I noticed in one of my tanks my pH is LOW at around 5.0 to 5.5. My snakeheads seem to be doing fine but i'd like to eventually raise the pH to around 7 which is what my tap water is coming out as. My question is if i do small water changes everyday will my tank pH eventually raise to 7? I have also heard that nitrifying bacteria work better at a pH of 7 to 7.5 is this correct? Thanks
Rasing pH
- Thread starter Euge
- Start date
You need to figure out why the PH dropped that low in the first place and fix it. What are the water parameters? Is there anything in the tank that could be lowering the PH? And yes, doing water changes every day should fix it, at least temporarily until you figure out what is causing such a big drop.
nitrifying bacteria are sensitive to changes in pH, I wouldnt advise any drastic immediate changes if your fish are looking healthy. As said above, you need to find the cause for the drop, this would be my priority. Once you take care of that,, small daily water changes and bring everything back into line.
to answer your question, use baking soda its the same thing as all those ph buffers without the expensive pricing. But I agree with the fellas, first check whats causing your ph to get that low then slowly work at raising your ph so you wont kill off your bacteria.
You need to go to your lfs and buy some chemicals. I buy "pH up", you just put the right amount, and it raises the pH. But be careful not to change the pH too much over a short period.
Nabbig2;1049900; said:
PH up won't hold. It will temporarily raise the PH and then there could suddenly be a significant drop back down to where the PH originally was. That's bad.
yes you need to buffer the water, I would jsut do a little water change everyday and it will bring it up. also cheq what the kH of you water is? maby your water is really soft and will drop easily withought anythign to buffer it. nitrafying bacteria use up the hardness of your water to breed and funtion nornaly, so if your water gets too soft the bacteria asnt able to breed or continue to break down ammonia, nitrite, ect. As far as I kno the bacteria need calcium and minerals to function, and i THINK they use it in a way like a snail uses calcium to harden its shel and live normaly, for an example. Just to give you and example the store I work in if there is a large bioload (ur snakehead for instance) the KH alogn with the PH drop drasicly as the bactera works so you need to add some sort of buffer (water changes, shells, baking soda, ect) to maintain a stable Kh and thus PH. otheriwse yous notise very accidic water and most likily a build of of ammonium (ammonia under 7.0) starting. hope this helps, also sorry for my horrible spelling and grammer.
yeya ph up doesnt buffer the water do the pH drope againe pretty quicky because thers nothing to hold it up. I sell the stuff and I dotn even reccoend it, get kh booster and ph stabilizer i thikn hagen maes it, basvily its bottles calcium carbanate.