PH a little low...does it matter to cmstanly chase PH?

[Openbrain]

Have an account with a 37 gallon with tetras and Cory cats. Stocked well. It's an eclipse and she doesn't turn the light on because it over heats the tank. So the light is never on. She has a mixture of gravel and crushed coral for some reason and wishes for it to be sand or another type of gravel. The Ph is always 6.4 and she wants it to be higher based on her experience and knowledge of her fish.mi agreed but told her at chasing PH is not the answer.

Would you agree to that?

Does the light not being on affect the PH?

Does changing the gravel affect anything?

The bio wheel and filter pads are rinsed in the tank water when pulled from water changes...do you ever completely change them out or keep rinsing for life?

 

[julielover]

Don't rinse bio-wheels, they need the bacteria on them to work right. Don't rinse pads, change them. Old pads increase your Nitrates and lower the ph. A low ph with crushed coral doesn't make sense, your ph should be above 7.5. Make sure your are reading your ph correctly. Most gravel has no impact on ph, crushed coral and limestone does, they will raise it. Decomposing vegetation can lower it by producing complex organic acids. The easiest and safest way to raise ph is to get some Rift Valley Cichlid Salts and follow the instructions on the bottle.

 

[rocksor]

1) Measure your tap water PH. I'm assuming that you haven't added new coral so your PH is stable in the aquarium. The best thing to do is go with the PH from the water source.

2) Changing to a sand substrate and removing the current coral gravel mixture may affect PH if the coral in the substrate is still helping to raise it. Again measure the PH of the tap water and see how much it differs from the aquarium.

3) Filters pads you change when it falls apart. You never change the biowheels. Rinse both in old tank water is the proper way of cleaning it.

 

[Openbrain]

1) Measure your tap water PH. I'm assuming that you haven't added new coral so your PH is stable in the aquarium. The best thing to do is go with the PH from the water source.

2) Changing to a sand substrate and removing the current coral gravel mixture may affect PH if the coral in the substrate is still helping to raise it. Again measure the PH of the tap water and see how much it differs from the aquarium.

3) Filters pads you change when it falls apart. You never change the biowheels. Rinse both in old tank water is the proper way of cleaning it.

I use RO water for her tank she adds vitamins. I will test the ph. I thought so about the filter pads and have been thoroughly rinsing them both each cleaning I do which is once a month. He husband does the second cleaning himself during the month

 

[Openbrain]

Don't rinse bio-wheels, they need the bacteria on them to work right. Don't rinse pads, change them. Old pads increase your Nitrates and lower the ph. A low ph with crushed coral doesn't make sense, your ph should be above 7.5. Make sure your are reading your ph correctly. Most gravel has no impact on ph, crushed coral and limestone does, they will raise it. Decomposing vegetation can lower it by producing complex organic acids. The easiest and safest way to raise ph is to get some Rift Valley Cichlid Salts and follow the instructions on the bottle.

But the old pads have the bacteria colony in them right? I'm not afraid to change them just a bit cautious

 

[Rivercats]

If you are using straight RO water that is why PH is so low. Use tap for WC's, don't do it all at once or you could ph shock the fish. Is there a reason for using RO water? RO water has no buffering compounds which keeps the PH stable. If there is a reason you have to use RO water then you will have to buy the proper additives to add back in (I don't know anything about them so someone else will have to jump in on that one).

 

[Cichlid Kid]

As stated, rev. osmosis is not needed unless you have an extreme circumstance like hard well water and then you would only need to mix 50-50 ro and tapwater.

 

[Openbrain]

If you are using straight RO water that is why PH is so low. Use tap for WC's, don't do it all at once or you could ph shock the fish. Is there a reason for using RO water? RO water has no buffering compounds which keeps the PH stable. If there is a reason you have to use RO water then you will have to buy the proper additives to add back in (I don't know anything about them so someone else will have to jump in on that one).

I was under the impression that RO water was the best for fish.

 

[Rivercats]

No it's not. It's used under certain circumstances and if pure RO is used as an only water source then it has to be reconstituted with the proper additives. Using regular tap water is the way to go most of the time.