Low PH question

[Nataqua]

Agreed as well! :-) I am not too comfortable with the idea of messing around with the water parameters as I am a complete beginner to fishkeeping. I will, however be keeping the aragonite and tulfa rock (Wow! that's very effective Fishnut) in mind if I find I am having problems when I start cycling. Which I have yet to do... and I will definitely be needing a test kit.

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful insight, it is greatly appreciated.

Nat.

[exv152]

Understanding the relationship of KH and pH is something every aquarist should be well versed in. I'm not suggesting changing pH as much as I am suggesting if she wishes to control pH fluctuations, controlling KH would be key - if she chooses to go that route but it's not necessary. Adjusting KH is much safer than say going with a chemical to alter the pH only (which is often sold with the full pH test kits). I DO NOT recommend using those ever.  Be careful some stores may want to sell those kits to you but they're more hassle than they're worth. It's a given that the more you mess with water chemistry the harder it becomes to keep stable. That said, a tiny boost of KH in any tank will not do any harm because it is safe (which is what the argonite would do - boost KH).  And it can help prevent something called a pH crash. In my 26 years of keeping aquarium fish I've had it happen once and it almost killed every fish in the tank, so when I say it helps, that comes from my personal experience with this municipality's water.

[mmaisonneuve]

Before going reef I had a Tanganika Setup in my Thank I've always had Aragonite and it was just fine, never had to worried about the PH and the Alk

[Nataqua]

I appreciate your input regarding KH exv152, I agree with you, I have yet to completely grasp that concept and need to read more about it. I will be getting a kh test as I'm seeing it come up more and more as I do research and it will help put this in context for me if I know what my values are.

I will wait and see what PH levels the city and La Niche give me, I might just have a bad test kit. I am keeping the aragonite in mind if I have problems cycling (apparently bacteria cannot survive at PH levels below 5.5.)

Thank you for your advice!

Nat.

[exv152]

I will wait and see what PH levels the city and La Niche give me, I might just have a bad test kit. I am keeping the aragonite in mind if I have problems cycling (apparently bacteria cannot survive at PH levels below 5.5.)...

Exactly. When the pH drops too far basically all bacteria is eradicated, and you'll have a huge ammonia (in this case ammonium spike - which is less harmful) or nitrate spike in the tank (especially if it's densly populated) hence the term pH crash. To prevent this you can also put argonite, crushed coral etc in a media bag and place it in your filter. This takes a while but it will begin to buffer the kh in a very gradual & natural manner. My first guess is the stratum is absorbing huge amounts of minerals from the water, which is not always bad, but you want to keep an eye on it especially as it reaches critical low levels like 5. Whatever you do don't add baking soda to the water (some LFS employees may suggest it) because this will only create wild pH swings that are just as harmful to the fish. The pH changes are not harmful per se to the fish, but it's the rate in ph change that can be fatal.

[Nataqua]

I like the natural and gradual method of adding aragonite or crushed coral exv152, I'm not sure I like the idea of adding chemical product after chemical product... I was also thinking further about the low ph, I would have to keep my refill water at the same ph, as to not create a huge jump. It's not that big a deal, but if buffering the KH only requires adding something and avoiding ph imbalances it might be easier than trying to match the ph at every water change.

I have a question for you about aragonite and crushed shells, how long do they last or for how long will it buffer the ph?

Thank you,

Nat.

[exv152]

Hey Nat, I personally hardly ever measure pH because it really doesn't mean much. However, maintaining a steady carbonate hardness will mean your ph won't fluctuate that much. The higher the kh the more stable the ph will be, thus no need to worry too much about matching ph when doing WCs. Most aquarists doing heavily planted tanks w/ high lighting, co2 etc, don't worry too much about kh because they're recharging the water parameters each week with heavy 50% water changes. But if you plan on doing plants and smaller water changes, you'll notice the kh will slowly deplete. Plants use it as an alternate carbon source.

How often to change it? When you notice lower kh readings it may mean it's time to change the crushed corals, but that could take a while.  

[Nataqua]

Hey thank you Eric (I just noticed your name at the bottom...)

Got it! I will get that test, that's good to know.

Thank you for the great advice, and information.

Cheers,

Natalie

[Nataqua]

Hello everyone,

I just got a call from the person responsible for water quality in Gatineau, and he said the pH range since January was of 7.2. I asked if it was possible to have a value of 6-6.5 and he said that they never get such low values because if they did, it would have alerted them to add more lime (which they do every day because of the low alkalinity of the river) and that the pH ranges between 7-7.7 after the water is treated. He was very kind and helpful.

I was very happy to hear that!, I will now take some tank water to La Niche to be tested and start cycling; my poor plants must be starving

Thank you again everyone for all the great info and advice, its been invaluable.

Nat.

[exv152]

No problem Nat. That's what the forum is for. Did the Gatineau water guy offer to send you a copy of the municipality's testing results. Because I did the same a while back and someone from the city of Ottawa sent me an excel spreadsheet report with more than what I needed to know, in very very fine detail. Very helpful. The city of Ottawa also has similar parameters from what I remember seeing (low to zero carbonate hardness KH, and neutral pH).

[Nataqua]

Hey Eric,

He did not offer a full report, no, i was just happy to speak to someone He actually mentionned that they very rarely get calls from aquarists, but mostly from people wanting to know if we have fluoride in our water, which we dont.

I was so encouraged that I placed an old stocking foot with a teaspoon of shrimp food in the tank to start cycling last night... I had also noticed some fine grey/white hair algea about a day after I transfered my plants to the tank, which now seems to be slowly going away since I added the moss ball (might be my imagination?) I had forgotten all about it and left it behind in the little one gallon. I thought I might take out the pennywort this weekend and gently wash off what is left of the algea in the roots, all along the stems, in some tank water.

I will get a kh/gh test hopefully this we, I very curious now to know what the values are. I found a table that gives (approximatively I think) the amount of Co2 based on pH and kH values. But I digress

Have a lovely weekend!

Cheers,

Nat.

[exv152]

I will get a kh/gh test hopefully this we, I very curious now to know what the values are. I found a table that gives (approximatively I think) the amount of Co2 based on pH and kH values. But I digress
Have a lovely weekend! Cheers, Nat.

Hey Nat, As long as you have some kh in the water you're fine. As for measuring co2, the chart for kh/ph values can be useful, but not horribly accurate. Drop checkers solutions are not much better in my opinion, but they look nice.  Have a good weekend!