Help Very Low pH!!
- Thread starter FishGeek
- Start date
Test your tap water and tell us the results. Then let a cup of it sit overnight (or until late tonight) with an air stone preferably, and test it again and tell us the results.
Do you have any driftwood or decorations or substrates that could be lowering the pH? Do you know your waters kH and/or gH?
But don't freak out. A pH of 6 is low, but it won't kill your fish.
You can do a small water change to help too - I suspect your tap water should be a higher pH and you can slowly mix some of that water back into your tank. Be very careful however. A sudden shift in pH is a bad, bad thing.
Do you have any driftwood or decorations or substrates that could be lowering the pH? Do you know your waters kH and/or gH?
But don't freak out. A pH of 6 is low, but it won't kill your fish.
You can do a small water change to help too - I suspect your tap water should be a higher pH and you can slowly mix some of that water back into your tank. Be very careful however. A sudden shift in pH is a bad, bad thing.
The pH of my tap water is 7. I have already tested that. I do have 2 peices of the stick driftwood (http://www.freewebs.com/sapphire11/); the vertical kind. And actually I added those after I tested my water last. It is actually time to do a water change. Should only do about a 10% instead of 25%?
Is this a new tank or weird for your water? Just wondering if it was a slow process that brought your pH to change or something quick, like that driftwood you mentioned, to help find the cause. How frequent do you change the water, how much?
You should probably do a 25% change, I don't think 10% does very much to anything.
You should probably do a 25% change, I don't think 10% does very much to anything.
Sure 10 would work. I think the "shock factor" is to try not to let the pH fluxuate more than .2 an hour...so you could do a little water change now...and a little water change in a few hours. The difference between 6 and 7 isn't that bad, like Leopardess said. Have you tried letting your water sit out overnight and testing the pH again? Would be worth a try so that you can rule that out and blame it on the driftwood 