Ph Level I'm very confused

[Catfish093]

Hello sorry for the incoming question but I'm a little stumped as I've never had this problem before. My current tank is 600 Litres and I have a Fluval FX6 filter on there with standard setup inside other than I've got some of that Bio Home media in. My animals inside are as follows x1 Large Oscar, x2 Bichir, x1 Chocolate Chiclid

My Ph level is reading at 4 which is in the danger zone as we all know but I've not done anything to it at all. I've tried adding more bogwood, done water changes everything I can think of. I've also got some Chemical enhancements for the Ph level (Ph Up and Ph Down.)

Because the Ph level reads at 4 in essence should I be adding Ph Up or will that make it more acidic? And will Ph down make it less acidic?

Really lost on what other steps I should be taking as this has never happened before. I hate knowing that my water is causing my animals distress.

 

[tlindsey]

Hello sorry for the incoming question but I'm a little stumped as I've never had this problem before. My current tank is 600 Litres and I have a Fluval FX6 filter on there with standard setup inside other than I've got some of that Bio Home media in. My animals inside are as follows x1 Large Oscar, x2 Bichir, x1 Chocolate Chiclid

My Ph level is reading at 4 which is in the danger zone as we all know but I've not done anything to it at all. I've tried adding more bogwood, done water changes everything I can think of. I've also got some Chemical enhancements for the Ph level (Ph Up and Ph Down.)

Because the Ph level reads at 4 in essence should I be adding Ph Up or will that make it more acidic? And will Ph down make it less acidic?

Really lost on what other steps I should be taking as this has never happened before. I hate knowing that my water is causing my animals distress.

What is the ph reading from your tap?
What is your water change routine?
How much water is removed at each water change?
How often do you rinse the gunk out of your filters?

 

[BIG-G]

What’s the ph of your source water?
Most likely you will need to add some buffering material not just ph up.
If you add something to increase the ph without add a buffer your ph will just drop again.
I would add some crushed coral if you don’t want it add it to the substrate you can just put some in a fine mesh filter bag or something similar and add it to a filter or some area with water flow

 

[Catfish093]

What is the ph reading from your tap?
What is your water change routine?
How much water is removed at each water change?
How often do you rinse the gunk out of your filters?

Hey thanks for your response I'll get a reading from my tap very shortly.

I do about 30% water change every week (odd occasions about every 10 days if I don't get round to it)
I strip my filters motor off and clean it all every month and rinse the muck out with tank water at the same time/

What’s the ph of your source water?
Most likely you will need to add some buffering material not just ph up.
If you add something to increase the ph without add a buffer your ph will just drop again.
I would add some crushed coral if you don’t want it add it to the substrate you can just put some in a fine mesh filter bag or something similar and add it to a filter or some area with water flow

Thanks I will order some of that on amazon now

 

[dan518]

Ph 4 is very acidic, at that level the bb will be dormant but ammonia will not be toxic. If you raise the pH quickly the ammonia will turn toxic killing your fish.
Before you do anything we need to know what your waterchange schedule is, the pH of the tap water, what chemicals you have added, if the test kit is in date, the hardness of your tap and tank water.

 

[tlindsey]

Hey thanks for your response I'll get a reading from my tap very shortly.

I do about 30% water change every week (odd occasions about every 10 days if I don't get round to it)
I strip my filters motor off and clean it all every month and rinse the muck out with tank water at the same time/





Thanks I will order some of that on amazon now

Most members with large fish especially Oscar's do 50% or more weekly. Also staying consistent wc's will help.

 

[BIG-G]

Do not just add a ph up chemical you will need to make any changes to ph slowly.

 

[Catfish093]

Ph 4 is very acidic, at that level the bb will be dormant but ammonia will not be toxic. If you raise the pH quickly the ammonia will turn toxic killing your fish.
Before you do anything we need to know what your waterchange schedule is, the pH of the tap water, what chemicals you have added, if the test kit is in date, the hardness of your tap and tank water.

Hey my test is in date and tap water ph is 7

 

[deeda]

Which brand and type test kit are you using, just curious?

 

[tlindsey]

Hey my test is in date and tap water ph is 7

Please don't make any large water changes at this time as dan518 stated it would be dangerous.