PH advice for new ray kepper

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F

fizz08

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 22, 2008
50
0
0
UK
Hi Guys

Im after some advice as I seem to have run in some trouble (well according to my PH tests). I have had 2 orbignyi stingrays and 4 x small discus in my trigon 350 tank. I've had them for around 3 weeks now.

Last night I did a PH test with a kit that shows PH from 5-9. The PH is showing as being on 5 (or there abouts). I have checked the ammonia (0), nitirtes (0) and nitrates (10). Both the rays and 4 discus look fine and are eating, however the male ray does seem a bit lazy. The female is swimming around happily. I've read that anything below 6 is bad so was wondering if you could advise what id be better doing? Im currently on 50/50 RO/tap water. HELP!!!! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Fizz
 
Some extra info:

Im using sand substrate (non PH altering) and a piece of bogwood in there also. I do weekly water changes of 20% (50 litres - 25ltr RO / 25 ltr dechorlinated tap). Running 2 external cannister filters (fluval 404 & tetratec ex700). The fluval has some carbon in there thats been in for roughly 2 months.
 
Thnx for the reply Frosty, any ideas what could be causing this and would the PH stay the same if I used crushed coral to buffer or would it eventually fall again? Also howmuch coral would you recommend to get it to a PH of around 6.5? Tank is 350 ltrs
 
I have a 950 ltr tank with 2.25 kilos of crushed coral in the sump with a giant piece of bog wood and my PH is steady @ 7.2
As far as the carbon in your canister goes, that stops doing it's job after 2 weeks;
But I'm not a Ray keeper. For Arows some say that using carbon removes nutrients that Arowanas need and should not be used. Not sure if this applies to rays.
 
Hi, it seem to me that you have not so efficient filtration for whatsoever reason, and with the no so efficient filter and not enough water change, you eventually will face PH drop and the balance of Nitrate in your water.

this can be explained this way, due to the inefficiency of your filtration system, the residue will form some amonia (NH4+), and with some chemical reaction due to oxidation process with water molicule, it form NO2 which is Nitrite, then with some water reaction and oxidation process again, it end up with Nitrate (NO3) that is residued in your tank water. this can be better explain in the below equation :

NH4(+ion) + 2H2O --> NO2 + 8 H (8 Hidrogen Ion that cause the PH drop)
NO2 + H2O --> NO3 + 2 H (2 Hidrogen ion that cause further drop of PH)

and the residue from this process is NO3 which is Nitrate and this is not so harmful to ray.

the ray is able to tolerate different PH and hardness without problem, as long as the changes is happening slowly.

i hope this help.
 
First get an accurate meter and forget about the chemical tests.
Normally with pH below 5.5 you would get a false ammonia reading ( ammonium) . Your filter bacteria become biostatic at that low pH and do nothing, but with a zero reading your problem is probably low buffers. Do some water changes without the R/O water.
Also as mentioned, carbon needs to be replaced frequently as it reaches a saturation point. I think no carbon is better, instead make room for more bio filtration
 
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