I just tested the ph of my 55g aquarium and discovered it was about 5.0. To make sure the test kit was working i tested the tap 8.5, and my other tank 8.0. The tank has two large pieces of driftwood, lots of shale, and is inhabited by 2 oscars, 2 convicts, and a large pleco. What would cause the water to be so acidic and what should i do about it? The fish look very healthy, and i just changed about 20% of the water last week. Should I carry out water changes as usual, or will it cause undue stress because of the difference in ph? Any advice appreciated.
ph of 5
- Thread starter flaherci
- Start date
I would do a serious water change...like 50%, and re-test after. With shells and reactive rocks your pH should not be at 5. I did read once that pH can be affected by bad water condition...so keep doing water changes. Also check your buffer, if your buffer is good pH should be consistent...
if none of your fish are showing signs of stress and are feeding i would raise the ph more slowly. try doing a 30% change every day for a few days at least. retest after every change until you reach the ph that is recommended for your fish.
Pull out the wood and place it in buckets with fresh dechlored tap water, test it's ph level and set it aside in the shade for a week then test it again. Some woods have a high tannin level and will lower your pH.
Driftwood lowers pH of water, that is what might be causing it. As stated above DONOT DO 50% WATERCHANGE, your tap is much higher and changing that much water would stress out the fish. Simply do a 10% change in the morning,during the day, and once in the evening until the water gets back to normal.
Do you use city water? recently our city water went nasty. Little or no buffering effect noted now. It affected all my tanks. I have started adding buffers to offset this shortcoming by our fair city. If our water sets two days it starts stinking. That is sitting in a drinking glass.
As long as the fish appear happy, dont do anything too drastic. I've had a tank with PH down around 5.5 for a while now, I'm slowly getting around to putting some coral rubble in the sump to try and buffer it and bring it up a little but havent been too concerned just yet because the fish are happy and have been living in those conditions for a few months.
Í am currently slowly trying to bring it up closer to neutral before I move my MC out into his new tank as the new tank PH will be a lot higher and I dont want to stress him too much from the PH change. I'm just doing a few 40% water changes and adding a teaspoon of baking soda daily (mix the baking soda in a glass of water and slowly during the day I poor a little each time into the sump) Its taking a few days to slowly come up and fish dont appear too concerned. I have accidently made the PH jump 1 or 2 points very quickly before and the fish were very stressed for a while.
Í am currently slowly trying to bring it up closer to neutral before I move my MC out into his new tank as the new tank PH will be a lot higher and I dont want to stress him too much from the PH change. I'm just doing a few 40% water changes and adding a teaspoon of baking soda daily (mix the baking soda in a glass of water and slowly during the day I poor a little each time into the sump) Its taking a few days to slowly come up and fish dont appear too concerned. I have accidently made the PH jump 1 or 2 points very quickly before and the fish were very stressed for a while.
flaherci said:
Howdy,
That's not the case. You need to take into account that the pH value is on a logarithmic scale. Water with a pH of 5 is 1000 times more acidic than water with a pH of 8. With a bit calculation, a 50% water change should only change your pH to 5.3. You will have to do six to seven 50% water changes to reach pH 7. If your fish are fine right now, I'd do 50 % every other day and monitor the change.
My suggestion would be to follow Guppie's advice with the drift wood and think about your last gravel vacuuming or cleaning of your filter media. If it's been a while, then that might be the reason for your problems. Although I generally advice against cleaning the gravel and filter at the same time, this might be necessary in your case. Get some bacterial starter to make sure that your biofiltration keeps up afterwards.
Good luck,
HarleyK