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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 17, 2013
282
29
31
Brooklyn
Okay, so i have been having trouble after I disinfected my contaminated tank and replace a few things and cleaned my hob filter. I have a spare 20 gallon that was contaminated with hexamita. So after getting my fish back to health I moved them to another tank a bigger one. I started with overdosing the tank with clout to make sure all parasites and etc are removed. Then I cleared the tank by removing water and decor. I removed the gravel and bought new pool filter sand. Now I completely cleaned the hob filters with paper towels and hot water, the only thing I did not clean was the intake valve where it has bacteria growth and sludge on it in hopes it will reestablish beneficial bacteria. After removing all and cleaning the filters I wiped the emptied tank out with bleach wipes and I cleaned it with water for a couple days with dechlorinator. Then I emptied everything and filled the tank back up with fresh water using api water conditioner, washed 50lb pool filter sand, Malaysian driftwood, and some driftwood I bought from bigals a while ago. The hob filters are back and running and I have been testing the water with a small betta fish as the water tester so I dont risk losing any new Cichlids I plan to add. So now comes the liquid test. Here are the results, pH is 6.0 ammonia 0.25 ppm 0 nitrite 0 nitrates doing daily water changes about 25% a day. So in my mind the pH is way off, originally when my tank was setup and not cleaned completely my pH was a steady 7.2. I tested my tap-water and and it is 7.4 pH so it mad sense. I just dont understand why its 6.0 pH now. Anyone know why? My betta fish is swimming around stress free eating like a pig and etc. Please advise. Thanks!


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It is likely the wood bringing it down but to cover all bases can you be more precise on the pool sand? Do you have a label from the bag? There are different kinds of sand some will raise ph and some should not, then some have other stuff in them that may change ph up or down. I use a silica sand for my new tanks but have used other types of sand before.
 
take some tap water test PH then leave it for 24 hrs and test again
 
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