PH

[KPhilly]

Why is my PH really high and how do I lower it?

 

[Mebbid]

What is your pH currently at?

 

[KPhilly]

It's at least at 7.6 or higher. Ammonia at 8.0 ppm.

 

[KPhilly]

I'm probably going to get a cannister filter and do a complete water change anyway.

 

[Aquamandan]

Moss balls did wonders to lower my ammonia spike. Use 1 moss ball for every 10 gallons, takes about a week to see the difference. And of course constant WCs with ammonia that high.

Good luck!

 

[Mebbid]

7.6 is actually a really nice pH to have, mine is at 8.2. I wouldn't worry about pH at all until you hit the 8.5 level. Aquarium fish have been bred in and are more used to differing pH levels. Stability is waaay more important than the general value since a swinging ph values will put a lot of stress on fish.

 

[Rivercats]

Are you cycling the tank? Fish in or fishless? That is a super high ammonia level.

 

[jlk]

It's at least at 7.6 or higher. Ammonia at 8.0 ppm.

Ph is the least of your concerns if your ammonia is reading 8ppm. If you have fish, you need to start an aggressive wc schedule to bring this under control (less than .25ppm with the high ph). If this is a fishless cycle, the ammonia still needs to be brought down to 4ppm or less.

 

[KPhilly]

There are no fish. I think I'm going to completely remove the water once I get a canister filter. The Marineland brand. Then I'll add new water. Prime it for 24 hours. Start a fishless cycle using nothing but ammonia. Would I need any cycle material? I'll try to get 4ppm worth of ammonia and wait till I get some nitrites. By then, I'll need to dose it back up to 4ppm and repeat the process until I'm getting nitrates. Once I can cycle ammonia and nitrites to 0, I I'm going to do about a 30 percent PWC to attempt to get my nitrates down to 20 or below. By this time, I hope to have my aquarium fully stocked with plants. Then I'll begin stocking starting with bottom feeders. Does this sound like a good plan?

 

[KPhilly]

When I say Prime, I mean use the chemical called Prime for the water.

 

[Mebbid]

There are no fish. I think I'm going to completely remove the water once I get a canister filter. The Marineland brand. Then I'll add new water. Prime it for 24 hours. Start a fishless cycle using nothing but ammonia. Would I need any cycle material? I'll try to get 4ppm worth of ammonia and wait till I get some nitrites. By then, I'll need to dose it back up to 4ppm and repeat the process until I'm getting nitrates. Once I can cycle ammonia and nitrites to 0, I I'm going to do about a 30 percent PWC to attempt to get my nitrates down to 20 or below. By this time, I hope to have my aquarium fully stocked with plants. Then I'll begin stocking starting with bottom feeders. Does this sound like a good plan?

Yeah it does sound like a good plan. Instead of the 30% changes at the end of the cycle, just do a total water change. The bacteria will be found on your filter and substrate, not the water column.

 

[KPhilly]

What's the best way to do a water change?

 

[Mebbid]

What's the best way to do a water change?

Use a gravel vac to siphon the water out into buckets and cart them to your nearest drain. Then you can refill the buckets with water that matches the tank temperature and pour it back in after treating it for chlorine.

 

[KPhilly]

Is that siphon pretty fast?

 

[Mebbid]

slow enough not to have to worry about sucking up fish and gravel but fast enough to suck out the debris from the tank.

 

[KPhilly]

slow enough not to have to worry about sucking up fish and gravel but fast enough to suck out the debris from the tank.

Thanks for all your help, Mebbid!