why would the PH in my tank go down?
- Thread starter nealio
- Start date
I always get this backwards but if your water doesn't have enough GH(?) then it will lose pH because there's nothing to stabalize it. (someone will correct me if that's wrong)
I think phosphorus also affects pH (again, somebody will correct me if i'm completely wrong about that) Check your plants for dead matter and make sure you vacumm your gravel well to get all the rotted bits of food and fish poop.
Do some small water changes everyday until you figure out what's causing the rapid drop. You can add things like oystershells or coral to keep it up.
I think phosphorus also affects pH (again, somebody will correct me if i'm completely wrong about that) Check your plants for dead matter and make sure you vacumm your gravel well to get all the rotted bits of food and fish poop.
Do some small water changes everyday until you figure out what's causing the rapid drop. You can add things like oystershells or coral to keep it up.
what is GH? I'm really new at this, so pardon my noobishness.
The wood in there is fake, and that tank was just put up on firday. I used stress-zime to cycle the tank for two days before I added the fish. I really wanted to let it fully cycle but they were so crammed in the 10g that they were in. The amonia was getting spiking every day so I thought it was best to make the move after 48hrs.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the cycle? The amonia is .025 no nitrates or nitrites. I used the penguin mini I had on my 10g so it was being filtered by a new 30g filter and the old pengin filter and biowheel from the old tank. I am using a substrate for the plants under the gravel. I forgot what it was called, Ill search around for it to see if I can find a bag of it online somewhere. But it almost looked like mini wood chips or something. Would it be possible for that type of substrate to pull it down?
The wood in there is fake, and that tank was just put up on firday. I used stress-zime to cycle the tank for two days before I added the fish. I really wanted to let it fully cycle but they were so crammed in the 10g that they were in. The amonia was getting spiking every day so I thought it was best to make the move after 48hrs.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the cycle? The amonia is .025 no nitrates or nitrites. I used the penguin mini I had on my 10g so it was being filtered by a new 30g filter and the old pengin filter and biowheel from the old tank. I am using a substrate for the plants under the gravel. I forgot what it was called, Ill search around for it to see if I can find a bag of it online somewhere. But it almost looked like mini wood chips or something. Would it be possible for that type of substrate to pull it down?
gh is general hardness, the more minerals and stuff in your water, the harder it is. It's been a while since I've researched all that stuff but I think the way it works is if your kh is high then your pH will initially be high but if your gh is low, the pH will drop because it has nothing to hold on to.
A pH drop could be caused by a number of things.
1. Since your driftwood is fake, that won't be the cause but real driftwood can alter pH.
2. The cycle itself can cause the tank to become more acidic.
3. Sometimes substrates alter pH.
4. Also, sometimes the water which comes out of the tap is a different pH than it would be if allowed to sit (your municipal water dept might alter the pH to protect the pipes; safe for you, a bit of a pain if you have fish and it's a larg difference) -- to see if this is what is happening, fill a cup with water and allow it to sit overnight and test the pH at 12, 24 and 48 hours.
The difference you're talking about isn't a dramatic difference -- yes, a good difference (because each step in pH is a 10fold difference) but we're not talking about wild swings. What you may want to do, if the pH is being affected by anything except the cycle itself, is do more regular, smaller waterchanges to minimize the degree of pH swing.
1. Since your driftwood is fake, that won't be the cause but real driftwood can alter pH.
2. The cycle itself can cause the tank to become more acidic.
3. Sometimes substrates alter pH.
4. Also, sometimes the water which comes out of the tap is a different pH than it would be if allowed to sit (your municipal water dept might alter the pH to protect the pipes; safe for you, a bit of a pain if you have fish and it's a larg difference) -- to see if this is what is happening, fill a cup with water and allow it to sit overnight and test the pH at 12, 24 and 48 hours.
The difference you're talking about isn't a dramatic difference -- yes, a good difference (because each step in pH is a 10fold difference) but we're not talking about wild swings. What you may want to do, if the pH is being affected by anything except the cycle itself, is do more regular, smaller waterchanges to minimize the degree of pH swing.
There are a lot of factors that affect the ph, some great examples listed above.
However, I noticed that this is a new tank and there are fish present. There is a
lot of room for error when a new tank is cycling with fish. If there is no fish, I
recommend adding a little fish food to speed up the process, keep testing your
water, and your tank will be ready before you know it.
However, I noticed that this is a new tank and there are fish present. There is a
lot of room for error when a new tank is cycling with fish. If there is no fish, I
recommend adding a little fish food to speed up the process, keep testing your
water, and your tank will be ready before you know it.