Need help controlling ph.

[JamesMJ2]

I have a planted tank so I am fertilizing with CO2. The fertilization is working great, problem is, it's lowering my ph, essentially turing my water into carbonic acid. On Monday ph was @ 6.6 now it's @ 6.0. How can I keep my CO2 going and stabilize my ph. I want it @ 6.8. I know that making the water harder will raise the alkalinity, but I am keeping community so it can't get that hard. I use R/O water so I have to add in trace elements anyway.

 

[vega]

By rising your KH you add buffer for your PH. Check your KH. If you kH is ~0 then i suggest you rise it by adding Kh chemical from lfs. Also control your Co2 release rate to your tank.

 

[justDIY]

put some marble, limestone or sea shells in your tank - they will dissovle carbonates into your water, increasing your PH

it sounds like you have very soft water - are you using water from a water softener, or just straight city water?

 

[JamesMJ2]

/Bump

I am using R/O water. I try to keep the GH and KH @ 3 or 4 dKH/dGH. I add in kent R/O Right when the reading is low or after a water change. BTW I was thinking wouldn't baking soda work? Sodium Bicarbonate dissolves easily, and isn't toxic to my fish.(that I know of) I really don't like to add anymore chemicals to the water then neccassary. What about just adding more plants to utilize the CO2 would that work? Here are the water parameters as of Friday the 12th. ph 6.0 Ammonia 0ppm Nitirites 0ppm GH 2dGH KH 3dKH

 

[TankGirl]

Does that Emperor have those media baskets? If you put some crushed coral in the filter somehow that would probably do the trick, and would not be like adding chemicals. It might be a question of changing that out several times a year, as I have heard it done. That might work better than putting carbonate objects into the tank, as the water rushing through the crushed coral will dissolve it more effectively. That's a pretty easy fix, if you can rig it into your filter somehow. Let us know what you decide and how it works, because I am interested in raising my pH as well.

 

[JamesMJ2]

It has a one media basket. Where can I get crushed coral? I could use limestone too, if I could find that crushed as well.

 

[madasafish]

Seachem "Neutral Regulator". Brilliant stuff, will neutralize you to exactly 7, really close to your proposed 6.8. (No real difference between the two--few fish and plants are that sensitive). Get one of the plastic jars, it should be about $12, and it's worth it.

Look up "Neutral Regulator" on Google, and you'll see it. Get the powder version rather than the liquid. More bang for your buck.

 

[JamesMJ2]

Woot. Thanks Madasafish. I new there had to be something. Course it is a chemical, but I'll go check it out anyway. Otherwise it was expirement time with my water chemistry which is never fun.

 

[vocal]

I am having a similar problem.

I have a 20 Gallon glass (tall) tank. I have gravel, 1 plastic plant, 1 ruin ornament, 2 black moores, and 2 calico fantails. I have an aquaclear 150 filter (b.o.t.), and a bubble wall for oxygen.

I have to change 20% water every week to bring my PH back to safe levels. It comes out of the tap at 7.5 here, and in a week, it drops to almost 5. My Nitrite, and Nitrate levels are almost unreadably low (very safe zone), ammonia doesn't show in tests either.

Does anyone have any idea why PH would drop so drastically in a week. Local pet stores can't give me an answer, only that I seem to be the only person on the planet that has his PH drop.

Hopefully I provided enough info. from what I can tell, I have lots of room for more fish, so overcrowding isn't a factor. From what I have seen lately, could I have too much oxygen? I added the bubble wall, after reading that more Oxygen would increase PH a bit, but now I am reading here that more oxygen will lower PH. Which is it, and would there be a more stable solution, instead of adding chemical every week? This problem has only surfaced in the past month. My aquarium has been very stable prior to this, for almost a year.

 

[madasafish]

Do you have driftwood in the aquarium? Why not give us a list of all the things you do have in the aquarium: i.e. type of gravel, ornaments, fish.

Do use the Seachem "Neutral Regulator," it will adjust up or down to 7, and will keep the pH there!

You should do a 20% water change every week anyway. That is normal. But you shouldn't have to worry about pH each week.

 

[vega]

Vocal, do you know your dKH? i think your watermight be too soft (eg.~0 dKH)

 

[TankGirl]

Test your pH coming out of the tap after it has sat overnight in a clean bucket. You may find that it has dropped significantly.

James, crushed coral comes by the sack and is generally sold in the marine section as substrate. Use those media bags with a drawstring and put them in the media basket of your filter. This is definitely the low-tech way to go, but it works.

 

[Scottw68TN]

Crushed Coral is good or argonite Sand as the substrate. Lime stone works pretty good to. I see alot on e-bay sold as texas holey rock.

 

[Murphy]

Hi James, after years of messing around with the ph for my Discus I know how you feel. (frustrated!) Co2 has a habit of lowering the ph in any tank. I would stop using the R/o unit as you are stripping the water of all the natural elements, (buffers etc) and just use regular water from the tap. This may sound strange coming from a Discus freak as most of us use R/O units. But we are not pumping Co2 into our tanks.

 

[JamesMJ2]

Well adding trace elements to the R/O is easy, in fact that is a bit of a ph buffer. Not enough though, I will probably try both the Seachem and the crushed coral method. See which one is easier.

 

[TankGirl]

The crushed coral will work much better with the current flowing through it, rather than just as substrate or decoration with calciferous rock, as I have learned recently, patiently waiting, waiting for my pH to RISE...

 

[JamesMJ2]

I might do both, a two pronged approach. I need to find a place to buy it though. I refuse to shop at lfs, and both Petco and Petsmart don't carry it. Meaning I have to order it. I am sure it will work though as the acidity of carbonic acid is enough to dissolve soft limestone and corals. The Neutral Regulator is a nice back up, and has some of it's own unique buffering ions.