Ph Problem

[USMCtanker]

ok so my 150 ph is on acidic side between 5.5 and never gets higher than 6.0, the water coming out of house is like 7.7 - 8 but as soon as i test water in tank its acidic. i have tried water changes, a cpl diffrent ph up stuff and tried a cpl things that u put in and buffers ph to 7. nothing works my ph stays acidic, what am i doing wrong, i know ph can be unstable but y cant i raise it. it seems like i will need alot of ph up to see alittle move up in ph, but im afraid to dump a ton in there bc the boxs say only a small amount per 24 hours. iknow i dont wanna rasie it fast but i cant rasie it at all lol, its been like this for about 3 weeks or more and i still cant fix it

thanks for any help

 

[bigspizz]

Do you have a lot of drift wood in the tank? It is fine out of the tap, the problem is the tank....How about amonia...Test for it....

 

[USMCtanker]

Do you have a lot of drift wood in the tank? It is fine out of the tap, the problem is the tank....How about amonia...Test for it....

tested for everything, everything in safe zone, i do a water change once a week 25 to 50% latly i have done 2 a week to try and fix this, i had 2 pices of drift wood in there, i just took out one pice today

 

[dmopar74]

substrate? heavy bio-load? what have you changed, if anything, since this has started?

 

[USMCtanker]

nothing, same fish, 2 pbass,1 jar, motro, del, and ripsaw. all stillon small size, got 2 emp 400 and canastir on it. got some power jets to keep water moveing, sand for substrate

 

[bigspizz]

Do you have enough surface agitation?

 

[brianp]

ok so my 150 ph is on acidic side between 5.5 and never gets higher than 6.0, the water coming out of house is like 7.7 - 8 but as soon as i test water in tank its acidic. i have tried water changes, a cpl diffrent ph up stuff and tried a cpl things that u put in and buffers ph to 7. nothing works my ph stays acidic, what am i doing wrong, i know ph can be unstable but y cant i raise it. it seems like i will need alot of ph up to see alittle move up in ph, but im afraid to dump a ton in there bc the boxs say only a small amount per 24 hours. iknow i dont wanna rasie it fast but i cant rasie it at all lol, its been like this for about 3 weeks or more and i still cant fix it

thanks for any help

This is a fairly common problem in closed aquatic systems. Develop a weekly or biweekly routine of adding sodium bicarbonate to your tank and change water.

 

[USMCtanker]

how much bakeing soda should i add, i want to get the ph close to 7. dont wanna raise it to fast so id ont stress fish, ill get some coral today and how much bakeing soda do i add, thanks

 

[brianp]

1. Take a pH reading
2. Add one level tsp of sodium bicarbonate...wait 15 minutes
3. Take a pH reading...depending upon the pH reading AND the previous increase in pH generated by a single tsp of sodium bicarb, you may or may not have to add more (but probably will have to add more).
4. Once you have raised the pH to the desired level, stop adding bicarb. Monitor the pH every day for the next few days. If the pH drops, you now have a reasonable idea of how much bicarb to add.

So, you have to develop a sense of how much bicarb has to be added each week to maintain a more or less stable pH. This scheme will be complicated somewhat by your water changes but you can work out the details with a little bit of effort.

Finally, a little bit of bicarb goes a long way and be careful not to overdo it. You will probably have to add approx. 1-2 level tsp each week.

 

[hillbilly]

What is your dKH reading? (carbonate hardness) Water that is poorly buffered with a low dKH reading, can experience pH swings, sometimes large ones. People who add CO2 injection to planted tanks with low dKH often find this out by crashing the pH with CO2, and killing all their fish. Before you start adding stuff to your tank to correct pH, check your hardness level if you have not done so. It could reveal a lot.