Hey MFK I have a question, in my 265g community I noticed that a few fish are flicking, and I tested my water as usual and found good water conditions with everything being 0ppm with nitrates being around 20ppm. But I found pH to be in the 6.2-6.5 range. I know this is not ideal for south centrals. Water out of the tap at my home is around 7.0, and my question is what could be causing this? I have 2 large pieces of drift wood, the rest is synthetic plastic plants and 3 flower pots and a few red lava rocks. What can I do to neutralize the pH without using chemicals? Is there a type of rock decoration I could add or something to the filter media? Filters are fluval FX5 x2 and they do a really good job keeping the water clear and poop down. My filter media is just ceramic rings and lots of fluval pads and floss. Any tips would be helpful
question on pH
- Thread starter freebyrd
- Start date
Drift wood when new will leach tannins (tannic acid) the stuff that tinges the water a yellowish brown this will acidify the water and cause your Ph to drop.
could be the driftwood, could be the nitrate. Either way, this can be fixed with water changes.
You can try introducing coral chips to your tank as a form of buffering.
Either place it in your filtration or just wrap it and dump it in your tank.
You can try introducing coral chips to your tank as a form of buffering.
Either place it in your filtration or just wrap it and dump it in your tank.
water changes shouldnt be the problem i do 1 or 2 water changes a week around 30-40% it could be the driftwood tho..it has been in the tank for quite some time tho, tho it is large pieces. i estimate about a year or more its been in there, but african cichlids were kept in it previously. they require higher pH no? is there some type of rock african keepers use to buffer the pH up? if im doing constant water changes why would the pH always settle back down to 6.2-6.5?
disease? maybe. My discus did that flicking motion and their ph was fine. it cured itself overtime. or look it up online to diagnose the disease.
If your fish are flicking it's likely an early sign of external parasites and has nothing to do with ph.
With the ph being that low, that is not good for the overall health of your fish. The fish that are in the tank got use to the gradual drop in ph, where as if you were to add something to that tank, odds are it wont survive. I had a very similar issue, and found out the hard way. Like others have said, either mix some crushed coral in your substrate, or bag it and put it in you filters. But what ever you do, you need to increase the ph slowly.
As for the flickering. Agreed, probably some type of parasite.
As for the flickering. Agreed, probably some type of parasite.
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That depends, most SA species actually prefer that ph. CAs are the ones that generally prefer it a bit higher. I use crushed coral on my CA tanks, but not my SA tank.
That depends, most SA species actually prefer that ph. CAs are the ones that generally prefer it a bit higher. I use crushed coral on my CA tanks, but not my SA tank.