Driftwood lowering ph way below. help a poor new fish ower out

[ricey0809]

sorry im completey new at this hobbie, still learning alot of stuff

 

[ricey0809]

lol ok ok, about a week ago i got my 10 gal tank. put in the gravel filter heater rocks and DRIFTWOOD. i let it sit as i added stress-zime abd cycle to it everyday. after alittle under a week later i decide to add fish in there and the fish died a a day after. i took the dead fishes out and added feeders to the tank, they also died (2 hours later). i THEN found out about ph and stuff and brought a testkit and tested my water. My water was at a PH lvl lower then the charts of the test kit (below 6.2) the color was pure yellow so im guessin 5.0-5.5 ph. at this point i had no fishes in there since they had all died. i TOOK out the DRIFTWOOD.
i then heard adding a very little bit of baking soda would rise the PH lvl (well the placed that said that said "baking powder") so i took alittle baking powder and put it in (my tank at this point was still fishless). i later foundout it was baking SODA and not powder, i then did a water change to take out mostof the powder white stuff (i took out most but couldnt get out all). i then checked the p again and it was good enuff for chidlids (it was at around 7.0). so i went out and brought 3 fire mouths and put them in yesterday, they seem to be doing OK now (one active one eatting and everything, one that looks weaker then the others and doesnt eat, and the small one that gets picked on but the active one a bit and eats little). my ph right now has droped again to like 6.2-6.4

Did i do anything wrong here? also would i be able to put my wood back in after my tank has cycled and i get exodon tetras?

 

[pdbrady]

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is commonly used as a water buffer....Even salt in a high enough concentration will kill fish.

Right, I understand this. It's a 10 gallon tank and he said he had lots of powder in the bottom of the tank. I was questioning the concentration.

 

[Bderick67]

Best thing you can do with the driftwood is soak it in a seperate bucket of water. The driftwood releases acidic tannis which does lower pH. By soaking it and changing the water every few days iut will help remove alot of the tannis.


Breaking down ammonia to nitrites then to nitrates also creates acid and lowers pH. As I said before get your tank cycled first, then you will add the driftwood, then you can work on stablizing your pH.

 

[ricey0809]

also i have had my fishes in there for almost a day now, but when i do ammonia test it saids i have zero ammonia? my tank couldnt of been cycled from leaving it fishless for a week with nothing but "cycle" and "stress-zime" right?

 

[pdbrady]

Did i do anything wrong here? also would i be able to put my wood back in after my tank has cycled and i get exodon tetras?

No, you're not doing anything wrong. I think my question with the baking soda was not communicated well (by myself ). It just sounds like you didn't have it stirred in well. After the tank has cycled, and you remove the fm, I would put in the driftwood and see what it does without fish. I would guess the ph will drop again. If this is the case you will have to keep your tank buffered regularly. The only other option is not to have such a large peice of driftwood.

 

[pdbrady]

also i have had my fishes in there for almost a day now, but when i do ammonia test it saids i have zero ammonia? my tank couldnt of been cycled from leaving it fishless for a week with nothing but "cycle" and "stress-zime" right?

It very well could have cycled. What does your nitrite and nitrate read? If nitrites are zero, and nitrates have a good reading, you're cycled.

 

[ricey0809]

=\ i lend my nitrite kit to my friend but i remeber the nitrite reading was 0 as well as ammonia the day before i added fishes in and my friend said "well this could either mean your tank is cycled OR it hasnt been cycled at all" also i was thinking for a 10 gal tank to cycle would be ALOT ALOT faster then say a 50 gal right? (like maybe 1 week to cycle)

 

[pdbrady]

=\ i lend my nitrite kit to my friend but i remeber the nitrite reading was 0 as well as ammonia the day before i added fishes in and my friend said "well this could either mean your tank is cycled OR it hasnt been cycled at all" also i was thinking for a 10 gal tank to cycle would be ALOT ALOT faster then say a 50 gal right? (like maybe 1 week to cycle)

Your friend was right, either it's done, or hasn't started at all. There are a lot of factors to consider as far as the speed of cycling (using bacteria, fish cycling-quantity of fish, etc), but generally speaking, yes, the 10 should cycle pretty quick.

 

[ricey0809]

hey guys its me again *sigh* im getting such a big headache, for some reason my PH wont stay up. its dropping right now and is almost below 6.2. im scared my chichlids cant handle it. even tho i took the driftwood out can the water that was lefted by my wood still lower PH? and also is it true that if the PH is TOO low the tank wont be able to cycle?

you think i should do a 30% water change (i just did a water change yesterday)