Low pH on Fishless Cycle?

[jcolon]

pH has tanked so I did a 60% change.

pH - 6.0
Ammonia - 2.0 ppm
Nitrite - 5.0+
Nitrate - 5

Plus, I found out that yesterday's Nitrates were indeed due to operator error. I had the bottles backwards.

Ha ha and Oops!

The nitrate numbers are now more on the mark ... You have the BB, now you just need for your tank to finish cycling. Pwc's to keep your pH up, just keep us updated.

 

[Coco1019]

pH is continuing to drop. It was clear with just a touch of yellow.

pH - < 6.0
Ammonia - .25 ppm
Nitrite - 5.0+
Nitrate - 5.0

Did an 80% change and dosed to 4.

Is it normal for the pH to get *that* low? I know it does get low as part of the process, I just haven't seen it mentioned that it will get that low.

 

[jcolon]

I have heard of this yes ... usually it's because of soft tap water. As such there's not a lot of minerals / nutrients in the water to begin with and what little there is gets consumed quickly by bacteria. What you may consider doing is adding crushed corals and or crushed Limestone into your filter via a media bag. Not sure which is easier for you to come by. Limestone's a fairly common rock found in home gardening stores. It's usually the white decorative rocks used in front / backyard flower beds.

 

[Coco1019]

I purchased some crushed coral and media bags the first day I saw the dip. Whether I used it or not I thought it would be good to have on hand.

Do I ever need to check the hardness? I haven't seen that mentioned before, but I do think we have slightly softer water. When I moved here from Florida, I noticed the difference immediately just taking a shower.

If the nitrates or nitrites start dropping, will that mean that the bacteria are dying off from starvation?

 

[jcolon]

You can get a test kit ... yep another test kit ... to measure kH, dH GH. Florida is a great example. Florida water's fairly hard as you'll have a lot of dissolved nutrients. I'll wager you saw a lot of calcium build up? The bedrock of FL is a lot of Carbonate Rocks like Limestone.

If you have the crushed corals to use, might as well dip them in the filter.

 

[Coco1019]

Alrighty, how much should I add and do I put it so the water goes through it before the filter or after?

 

[Coco1019]

You can get a test kit ... yep another test kit ... to measure kH, dH GH. Florida is a great example. Florida water's fairly hard as you'll have a lot of dissolved nutrients. I'll wager you saw a lot of calcium build up? The bedrock of FL is a lot of Carbonate Rocks like Limestone.

If you have the crushed corals to use, might as well dip them in the filter.

Yeah, we saw calcium buildup all the time. We had a separate standing all glass shower and it was a PITA to keep clean. We had to squeegee it after every use and use a special spray.

Where I lived the water table was about 20 ft down.

 

[Coco1019]

I added 2T of CC to the filter housing today, in a media bag. We'll see how much that affects the pH.

pH - 6.4
Ammonia - .25 ppm
Nitrite - 5.0+
Nitrate - 5.0

Did an 80% change and dosed to 4.

 

[Coco1019]

The cc definitely helped. I added 2T yesterday and the pH was 7.2 today.

I also tried the gassing off of my tap in a different location (I did it in my kitchen before) and it ended up being 6.6 this time.

Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - 5+
Nitrate - 2.5

Dosed ammonia back up to 4.

 

[Coco1019]

I think I'm getting there!

pH is starting to drop again so I'll keep a close eye on that.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 5 (was off the chart for a while)
Nitrate - 5

 

[Coco1019]

Not much longer...

pH - 6.8
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 2.5 to 5.0
Nitrate - 80 to 120

I had to replace the coral yesterday. But overnight it made a drastic change.