I have a 5g hex aquarium set up, I've had stable perimeters for the past 6 months or so. Unfortunately, I don't have the test strips with me but my base perimeters are:
Nitrate: Low
Nitrite: Zero
Chlorine: Zero
Alkalinity: On the lower end of "ideal" (2 weeks ago it was on the high end. very high end.)
Hardness: Quite hard
pH: 7.6-7.8
These readings have been stable, the pH has always been on the high end for freshwater fish but it comes out of the tap like that. I tried to lower it and it went haywire and killed 2 fish. I decided that stability was more important =P
Recently, I purchased 3 tiger barbs, a small albino cory, and a small live plant that PETCO considered for 'beginners' -.- I'm currently cycling a 20 gallon so I decided to keep the herd small until it was cycled. About a week after I got all these guys, my buffering capacity started to go down. Followed by my pH. My pH is roughly 6.8 now. Tough on the little guys but luckily I didn't lose any.
I was wondering... what could be the culprit? I've read some things about the CO2 output and pH dropping. Is this a sign that I've overpopulated my tank? The biological filter doesn't seem to think so but I'm not sure. I'm hoping whatever is going on stabilizes and I won't have to come home to dead fish. The pH damage may even be worse than I'm aware of because I upp'd the water changes to 2 25-40% water changes and kept it under control... somewhat.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Nitrate: Low
Nitrite: Zero
Chlorine: Zero
Alkalinity: On the lower end of "ideal" (2 weeks ago it was on the high end. very high end.)
Hardness: Quite hard
pH: 7.6-7.8
These readings have been stable, the pH has always been on the high end for freshwater fish but it comes out of the tap like that. I tried to lower it and it went haywire and killed 2 fish. I decided that stability was more important =P
Recently, I purchased 3 tiger barbs, a small albino cory, and a small live plant that PETCO considered for 'beginners' -.- I'm currently cycling a 20 gallon so I decided to keep the herd small until it was cycled. About a week after I got all these guys, my buffering capacity started to go down. Followed by my pH. My pH is roughly 6.8 now. Tough on the little guys but luckily I didn't lose any.
I was wondering... what could be the culprit? I've read some things about the CO2 output and pH dropping. Is this a sign that I've overpopulated my tank? The biological filter doesn't seem to think so but I'm not sure. I'm hoping whatever is going on stabilizes and I won't have to come home to dead fish. The pH damage may even be worse than I'm aware of because I upp'd the water changes to 2 25-40% water changes and kept it under control... somewhat.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!