Lava rock raises PH?

[Da Squid]

Hello,
I've just started my fishless cycling. Day two and my amonia is around 4 ppm (havent bothered testing the nitrites yet) and my PH is 6. I know I need to raise the PH to cycle faster and that a waterchange is the obvious answer. I was just given some red porous rocks that a friend had in his aquarium. I don't have a picture handy yet but I believe it's commonly called lava rock. Is this supposed to help raise PH? I only have a small amount of it so I doubt the effect will be very impressive.

Other info, its a 55g freshwater tank with a decent amount of driftwood, turfave mvp, and a pile of rocks I pulled out of my garden. Driftwood and rocks were soaked/boiled. I dont have any plants yet, but hope to put some low to medium greenage in there in about a week. Lights will be one or two 54 watt T5 bulbs. I plan on getting peaceful community fish (probably amazon stufff mostly) when the cycle is finished.

Any tips on raising PH while cycling will be appreciated! Thanks

 

[fisch]

What is the pH of your tap water? The driftwood could be lowering your pH. If there is a significant difference between the tap and tank water then it is most likely the driftwood. So raising your pH could just be a matter of removing the driftwood and doing a water change. Not sure the lava rock will have much affect.
Having said that I would not recommend playing with the pH. A pH of 6 will work great for amazon type fish. I'd just cycle as normal. Just wait it out and you'll have happier fish in the end.

 

[Da Squid]

My tap was around 7 PH, so the driftwood is the likely culprit (and possibly the heavy amonia level). My chief concern is that the bacteria I'm after will not grow in the acidic water. I thought I read somewhere that it should be around 7 to cycle proper?

 

[fisch]

The bacteria will grow at your pH. I don't recall ever coming across any information regarding growth rates at different pH levels. I think wide swings in pH will affect the bacteria more than a constant low or high level. I do know that ammonia is less toxic to fish at lower pH levels.

 

[bs6749]

Don't mess with your pH at all. It will be perfectly fine and the Amazonian fish that you want would prefer the pH you have right now rather than a pH of 7.0 or more, especially if you want wild fish.

 

[Da Squid]

Ok, thanks everyone! I've read so much information on here I probably got that bacteria growth thing mixed up with a different post. I'll stay the course. As a followup, does the high ammonia content of my cycling tank lower the PH?

 

[bs6749]

Ammonia is NH3 and that is a base, so it will raise the pH.

 

[jsoong]

But, when Ammonia turns into nitrites & nitrates, the H's are released, so the pH can drop.

However, no need to mess with the pH as long as it is stable. Cycling is only inhibited when the pH is very low ... like 5 or less.

 

[Da Squid]

Gotcha. Well, the API test only goes down to 6, but hopefully I'm not too much worse than that. Oh well, on with the show. I'll do my best not to come whining in a week if I don't see any nitrites yet.

 

[thincat]

The lava rock is red due to the iron in it. It has no calcuim so it will have no affect on your ph. I don't believe it would be good with an Amazon fish tank setup.

 

[bs6749]

But, when Ammonia turns into nitrites & nitrates, the H's are released, so the pH can drop.

But just the presence of ammonia in the tank isn't going to raise the pH. It would lower the pH just by sitting there in the tank with no biomolecular reactions.

The lava rock is red due to the iron in it. It has no calcuim so it will have no affect on your ph. I don't believe it would be good with an Amazon fish tank setup.

If you are talking about artificial lava rock it would be safe and inert but volcanic lava rock can contain Ca+2, Mg+2, and sulfur compounds among others that will definitely alter the pH of the tank.

Where did you ge the lava rock? If it was from a hardware store then it should be okay.