Help! Strange low ph problem planted tank.

[chefjohn2006]

Trying to solve a low ph problem with my 29 gallon tank. After the rest of my fish slowly died off I thought it would be best to completely start over to try and solve my ongoing ph problem. I washed my gravel out completely and changed all of the water in it. Now, my tap water is 7.0.... After changing it all it should be 7 right? Wrong! I'm still at 6.0 or under for all I know as that's as low as test kits go. A woman at petsmart recommended proper ph 7.0 a buffer, used it yesterday and water became very cloudy. Upon further investigation I realized it says not for planted tanks, now what? How can I bring up my ph without hurting my amazon swords? About my tank again it is a 29 gallon, with dual t5 non high output bulbs, about 100 lbs of fluorite gravel from my 75 gallon (no longer have) and a 90 gallon Marineland Emperor filter also from the 75. I am not using co2. Tank has always had 0 ammonia and nitrates and nitrites are always low as well it's only my ph that is problematic.

 

[cole_russell]

Do you have a lot of drift wood, peat, or soil under your gravel? I know these things lower my ph a bit*. My tap is pretty high at around 8 ph and this combo manages to get it down to just over 7.


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[chefjohn2006]

No, I'm not using anything but th seachem gravel, that's why it is so strange to me.

 

[Angela1108]

Did you let the tap water sit out for like 24 hours or was the test directly from tap to test tube?

As water sits out for a little bit it changes. If you didn't let it sit out for 24 I would suggest doing that first and testing again

Higher nitrates and also low oxygen level can make ph drop


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[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hello Chef...

The pH of the tap water isn't important. All you need to do is treat it to remove chlorine and chloramine. Fish you get at the pet store will get used to the chemistry of the water. You just need to keep it pure by changing half of it every week to remove the wastes.

Get some floating plants like Hornwort and drop some individual stems into the tank. The plant will help keep the water stable and clean between water changes.

Don't feed the fish too much and service your filter system when you change the tank water.

Pretty easy.

B

 

[Brookster123]

Add some crushed coral to your filter, it will buffer the ph at least, keep it up a bit.. you can also add some Texas holey rock to raise the ph..

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[chefjohn2006]

Thanks guys I actually had bought crushed coral to put in my filter but the ph kept dropping, I changed out the fluorite gravel for some caribsea floramax and mixed with some nat geo black sand and my ph has become stable staying at around 7.0. My amazon swords look like they have grown an inch in a few days I am happy with the results. I tried posting a pic on a different thread but couldn't get it to work.