What causes the PH to drop?
- Thread starter SaltyCrak
- Start date
No, that's not what I said, let's not twist things. If he's consistantly only been doing 10% water changes the nitrates in that tank could get pretty high and cause something similar to old tank syndrome-that's what I said. Keep in mind at this point I had no idea what size the tank or fish was.Iffrat;3301103; said:
So SaltyCrak (not sure I want to know where you got that name
) that's about a 20 inch fish in a 118 g tank-that's a lot of fish. I'll bet lots of money your nitrates are out of control if 10% is all the water you've been changing. Super high nitrates (as yours surely are) could possibly be the reason the pH dropped so much. You don't need baking soda or anything else, you just need to change more water. If I had that fish and that tank and couldn't upgrade I'd be doing 80% minimum water change a week. Or 2 50% water changes. Seriously-check your nitrates. That's proabbly your problem.
SaltyCrak;3301135; said:
Farm well/dam water is usually high in nitrates, check your tap level.
Just to be sure .....
FROM API's website:
An aquarium with a low KH level (50 ppm or less) will tend to be acidic. Aquariums with very low KH are subject to rapid pH shifts, if not monitored carefully. Water with a high KH level (= 200 ppm) usually has a high pH. The Aquarium Pharmaceuticals KH (Carbonate Hardness) Test measures KH in German degrees (°dKH). To convert °dKH to parts per million (ppm), multiply °dKH x 17.9.
This is from Doc Fosters website:
ParameterFreshwater Community
Temperature 72 - 82°F72
pH 6.5 - 7.5
Ammonia 0.00.
Nitrite 0.00.00.
Nitrate < 50 ppm
Alkalinity (Carbonate Hardness)4 - 8 KH
General Hardness 4 - 12 GH
I have tested a lot of local ponds/streams for nitrates and have never once found any detectable level
I suspect this is from the vast amount of underwater & shoreline plants
But no need to speculate on this, simply test your tap water for nitrates
Salty simple question what is the nitrate reading on your aquarium? Again, no need to speculate and then offer suggestions based on speculation just ask
As suggested, high levels of nitrates will cause PH to drop. Nitrates are organic/acidic just like driftwood & peat
As suggested, baking soda will increase KH / Alkalinity which stabilizes PH as mentioned, a little goes a long way
There are a lot of things that could have caused your PH to drop. Before a single solution can be determined the exact cause needs to be identified the only way we can identify the exact cause is to ask questions and hear more detail of your situation
Naturally we should ask, have you changed anything in the aquarium lately? Added/removed/changed filtration/décor/etc?
Salty simple question what is the nitrate reading on your aquarium? Again, no need to speculate and then offer suggestions based on speculation just ask
As suggested, high levels of nitrates will cause PH to drop. Nitrates are organic/acidic just like driftwood & peat
As suggested, baking soda will increase KH / Alkalinity which stabilizes PH as mentioned, a little goes a long way
There are a lot of things that could have caused your PH to drop. Before a single solution can be determined the exact cause needs to be identified the only way we can identify the exact cause is to ask questions and hear more detail of your situation
Naturally we should ask, have you changed anything in the aquarium lately? Added/removed/changed filtration/décor/etc?
Your driftwood could have contributed too. Is it Mopani Wood (african root)? That stuff sucks the KH out of your water very rapidly once it matures & quits leaching IME. Your water changes are also severely inadequate unless you have some kind of freshwater drip system or other crazy fancy filtration.
Thanks for all the responses. Last night i testsed my nitrates and they are very low, almost zero. My KH is Zero! I also checked my tap water and it's pretty well balanced, PH7, KH4 and zero nitrates. I thing my drift wood is mopani, so like you say, that night be stealing the KH. I did a big water change and that seems to have got my PH back up. I know that i do need to sort my KH out before i calm down. Oh, and the only change in the tank is that i added a clay pot for asthetics.
when it comes to PH, big changes are not such a good idea...
It would have been ideal if you would have done smaller water changes several days in a row as was suggested above. But you've gotten a lot of advice in this thread so we can't blame you. What's done is done...
Regular weekly water changes is the best way to keep parameters stable... but if over the course of a week you find your KH/PH dropping, then as suggested above use baking soda to raise the KH (as mentioned, a little goes a long way).
It would have been ideal if you would have done smaller water changes several days in a row as was suggested above. But you've gotten a lot of advice in this thread so we can't blame you. What's done is done...
Regular weekly water changes is the best way to keep parameters stable... but if over the course of a week you find your KH/PH dropping, then as suggested above use baking soda to raise the KH (as mentioned, a little goes a long way).
nc_nutcase;3304022; said:
oh ok, im not sure why i didn't get it at first... lol...
him mentioning tap water should of made me infer a little more..i guess...
anyways... i have the same problem with my tap water/tank...
crushed coral solved the problem.. myself and my fish couldn't be happier..
baking soda works too....i prefer the crushed coral method way more. u only have to add it once and it last for years..i use Caribsea's Florida crushed coral. my KH went from 0 to 120ppm, ph goes up a little to, but at least its stable and my stingray dont mind it at all and shes from very acidic water naturally.
