Ph change...

[revengeishere]

When i checked my ph this morning, it was 8.2. I dont know how it got this high. My tap water is around 7.9

anyways, my parameters are:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0-5
pH:8.2
kh:6
Gh:15
Tank Size: 75 gallons
Residents: 20 zebra danios,10 tiger barbs, 3 SAE, 2 bala sharks, 1 red tailed shark, 1 syno eupterus.
Lighting: 1 triphospor(40 watts), 1 Ultralume(40 watts), 1 plant and aquarium light(40 watts),1 cool white lamp(36 watts)
Filters: 1 aquaclear 300, 1 aquaclear 200

I did use a water softener pillow for 4 days(softener pillow is for tank size up to 20 gallon, so no drastic water hardness changes).

Why the sudden(well, prolly not sudden cos i only test once a week) ph change?

The fishes are eating fine, and they dot seem to be stressed out, for now. Ill still go observe them.

 

[chompchompdie]

Blame the water softener pillow. The carbonates and other minerals that make water hard also buffer ph swings. The more buffering capacity your water has (usually in the form of calcium carbonate) the more stable your Ph tends to be. By chemically softening your water you are paving the way for PH fluctuations that are much harder on your fish then water that is a little to hard. As far as I know all of the fish that you have will do fine in harder water...although they may not breed as readily. I would resist the temptation to play with water chemistry.

 

[chompchompdie]

also...with a 75g tank and water that is a little hard you might want to consider keeping African Cichlids. They're interesting, colourful fish thak would likely thrive in your water. check out http://www.cichlid-forum.com/

 

[tetra girl]

hey what can i add to my tank to make it harder? my Gh is less then 1 and i really need it harder to stop pH crashes!

 

[revengeishere]

But the hardness barely changed! My gh before the softener was 15 and its still the same after i took the pillow out,plus, i used a really small one(the pillow is for tanks up to 20 gallons only) as i really dont wanna soften the water, but prevent the water from getting harder due to evaporation...

have no intention whatsoever with breeding fishes at this time tho...

but been thinking about the cichlids, esp mbunas. I have another 100 gallon, i think thats even better for them. Might set up a cichlid tank when i have spare $$

anyways, about tetragirls question, i think your water is extremely soft, anyways, try adding crushed corals, i heard that might help. I dont have any experiance on this as my water is naturally hard...

 

[wayne at home]

Tetra girl _ I use oolitic sand, but crush coral or bits of limestone in the tank are pretty reliable

 

[tetra girl]

cool thanks for that, that answers my question to you under another pH thread! So whats the ratio you use for the sand/coral/limestone or is it one of those add-a-bit-and-test things?