Ph Problem

[brianp]

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.

He already knows that his water is incapable of dealing with the acidification. If the KH is low, the addition of sodium bicarbonate will correct this. If the KH is moderate, it is obviously still insufficient and the addition of sodium bicarbonate will supplement this.

 

[bigspizz]

He already knows that his water is incapable of dealing with the acidification. If the KH is low, the addition of sodium bicarbonate will correct this. If the KH is moderate, it is obviously still insufficient and the addition of sodium bicarbonate will supplement this.

If the KH is low, and caused by something going on in the tank, dosing baking soda is NOT the answer....Not to mention your doses make no sense....Show me a link that supports anything you have said....I would not recommend that anyone add anything until the problem is discovered...If the ammonia is high, thus causing Ph crashes, just keep adding bicarb right?

 

[hbluehunter]

You can do the baking soda thing but it won't fix your problem... I've been doing it for quite a while now and getting tired of adding it every water change to raise the Ph.. I'm going with the coral in my FX5 and i really suggest you do the same.. Baking soda does the trick but gets old having to add all the time..

 

[brianp]

If the KH is low, and caused by something going on in the tank, dosing baking soda is NOT the answer....Not to mention your doses make no sense....Show me a link that supports anything you have said....I would not recommend that anyone add anything until the problem is discovered...If the ammonia is high, thus causing Ph crashes, just keep adding bicarb right?

Why would I "show you a link" when I don't feel the slightest inclination to defend my statements to you or anyone else? I have stated a solution that has worked well for me and is based upon the precepts of water chemistry. The reader is free to adopt or ignore my suggestions as he wishes. BTW...the pKa for "ammonium" is approximately 9 and is too high to allow ammonium to deproteinate sufficiently to cause this acidification. The acidification is being caused by the metabolism of the fish and aerobic bacteria. Remember, CO2 + H2O = carbonic acid. I'm trying to be helpful...but feel free to disregad these comments, if you wish.

 

[Bobears]

Dumb question... How old is your test kit? What kind is it ie. dip stick, liquid? How big's the tank?

 

[bigspizz]

Why would I "show you a link" when I don't feel the slightest inclination to defend my statements to you or anyone else? I have stated a solution that has worked well for me and is based upon the precepts of water chemistry. The reader is free to adopt or ignore my suggestions as he wishes. BTW...the pKa for "ammonium" is approximately 9 and is too high to allow ammonium to deproteinate sufficiently to cause this acidification. The acidification is being caused by the metabolism of the fish and aerobic bacteria. Remember, CO2 + H2O = carbonic acid. I'm trying to be helpful...but feel free to disregad these comments, if you wish.

Do what you want, and please ease up a bit....I just think you are jumping to conclusions with a solution, when the problem has yet to become apperant....More importantly than anything you stated, would be the time of day he is testing....Do you know what the difference would be on a test done first thing in the morning as apposed to later in the afternoon? I see no indication his buffering capacity is low....I would (so far) also have to suggest crushed coral, it will dissolve until a point and then it will remain only dissolving whats necessary to maintain PH....

 

[brianp]

Do what you want, and please ease up a bit....I just think you are jumping to conclusions with a solution, when the problem has yet to become apperant....More importantly than anything you stated, would be the time of day he is testing....Do you know what the difference would be on a test done first thing in the morning as apposed to later in the afternoon? I see no indication his buffering capacity is low....I would (so far) also have to suggest crushed coral, it will dissolve until a point and then it will remain only dissolving whats necessary to maintain PH....

Sorry...didn't mean to sound defensive...just precise and clear. I explain scientific things all day to customers and it becomes ingrained after awhile. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the acidification is due to biologic activity and I manage this situation in my own tanks by the addition of sodium bicarbonate. But you have to perform some empirical experiments initially to arrive at a reasonable dose. This is a closed system and whatever buffering capacity the water has is simply being overwhelmed (IMO).

 

[bigspizz]

Sorry...didn't mean to sound defensive...just precise and clear. I explain scientific things all day to customers and it becomes ingrained after awhile. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the acidification is due to biologic activity and I manage this situation in my own tanks by the addition of sodium bicarbonate. But you have to perform some empirical experiments initially to arrive at a reasonable dose. This is a closed system and whatever buffering capacity the water has is simply being overwhelmed (IMO).

Understood....You very well may be correct....

 

[12 Volt Man]

I ran into this problem with monster fish in an overstocked 90, even with weekly 1/3d water changes.

too much fish waste (ammonia excreted from the gills is acidic) even with water changes can lead to pH drop over time..and in some cases over the course of the week.

what I did (and still do to this day) was to put a small bag of crushed coral in the filter and leave it there for good.

its just enough to buffer the water from dropping but not enough to raise it to unsafe levels.

has worked like a charm for years and years.

that was how I combated this problem.

 

[USMCtanker]

wow thanks for all the info, well the tanks not over stocked and everything is ok but ph. i have used a cpl kind of strips and liquids, lol i used a ton of test kits and ph adjusters. i went and got some crused coral, i added some to my filter. i will let run for a littl ewhile and then try and addjust ver little to see out come.