pH different in every tank....odd?

[shannen]

Why the dif in all the tanks KH is extremely puzzling. I would talk to my water company if I were you.

It makes sense that in the ten you would see such a low PH if your stocking was heavy. But for the drastic dif in all of the tanks that is very very odd indeed.

To add KH to your tank (this will also raise the PH) I wouldn't use lime rock or crushed coral. True this will work, but you toss the ability to really control it out the window.

Adding measured amounts of common baking soda gives you controlled raising of the KH.

In the ten I would add half a teaspoon and test every day to see the effects. In the other tanks I would do full teaspoons.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I have heard on this site that using baking soda is not the way to go because it will cause pH swings. We use crushed coral in the 150 because it naturally increases the pH and keeps it at a stable 7.6. We're actually in the process of adding a second bag to increase it to 8.0 for the African's. The cc has been in the tank for about 3 months now and has been completly stable.

True this will work, but you toss the ability to really control it out the window.

I don't really understand what you mean. By putting a piece of limestone in the tank and checking it about a week later, if it isn't as high as it should be, I would add another piece. I don't plan to use crushed coral because the hob doesn't have flexibility to be able to do that. And I really don't want to have a bag of it laying in the tank.

The stock isn't heavy at all. There's a total of 4 fish in the 10 gal (about 6 inches of fish). I think I accidently sucked up 4 of the ghost shrimp today during the pwc. 8O I looked in the tank afterward and could only find 2. The python sure does have heavy sucking pressure when you hook it up to the outside faucet. We were having one heck of a time doing the water changes because Nemo (my cat) was having one of his psycho episodes where he runs around like crazy, running into us and knocking over everything.

This tank is turning into a DISASTER. I am thinking of scrapping it and having a hermit crab tank. We now have hair algae all over the place. The ivory snails are no more (holes in the shells), the pH is VERY low, and the hardness is also VERY low. All of the other tanks seem fine. It's just that this one is causing me headaches every day.

 

[shannen]

Actually now that I think about it in your case adding the rock might be the best choice.

Adding the Baking soda to the water is really for people who have drastically low PH from the tap. If your tap is ok, but there is something in each individual tank causing a dif reading. Then adding rock to the tanks is the best way to keep it stable.

It is still hard to get the PH right. It's not like you can measure limestone by the table spoon. And by weight isn't that trustworthy. It can come from dif sources with dif densities.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Exactly. I went to Lowes today to find some limestone but I REALLY don't want to have stones that are used for paving in the tank. I updated my profile a couple minutes ago since the recent snail death and ghost shrimp disapearence. What can I get to help with this hair algae that is hitting this tank? I've never had to deal with it before.

 

[shannen]

I use gold barbs, but know they do not actually eat it. They more or less just pick at it.

They also get 6 inches, so they might not be a good long term choice. Not to mention they should be kept in groups of 3s.

The best way I've been able to deal with it tho. Is to yank everything out of the tank bleach it (rinse carefully of course) then cut back on the sunlight in the room the tank is in.

I've had issues with this junk in all of my tanks facing the southern sky, they get the most sun.

Also I just wanted to add, that even keeping the rock in the tank will still have minute PH swings. The tap you are doing the water change with will obviously have a dif PH and will need time to allow the KH to raise.

Hence the reason for my comment. If you are trying to raise the KH/PH from the tap, baking soda is a more controlled way. It's just more work lol.

Just do water changes slowly to allow the the change to take place. So it's not so sudden.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

That's the weird thing. All of the tanks are in the same room, except for the 5 gal. They are all in the living room. The blinds are always shut except for when Nemo HAS to be in his window. But that's only for a couple hours a day and usually at night. During the day all he does is sleep. I guess that's why he's always hyper at night when we do water changes and try to sleep.

This week I am away on business so I think that when I get home on Friday I am going to do a complete tank overhaul. This is what I think I'm going to do:

1. Take the Molly back to the lfs. He is a BEAUTIFUL fish and I hate to get rid of him but I think that's what's best for him. He's orange, white, black, and gray. PLUS, he's a Sailfin. He was quite the find for me. But I think he'll be much happier if he has other Molly friends.

2. Put the ghost shrimp back in with the Betta. Possibly get 4 or 5 more (They are so cute to look at).

3. Completly tear down the tank. The QT isn't cycled yet so I don't know what I'm going to do with the Tetra's. Maybe just temporarily put them in bags while I am cleaning the 10 gal.

4. Wash the gravel, decor, heater, tank, everything.

5. Set it all back up again, starting fresh. I won't touch the filtration unit. I am going to try to preserve as much bacteria as possible but I don't think it will be much. I just replaced the filter cartridge a couple weeks ago because it was NASTY. And by nasty I mean that I haven't replaced it in about 6 months and it was just time for it to be replaced.

6. Acclimate the tetra's back into the tank and be prepared for daily water changes.

How does this sound? If the pH keeps dropping back down I think I'll just convert it to a hermit crab tank. I love my fish too much to do that though. I was trying to breed snails. But I guess that dream will just have to wait.

If you guys can't tell, I am easily amused. While James needs to race his dirt bike, keep aggressive fish, and play his racing XBox games, all I need are a couple snails and ghost shrimp. In my opinion, snails are just the coolest things to watch. That and watching ghost shrimp hit an air bubble and go sailing through the tank. Ok, I know. I am odd. But hey, at least my "fish" are benificial to the tank.

 

[shannen]

Sounds like you got it down. As long as you do it fast (less than a couple of hrs) and dose with cycle after. You shouldn't need to do daily water changes. After all your not touching the filter. Remove the uplift tube on the filter and let the filter sit up against a wall or something full of tank water.

Then after every thing is back in there test your parameters every day for the first week. You can be cautious and dose with ammo lock from the beginning, just to make sure.

A little tip. After it's back up and running, keep some hornwort in the tank. If the hair algae starts to come back the hornwort will keep it's growth to a minimum.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I don't think I'll be using the cycle and Ammo-lock. I don't use any chemicals in the tanks except for dechlor unless their is a disease. Even with ich, I use the salt treatment, none of the commercially sold ich medications. Plus, I have heard many negative reviews on Cycle. If the water parameters get high (high Ammonia, Nitrites, or Nitrates) I'll just do water changes. From what I've heard and IME, excessive chemical usage in tanks can actually harm your fish.

Hornwort? Isn't that a live plant? At the moment I am experimenting with live plants. They are not easy to come by around here. I have to drive a couple hours to get some. As of yet, I don't have any planted. I am still waiting for the fertilizers and test kit to come via Big Al's. After that comes, I am going to experiment with different plants in the 5 gal. With having the snails in the 10 gal, all they are going to do is eat them. I'm definately going to keep my big apple snails in the 10. They are HUGE. Baseball size. I can't believe they got that big so fast. Then again, I've had them for about 8 months now.

If the hair algae comes back, I will try the Hornwort, but I need to figure out this whole plant thing first. Thanks Shannen!

 

[jsoong]

The fact that the 10's KH & GH are drastically lower than your tap's is puzzling. Considering your pwc schedule, your buffers should be well replenished... but it is not happening.

If it was only the KH (& pH) that is dropping, then I might suspect some source of acid in the tank - like driftwood, or something decomposing. But the fact that the GH is dropping as well means that something is removing both the Ca & CO3 in that tank ... & doing so faster than your replenishment by water changes. The only suspect I have are your snails .... maybe others can think of something else...

A quick estimate of the rate of Ca removal - you are doing 20% pwc weekly with water of GH of 50 .... that's approx. 0.5 g of CaCO3 removed weekly .... are your big apple snails growing that quickly?

Regardless of why the Ca & CO3 are disappearing from your tank, it is important for the snails to keep the levels up (or their shells disintergrate as you have witnessed). Baking soda will work, but you have to keep adding it as it is used up. Limestone or cc will keep the levels more stable since you can have a large store of solid CaCO3 & it will dissolve into the water as the CaCO3 is being used.

BTW - you don't have to have it in bags or in the filter, you can have fine crushed stuff (I seen crushed oyster shells to the size of sand in the bird section - my kid's birds need that for their Ca needs) and simply mix that into your gravel.... should almost disappear unless you ahve black gravel... & with the larger surface area, the crushed stuff will dissolve faster.

 

[shannen]

I keep MANY MTS (read hundreds) in most of my tanks and all of my perms are the same. Never thought about the snails being the culprit here. But they are not exactly fast growers. DOH! Nice call.

 

[shannen]

oops I also missed your apple snail size. Those things are poo machines. No wonder your PH is so low. I would not keep on baseball size apple snail in a 10 let alone 3. Sorry, they can be as messy as a pleco. All they do is eat. I had one that was the size of a quarter eat a betta over the course of a weekend, it was my work tank so he was alive on Friday lol missing come Monday. And no chance of him jumping out or anything.

Yes they will eat it. I first started posting with you like I am tonight...very late. lol I completely missed this. I was on an PH and algae restriction mode. Not a snail mode.

I would try moving them to the 29. But you might still have issues in the long run, and the parrots might pick on them. Then again might not. Give it a try.

You can try breaking the tank down. But man I'm pretty sure your gonna have problems again. As long as you have 3 huge snails in there.

As far as the hornwort goes. There's really not much to figure out about it. It is one of the most undemanding plants out there. Less than 1 wpg is fine, just try to get a bulb in the k range of 6000 k to 6700 k. Toss it in the tank let it float or hold it down with weights or string. No ferts needed, just keep an eye on your nitrate when it gets really big, depleted nitrate lets way for cyno bacteria BGA. Ugly stuff. If it gets to that point where your nitrates are are below 5 ppm yank half of it out.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I figured that my snails had something to do with it. The shells of the large apple snails are perfect. One of them has a minor scratch, and it's just on the surface. My little ones on the other hand, they were the ones that died from holes in the shells. I did a 50% water change on Sunday. I didn't mean to. I was just chasing around a piece of gunk and didn't realize that the python was sucking up so much so fast. The gravel is gross. No matter how much I gravel vac, there is still TONS of yucky stuff all over the tank. So maybe I should just get rid of my snails. They aren't eating the algae. I've been feeding carrots lately every other day. They LOVE those things. Or maybe I should take back the big ones and keep the small ones.

They have grown VERY fast over the past couple of months. And I mean VERY VERY fast.

 

[TankGirl]

This might be your answer, and I am very interested to know if you notice a rise in GH if you remove them. I imagine your pH will rise somewhat without the added waste they produce.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm going to tear down the tank on Friday or Thursday night. The apple snails will just have to hang out in the QT for a couple days until I can get to the lfs. I guess I will just return them all. I don't want to have to keep going through this with the pH dropping quickly and the hardness being non-existant. I'm just going to miss my big guys. They are so cute.