Help ph problem

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brawler1588

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2009
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mahopac
I am having trouble keeping the ph balanced in my brackish tank what can i do to keep it more in check. There is monos scats archers and shark cats. chemical crushed coral any thing that you guys know that will help me
 
Tell us more about your tank. Size, SG, substrate, # of inhabitants & their sizes? Are you using marine salt? Water change schedule? What's the pH of your tap?
 
55 gallon with carin sea white sand substrate rena xp3 and aquaclear 50, shark cats are 2.5 inches 2 of them, 2 mono zebra 3inches, 1 silver scat 2.5 3 inches 1 ruby scat about the same size as the silver and 4 archers a out 3 inches. Ph from tap is around 7.8 and 8.0 sg is about 1.004 not marine salt yet. Water change is about 2-3 weeks
 
Thanks for that info. My guess it the bioload is too much for this tank, so the pH cannot stay stable. Whenever you do a WC it goes more towards what your tap water is & then all those fish pea in the water (acid), dropping the pH.
What are your other parameters: ammonia/nitrite/nitrate?
How did you cycle this tank?
For brackish water, you must use marine salt.

As far as your stocking, have you looked into the adult sizes of your fish & the tank size for them as adults?
 
Ammonia and nitrite is close to zero and as for there adult size the biger guys are slow growers and I will have a larger tank for them by then. Any sugestions chemicals or anything to keep it more stable
 
Again I ask, how did you cycle this tank? ANY amount of ammonia/nitrite is extremely toxic to your fish & means the tank is not cycled. Adding chemicals will only cause a pH swing, which is more stressful to your fish. You should be doing a minimum of 50% weekly WC on that tank & start using marine salt to make it brackish.

These fish are not slow growers, especially the scats. They are considered the garbage cans of the BW world--comparable to Oscars & goldfish. They eat tons & produce HUGE amounts of waste. They grow as large as a dinner plate & require 50g ea. Same for each mono. Shark cats grow to 18" & need a minimum of 50g ea. We're talking at least 300+g for these fish as adults.
 
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