Low pH in tap water!!

[SCC93]

Hi all,

So in about three weeks I will be adding a betta to my 5.5 gallon tank but right now my pH is well below 6.0 and I don't know what to do. I tested my tap water and it immediately reads 6.8 - 7.0 but if I let it sit for a day or so it drops.

I'm not sure what I can do to raise it because I really don't want to be doing water changes just to keep the pH up if everything else is fine. Any advice on how to keep it at a safe range for my betta without pouring chemicals in?

 

[SpaceFish42]

I'm not sure what I can do to raise it because I really don't want to be doing water changes just to keep the pH up if everything else is fine. Any advice on how to keep it at a safe range for my betta without pouring chemicals in?

Maybe I read this wrong, but you need to do regular water changes anyway...

 

[SCC93]

Maybe I read this wrong, but you need to do regular water changes anyway...

Yes I understand but if my ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels are all perfect it seems tedious to do water changes everyday just to fix the pH which is why I was hoping there would be a way to raise it without doing water changes.

One time I did a water change to raise the pH because it was below a 6.0 (not sure how far below 6.0 it was) and I did a 40% change and tested it and it was still below 6.0 so even if I do water changes more frequently than normal the pH of the whole tank is going to drop extremely low.

Now I'm concerned that my bacteria are going to die off from the low pH (if they haven't already) which means I wasted weeks fishless cycling...

 

[treemanone2003]

Can you explain what your perfect parameters are and how you got to them ? Also, what is your regular WC schedule ? A problem that can eventually happen is too low of a pH will cause your bacteria colony to die off.

Edit : what did you use for your fish less cycle ?

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[Barbz99]

Oh shouldn't just change over time like that. How long are we talking?

 

[Barbz99]

Ph* shouldnt*

 

[SCC93]

Can you explain what your perfect parameters are and how you got to them ? Also, what is your regular WC schedule ? A problem that can eventually happen is too low of a pH will cause your bacteria colony to die off.

Edit : what did you use for your fish less cycle ?

Sent from my iPhone that doesn't like me. Or you !!

Ammonia is ~0 (but I dose it up to "feed" the bacteria when it gets to 0 because I currently have no fish)

Nitrite 0

Nitrate anywhere from 5-20 ppm depending on how long I go before a PWC (I never allow it to get too high)

I check my water chemistry every other day now that it is cycled and do PWC if nitrates get too high. I used Dr. Tim's one and only to cycle and I'm beginning to get concerned the bacteria will die off (if most of them haven't already).

 

[Barbz99]

Well if your parameters are fine I'd go head and get fish. Get something hardy that won't mind the Ph if it does change. A acidic, low Ph isn't able to hold as,much ammonia as a alkaline Ph as well.

 

[SpaceFish42]

http://homeaquaria.com/increase-aquarium-ph-naturally/
This might help.

 

[SCC93]

Oh shouldn't just change over time like that. How long are we talking?

I'm not sure how long it has been this low. I first found the problem last week and attempted a big water change but that didn't help. Not sure how long it was below 6.0 before that because I didn't think pH would drop as low as it did with no fish in it so I didn't test it much...

I'll try another big WC tonight and see how if I can get it up and then monitor pH daily to see how long it takes to drop. I'm beginning to think it may be something in my tap water and if that is the case I don't know what to do about keeping the pH at a tolerable level.

 

[Barbz99]

I see if it continues to do this in the future, like is aid ammonia can raise the Ph consideralbely. This is because acidic Ph can't "hold" all of the ammonia, thus the rise in Ph

 

[mrvincent]

PH is affected by chlorine a LOT. chlorine raise the PH, so over a 24 hours period, it is normal you see a drop in PH. But PH of 6 seems low.

You can test the tap for Alk (KH), and add some baking soda (A tiny little bit) if it reads <3dKH°. This should help at maintaining PH higher.

Don't mess with PH UP products, this is dangerous for beginer (talking by experience).

 

[Rpeinhardt]

Crushed coral will buffer your water.

 

[mrvincent]

Crushed coral will buffer your water.

+1, crushed corals increase Alk.

 

[ScotJudd]

I had the same problem and found my tap water to be almost 0dKH. I add 2.5 ml bicarbonate of soda to 10 litres of water added to the tank. This gives me a steady dKH of 6. Ph stays stable at around 7. If you don't have fish in then you can raise your KH in one go but with fish in I would add bicarb to your WCs thus slowly increasing KH to the level you want.
This might just be me, but I found GH to be zero too and I raise that to 6dGH with Equilibrium. I read somewhere that KH and GH should be something close to each other. Don't quote me on that.


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