My tank's ph keeps dropping

[Tetra]

Would you add crushed coral to your filter or tank if your tank's ph dropped below 5.5 on a consistent basis due to low kh and gh?

[exv152]

No, I'd boost the KH, but very slowly. Are you using CO2 and fertilizers in your tank?

[fischkopp]

I would do a water change.

[Tetra]

I add only a third of the permitted amount of fertilizer, and not even at every water change. I change the water every 8-10 days, doing gravel vacs. I rinse my filter media in used tank water every second, sometimes third water change. My nitrates are never higher than 15.

I don't add CO2! Should I?
And how would you go about boosting the Kh?

In my 30 gallon, 36" long tank is java moss, java fern, villisneria spralis, pennywort and cabomba, a small sword plant and an anubias nana!

9 rummynose tetras, 2 remaining phantom tetras  from the initial 6 (when my tank is sorted out I will up their numbers again), 1 female platy and 1 baby platy, (one female platy died) and 3 remaining otocinclus (I lost 2 soon after the initial introduction to the tank, and 1 during this mass death in my tank).

No new deaths today, thank goodness, but the ph is already down again to 5.5 a day after the last water change!

Thanks for your time and all your help!

[lepageg]

when you do a water changes what is the ph at that time? (from the tap and in your main tank after)

various things will lower your ph.

- lack of buffer in the water, which i find the case in our ottawa water.
- extra load (either fish or pollutants or fertilizers)
- CO2 increase, lack of surface movement or physical injection
- decomposing material, peat moss or wood.

are you doing dry ferts?

That being said I had instances where, because of excessive load my ph would also drop, and I would use a bit of Alkaline Buffer powder to keep it in balance (others may not agree).  But be forewarned the problem when using chemical to raise your ph, is that your not solving the problem but rather masking it and possibly creating an imbalance later on.

[Tetra]

Hi Lepageg and thanks for your input.

I think I may have caused all those deaths by changing too much water at once with the ph being so very different between tank- and tap water.

This evening I checked aged tap water (20 h in test tube) and it shows a ph of 6.5, straight from the tap it shows a ph of 6.8 (aprox). My tank is already down to 5.5 now, and last time I did a water change my tank's ph was 5.

I've got one piece of driftwood (but it is only a few months old, so I don't think it is decomposing to that extend) and I've added 6 phantom tetras last weekend.

This evening I found the baby platy dead on the bottom of the tank. I really need to increase the Kh in there to stabilize the ph, and while googling read about the product Seachem Alkaline Buffer, as well as adding Wonder shells to raise calcium, magnesium and electrolytes for a more balanced Kh and Gh!

I know I should be cautious "playing" around with ph, but the alternative seems to be dying or dead fish at the moment. I am on the Quebec side, and we seem to have very low Kh and Gh, which are most likely the cause for my low ph! So to remedy this I need to raise Kh and Gh, what products would you recommend? Or what would you do?

[lepageg]

What is worse on fish is having conditions that keep changing.

Actually had the opposite happen last year, where my ph was too high.  At the time, i just decided to do nothing and accept the ph where it was and let the fish adjust to it (or get fish that prefer this type of condition) rather than over tinker and having it bounce all over the place.  Eventually my conditions stabilized and my ph dropped back to normal values.  But your situation is different 5 seems excessively low.

btw: platies and tetra require different water conditions.

Don't change your filter for a couple of months and don't vacuum the gravel as well, test your ammonia and nitrites to make sure they are zero. I would then add the buffer a day before to the water your going to use for changes and aerate it overnight.  If your tap water has chloramine add prime to it as well.  A 30% water change per week should suffice.  

good luck and keep us posted!

ps: your tank has cycled right?

[charlie]

Hi Tetra, out of curiosity what is the KH out of the tap & what is the KH when the PH drops?

[Tetra]

Hi lepag,
thanks for your suggestions! I cycled my tank last April by seeding it with the filter from my 10 gallon. I routinely check for Ammonia and Nitrate, Ammonia always showing up as 0, and Nitrate between 10 and 15. I've also checked my Nitrite when my fish were dying, but that too showed up as 0.

I was under the impression a dirty tank, dirty gravel and filter can contribute to ph crashes so I've always kept very good maintenance.

From now on I will do 30% water changes like you recommend, at least that will keep the ph in the tank from changing drastically!

Thanks so much for your help, and thank you also for your PM!  

[Tetra]

Hello Charlie,
I've only seen the results on those Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate/Kh/Gh/ph...test strips, which aren't very accurate. I'd used those before I got the liquid test kit. I'm not sure what the exact readings were, but they were very low. I don't have any of those test strips left, so I would need to get some sort of test for Kh and Gh also, especially since I am going to "play" around with these!!

Back then I wasn't too concerned about the water hardness, I was glad when my ammonia showed 0, and nitrates were finally showing, then it was off to have fun stocking the tank.......and things were going well until just recently! Now it seems I'm getting a chemistry lesson on the quick, and believe me, Chemistry was not a subject in school I enjoyed all that much, lol!

Now that it affects the life of my fish and the water quality in my tank I couldn't be more interested!!!!