass but it's part of the hobby. I had a electricity leak from something in my piranha/exodon tank and I couldn't even stand to touch the water because of the strong electric current and the fish were absolutely fine.. Just my two cents.

Now there is someone who is being honest! If you actually watch your pH daily, and even hourly, it fluctuates more than you realize... Mine is pretty much the same! I think we have a lower KH than some others. Lowest I have seen my pH was 4.6, absolutely no negative effects on any of the livestock including the bacteria covered K1 media... No changes in eating habbits from the fish. Just more vibrant colors imo.
Usually when mine dips lower its time to clean the sponges out. With heavy feedings twice a day I'm usually running between 5-6. One heavy feeding or 2 light feedings a day I'm running 6-6.2. I'm dripping in at about 6.4-6.5 and not a real aggressive drip anymore either. I'm probably at about 60-70 gallons a day on a 300 gallon system. I use to drip 150 gpd. My rays and SA fish absolutely love the soft water. From what I have learned from my personal experience, rays adapt very well to reasonably slow changes in water chemistry. If you pH swings a little bit here and there it really doesn't bother them because it's a slow adaption. Now I'm not talking about big swing from 7 to 4.5 in a few hours. I'm talking 6 to 5.6 over the course of a few days is not as big of a deal as some would lead you to believe.
But you may ask how is this possible Shark???? When bacteria doesn't grow in acidic water below the magic number of 6 on the pH scale? Which apparently pH in the wild does not dip down below 6 either because all the locals in South America add baking soda to the water daily to keep it buffered... I read it on the internet, it must be true... I wonder if all the bacteria talk to each other and once the pH reaches 5.99 they all commit suicide together? I may be a jerk but at least I'm not an idiot lol

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Rays are built for soft water and more problems can rise with harder water then with soft IMO

 

[greenerinks]

I lol'd at SHARK13 last sarcastic paragraph :x but yes in general I think these are all relative and relevant points that we have personally experienced. The only time I've used baking soda to reduce acidity is when I have a gout flare up which works quite well. Unfortunately for our bodies we can't just do a 50% water change every couple days.. Lol

 

[Zbosco13]

Ok this may be a newbish question(s), but wanted to confirm dispel a couple things I've heard.
First, I've read a couple places that lower pH, in the 5.5-6.5 range is better for our SA rays, and that their colors tend to be brighter when kept in water at that range, and tend to be a bit more dull/dark in the 6.5-7.5 range. True or myth?
Piggybacking off that, if that is true #1 is it worthwhile to make an effort to keep your pH in that range if your tap comes out at 7.3 and stays 7.3 from when it goes in tank until next WC? And if the answer to that is yes, how would one go about doing so?