The team (my polys)

[magpie]

Yep that's what I meant by the water being really soft. Twenty explained it in much more detail, like the helpful guy he is. Our tap water barely registered on the scale for hardness so it was a pretty big swing over a week. The people on here helped me figure that one out, and again the coral stabilized everything for me. I had done all of the water testing except kh/gh over time. It's not in the normal API kit so it wasn't on my radar.

I started with 1 cup of coral in a mesh bag hanging near my filter intake to work on how much to keep in there to stabilize it, then I eventually put that bag in my canister. Be sure to rinse it well before adding to the tank.

I believe someone said that you can also use crushed oyster shell from a feed store, but I was at my fish store and they had the coral so I went that route.

I did try the chemical route (a seachem product) but the coral enabled me to eliminate that.

 

[Polyaddict86]

Have you tried adding stone? Ive read that some stone can raise PH.

 

[jaws7777]

I’ve been having a pH problem the past 2-3 weeks. It is usually 7.6 out of the faucet. But after 3-5 days in the tank it drops down by almost 1. Last week it did 7.6 to 6.6.

Saturday (3 days ago) I did a 75% WC. Ph looks to have dropped 0.6

Ph: 7. The tap I use is at 7.6.
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:O
Nitrates: 20.
Temp: 78 F
I did a 25% WC because the water is cold in Florida today and I don’t have an in-line heater. I’m also a bit nervous about the pH jump affecting them. Any help would be nice. My usual routine is a 75% WC every 5 days. They are in a 55g currently. Any help would be appreciated. There is talk of upgrading for Christmas or the summer.

First 2 pics are tank pH
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View attachment 1346446
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3rd pic: water I use from the tap

I agree with twenty. Dont mess with it. Ph fluctuations are normal for all the reasons he stated. It also occurs in the wild. Its honestly not worth the hassle.

a few yrs ago i was keeping some central american cichlids that were said to prefer hard water. I went the crushed coral route and even with crushed coral unless your testing and replenishing it even then it wont be stable. Fish did just fine on my city water

 

[clm08k]

You really should be checking your kh vs your ph. Kh is the ability to resist change in ph. If your kh is low you will have a harder time maintaining any stable ph. I wouldnt nessicarily go chasing numbers. But if kh is low baking soda can be used to boost it. And like I said before so can crushed coral. If your kh is good and I'm sure its probably low the issue may be like I stated but in a much more exaggerated amount, like tons of mulm built up somewhere. It would take a lot of organic waste to effect the ph of water with a decent kh. Again don't worry so much about ph. I rarely test for it. I did start testing my gh and kh more regularly as snails and plants will pull calcium and magnesium and iron out of the water to grow shells and plant cell walls. This will drop your gh and can also effect your kh and by doing so your ph will fall. I noticed the shells on my snails were weird looking and light in color. Some plants started having issues with leaves also. 6-8 lbs of crushed coral seems to have fixed the issue. Gh kh are tied together if the ions that make up the gh are out of wack then the kh could also fall and cause ph to crash. Calcium magnesium and iron are the base of gh.
Did you have chemistry yet this semester? Lol

Lol I had to retake Bio1 for PT school because I took it more than 7 years ago. Although Bio 1 is basically chemistry. Chemistry is something that is very challenging for me. So my knowledge is quite limited. But I did end up taking general, chem 1, and Chem 2, a few years after getting my bachelors. Not the best at it though...would like to understand more. For chem I need it spelled out for me. So I appreciate your posts trying to explain how everything is connected.

I will get the GH /KH test. I’m still dealing with crazy hair algae despite the MTS; excel, and potassium sups, and weekly water changes. Still doing a weekly to biweekly cull of snails (I usually pull out 30ish at a time!). The snails are still irritating. I’m guessing both of these issues are still related to the waste production as you mentioned earlier. Would crushed coral be better for plants than liquid supplements?

Also when I do upgrade, I’d prefer not to have the hair algae or the snails. The del hates the MTS and doesn’t bury when there’s a lot of them. Will I have to get rid of the substrate and the plants to prevent having the hair algae/snails in a new Tank? I tried the cucumber, but only got 5 lol.

Going to read the links and reread some of the posts again.

 

[clm08k]

Moved some plants to the left side the tank. Still dealing with hair algae and MTS. Polys had fun after the water change though

 

[clm08k]

 

[Polyaddict86]

Chels your tank looks so nice now, i remember the first time you showed you tank with that hige gravel rocks and the busy backround and we can even see your ornate, now its looks totally different.

 

[Vancouver_98683]

Everything lookin Fabulous !

 

[Hao]

I love the upper jaws! Definitely underrated when it comes to bichirs.

 

[jaws7777]

Moved some plants to the left side the tank. Still dealing with hair algae and MTS. Polys had fun after the water change thoughView attachment 1357996View attachment 1357997View attachment 1357998View attachment 1357999View attachment 1358000View attachment 1358004View attachment 1358006View attachment 1358009View attachment 1358010View attachment 1358011View attachment 1358012View attachment 1358013View attachment 1358014View attachment 1358015View attachment 1358016View attachment 1358017View attachment 1358018View attachment 1358019View attachment 1358020View attachment 1358021

Great pics chelsea. The fish look happy and healthy