Need to raise my pH... How many water changes will it take?

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Plec123

Plec123

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 26, 2009
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Hey all, haven't posted here in forever, nice to be back.
I got home from college for winter break and found the pH of my tank to be quite low, probably like 5.5, which isnt HORRIBLE because most of my fish can deal with pretty acidic water. But, my aluminum catfish is suffering from it and ive been doing water changes every few days to get it back up, usually like 20-30% at a time. My tap pH is pretty much 7.0 on the dot. Anyone have any idea how many water changes ill have to do to get the pH back up to like 6.5 or close to 7?
 
Plec123 said:
Hey all, haven't posted here in forever, nice to be back.
I got home from college for winter break and found the pH of my tank to be quite low, probably like 5.5, which isnt HORRIBLE because most of my fish can deal with pretty acidic water. But, my aluminum catfish is suffering from it and ive been doing water changes every few days to get it back up, usually like 20-30% at a time. My tap pH is pretty much 7.0 on the dot. Anyone have any idea how many water changes ill have to do to get the pH back up to like 6.5 or close to 7?
Click to expand...

I have a very low Ph also. Didn't know until my new fish starting dying. The only thing besides the fish is a piece of driftwood. I found out that crushed raises the Ph. I use it mixed with my gravel. You can do it my way or put the in some pantyhose and put it in whatever you use for filtration. Get the crushed coral. Also, you can never put too much coral because the Ph can only rise up to a certsin amount. My Ph was about 6 with a large piece of drifwood but after I added the crushed coral it went up to about 7.6-7.8 even with the wood. Let me know if you have any questions, Ed.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
I would agree with the crushed coral, or you could add any type of limestone.

With you away at college, I'm assuming someone else is taking care of basic routine maintenance for you in your absence (i.e. water changes and feeding). If that is true, you want to make sure you have something that will buffer your pH while you are away and can't gravel vac or clean filters as often. Limestone or crushed coral would do just that.
 
Thanks for the input guys. Yeah myparents feed the fish while i'm away but they dont change the water so i do it when i come home... a buffer is a good idea but i dont want the pH going too high either, because all my fish thrive in slightly acidic water. I'll probably add some baking soda and see if i can raise the pH that way... would it take a lot? like more than the standard small box?
 
crush coral or aragonite sand ( my preference) will buffer your water only what it can tolerate ( Ie its not going to over buffer it) and imo is the most stable way of raising/keeping your ph high. I keep a bag of it in my sumps even though I don't have ph issues I look at it as a safety net. I keep mostly African and sa/na fish. No discus or anything that is really sensitive to a ph of 7.5-8. Not sure if there are any real negatives to this as my fish all seem to thrive despite it.
 
+1 to the bag of crushed coral in filter/sump it'll raise your ph gradually so it doesn't effect your fish , the driftwood will be bringing the ph down it your tank so the coral will cobat that keeping it at a steady level
 
I have a lot of droftwood so that makes sense. I'll throw a bag of aragonite or crushed coral in the big HOB filter I have and see what happens.
 
Just monitor the ph level and eventually you'll work out how much you need in your filter to keep the balance correct
 
Since your pH is that low, you don't want to bring it up all at once, that could cause pH shock. Each 10th down on the pH scale is 10 times more acidic, and 1 whole point is 100 times more acidic. Do partial water changes every day or twice per day until it equalizes, then add the crushed coral or aragonite as a buffer.
Because there have been no water changes while you are gone, your fish have adapted to living in there own urine.
 
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