Ph levels

[Keds195]

Evening everyone.
I took a sample of water to the shop today to get tested. They said our ph was really low like below 6. And we bought some ph up to put in the tank to try and get the ph up to 7 ish. He said he didn't want us buying any fish until the ph was up which I agree with him about.
So we got home a put a Table spoon in the water waited about an hour and a half and retested and ph is now 7.
My question is is that it now is the ph ok or might it drop again?
I also tested our tap water and it came out at 7 too.
How long do I need to wait now till I can put fish in?
Thank you

 

[ChrisJ]

You should wait a few days to see if it stay at that level, what gravel do you have? I use coral gravel in my 260 litre tank and I have a PH of around 7.6.
I've done a 20% water change today and will test again later to see if its at about the same PH level I had before.
The good thing about coral gravel is it increases the PH level naturally.

 

[apollo6626]

It should be maintained, depending on how many water changes you do. Local tap water should have a ph of 7.0, so maybe test a few local sources or even the ph of water for sale.

 

[Keds195]

Hi I use gravel but I can't remember what type. I haven't done a water change yet its only been set up a week and got no fish in it yet

 

[Samzter]

Evening everyone.
I took a sample of water to the shop today to get tested. They said our ph was really low like below 6. And we bought some ph up to put in the tank to try and get the ph up to 7 ish. He said he didn't want us buying any fish until the ph was up which I agree with him about.
So we got home a put a Table spoon in the water waited about an hour and a half and retested and ph is now 7.
My question is is that it now is the ph ok or might it drop again?
I also tested our tap water and it came out at 7 too.
How long do I need to wait now till I can put fish in?
Thank you

Lots of people will agree here, that those pH ups and downs are a really bad idea. They do more bad then good. I would wait for a week or so and do lots of water changes in aid of removing most of this stuff. Instead of using this product, look into using crushed coral. It's a natural way to higher pH and won't cause major changes.

 

[ChrisJ]

If you completely drain what you have in place, remove excising gravel and get yourself some Coral gravel. Once the waters at temp you should be able to add fish near a nuff straight away... Remember to use something like safe start to add to the water to take the clorine out.

 

[Keds195]

Our tap water is ph 7. When we started the tank up we added some stuff called nutrafin cycle. The guy in the shop thinks that's what has brought the ph down.

 

[ChrisJ]

Test what you've done tomorrow and the next day then, see if it still drops. If it don't then stick to why you've done and add some life to your tank. If not get the coral gravel... And it looks great.

 

[Keds195]

Ok thank you I will re test tomorrow I won't be able to go the shop again til maybe tues or we'd. So I will keep testing til then if it stays stable we will get some fish. If it drops again can I add coral gravel to what I have now?

 

[ChrisJ]

Yes you can add coral gravel around you pump/filter, a lot of people do this anyway as its said to help filter tanks better (so I've read)

 

[librarygirl]

The PH chemicals aren't the greatest and can cause fluctuations which are bad for fish. I recommend you get a glass of tap water and leave it out for 24 hours (stir it occasionally) then test PH again. This is your true PH and what your tank's PH should be, sometimes it changes from what the PH is out of the tap once it gasses off. If it's something other than 6, then something in the tank is bringing PH down. If it is really 6, then you can add something like crushed coral or argonite to the filter to help buffer the water a bit to get it up to around 7 (a more natural solution and one that'll keep the tank more stable than using the PH products).

 

[Rivercats]

Do as library girl said and also remember that ph can fluxuate during cycling. If after testing your ph in the gassed off tap water you find it is low then using crushed coral in your filter or in a media bag hung under the outflow of your filter will add proper buffers to keep your ph up naturally. Also when ph drops low, below 6.5 your cycling can slow down and when ph drops to 6 or below cycling stalls/stops. Test your gassed off ph and post the results, then better advice can be given.

 

[Keds195]

Thanks everyone im putting some water out now and i will test in the morning. I have retested tank water and it has stayed at about 7. I will retest the tank water again in the morning too.