Hi I am new and am still figuring out how this works. I am having some difficulties with my ph level and am concerned. I own a 29 gal tank and started this hobby in Dec.2007. I cycled my tank with 6 danios(lost one due to an ornament)and the rest are well. In Jan.2008 I purchased 2 peacock gudgeons,and in Feb. a male and 2 female dwarf gouramis. All of my levels were great until recently. My amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5.0, and ph a steady 6.6. I have never tested for kh or gh and do a 4 gal. water change every other day with a gravel cleaning when I felt it needed it,but only portions at a time. I feed my fish once a day, not too much,but just enough. About a week and a half ago I decided to get my last 2 fish (bolivian rams) which are in quarenteen right now and a piece of bogwood. I let the bogwood soak in hot water for a few hours and then added it to my tank. I did not do alot of research on it,like I did with my fish. In a couple of days I noticed one of my gudgeons was hiding out,which was unusual,and felt something was wrong. So I tested my water perimeters and found that my ph level dropped to 6.2 from 6.6. I freaked. I called my lfs and talked with someone knowledgable about aquaria and found that bogwood lowers the ph. I took the bogwood out and did quite a bit of water changes,and also added 2 tablets of the jungle jim buffer tablets(which I kinda regret doing),but too late. At first the level came up to 6.4,but dropped back down again,so I did some more water changes and the results were the same. I called my lfs and spoke with another person and she said to leave it alone and that I am messing around too much with the tank and that it will adjust back on it's own. I call somewhere else and they say to put crushed coral or shell in it to raise it back up. I don't want to be too hasty and make any fatal mistakes. Please help!
PH drop frustration
- Thread starter Carlene
- Start date
Don't panic. Your fish will probably be fine. Low pH is a lot better than constantly changing pH. In fact, Rams prefer acidic water. I would leave it as it is. Driftwood does indeed lower the pH, but if you boil it and soak it for a while, it will stop releasing tannins, so it shouldn't affect the pH anymore.
i had a problem like this, to keep my ph more stable and to raise it, i used, crushed coaral in a media bag, just alittle bit and put in filter, i would add some everday to see if it was changeing. if still haveing problems bakeing soda worked wounders for me. just mix in a bowl tell its all mixed in b4 you dump it.
oh just dont poor in the crished coral bc then if you haft to take some out u will have a harder time
wa state huh, good to have another join our wa state mfk group lol. but ya, i have same water type it sounds like, and it took me a little bag of crushed coral and alittle bit of disoved bakeing soda and now i just add alittle bakeing soda hear and there when needed when i do water changes, i always just add alittle wait and see then add alittle, im just frea out when adding stuff like that to tank so i always play safe and carefull. but now i no the amont i need so i just toss in there. hope this helps