adjusting ph with my rays in the tank???

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J

jwolf

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 11, 2010
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ozzie land
i have a PH of about 5.5 or close to it and im preety shaw my bacteria has gon dormant.?? therfore i would much rather my ph be up around 6.5 or so. so what is the safest way to slowly bring it up and hold it there. my tapwater has a ph of 7 so thats good and i have a big log in my tank witch is probly dropping the ph. my peacock bass and rays love this log so i dont want to remove it. i have a glass bottom and alot of flooting weed. any sugestions and help will be amazing thanks. the amonia is high but i do alot of water changes and the nitrate and nitrie is 0 thats y i think the bacteria is dormant???:screwy: im scared for my rays if i start adjusting the ph
 
If the log is what is dropping your pH, I would suggest removing it. But there are things you can do to raise pH as well, such as adding crushed coral to the sump.

You really shouldn't have ammonia in a cycled tank, but as you stated you think your bacteria has gone dormant, so really all you can do is keep ammonia low (I believe it is at 4ppm that it no longer can efficiently convert, but obviously that is very high) and your water clean until you can resolve the pH problem.

I doubt your rays love the log, as they like to have a lot of tank space in the bottom. Another reason to remove. Maybe add some driftwood instead in its place, that doesn't have a lot of bottom contact. Manzman has a lot of nice pieces in the vendor section.
 
Ammonia isnt that toxic at low level of PH, this should be kept in mind when you raise it. I would suggest adding a little coral sand as mentioned, little now and little then, dont drop to much at same time, as it can couse drastic change. I myselfe have coral sand in my ray tank, works like a charm, had same problem as you.
 
Tor-Eriik said:
Ammonia isnt that toxic at low level of PH, this should be kept in mind when you raise it. I would suggest adding a little coral sand as mentioned, little now and little then, dont drop to much at same time, as it can couse drastic change. I myselfe have coral sand in my ray tank, works like a charm, had same problem as you.
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thanks heaps bro thats the answer i was looking for :) i have bout 800 leters of water in the 6 by 2 by 2 and the sump so how much coral rock or oster shells should i add to the sump? i dont want sand coz i like the glass bottom and the water flow is quite high so probly muck the sand up.
 
If your tank is pH 5.5 or 6 and your tap is pH 7, you can simply change water - you'll be removing ammonia and the average pH clearly can't come up above 7.
 
I see where you are going pete, but the problem is that after a waterchange, the ph can drop drasticaly, it did here anyways. Factors that couse this is big bioload + driftwood.And with coral sand you can stable it, wich is better for you, and for the rays. Its way easyer to do a very big waterchange if the ph in the tank is the same as in the tap. For me with the coral sand i bought 25 kilo bag, added 2 liters one day, waited some days and took some measurements, and added more if i had to. You should measure every now and then, as the effect can drop a little over time. Thats why i bought 25kg, so i could add more when i had to. I just added it stright to the tank, did that becouse the rays blow in the sand all the time, and keep the coral moving, so it will give the effect you want. You could also add to the filter, if you do that, you perhaps dont need that much, since the waterflow will work on it constantly insted of only when the rays blow.
 
Ammonia will eventually kill the rays, I would remove the log, get some coral sand in the filter to buffer the water and then re-add the log if you really have to.

You may want to soak the log for a few months and keep changing the water, try a large dustbin. Yu may be able to explore the safety of yacht varnish as it may hold in the tannins but I don't know if it is tank safe.

Personally I would burn the log if it messed with my water and risked the lives of my fish.
 
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