pH keeps lowering. Help!

[kpea43]

I got a 2o gallon long, only planted now, drift wood has been removed.
-4 cory cats
-6 pristella tetras
-7 neon tetras
-6+ black mystery snails.

I have routinely done water changes weekly. %25 =5 gallons. Vacuum 1/2 the gravel one week , other half the next.

*for my snails at times I put blanched broccoli in the tank for 12-24 hours.

What can my options be why my pH keeps lowering ?! Please help.

I Also just put new carbon in my aqua clear 50 HOB filter. It's a 20-50 gallon filter. And it's on high.

Added 10 mL of the beneficial bacteria in the pouch

Could I be filtering too much?

Could my sponge be dirty in my filter ?

Please help, thank you.


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[Brookster123]

What are you testing with? What are your ph values?

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[kpea43]

API pH tester. Try to Keep it 7-8 a cause I Have snails. And in a cpl days to a weeys it falls to 6.0 / yellow color


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[kpea43]

Edit : week *^


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[Brookster123]

Test your gh/kh at all?

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[kpea43]

No. I test is pH, Nitrite, and Ammonia, should I test more then that ?


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[dalto]

You should test the pH of your tap water and also the KH of both your tank and tap water.

 

[kpea43]

Ok, will do. I have city water. I'll have to pick up a test kit this weekend for what your talking about. I haven't lost any fish I'm just tryin to keep my levels steady and not stress any of the fish out.


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[Brookster123]

My city tap comes out high 8 ' s and settles to low 7 ' s after off gassing for 24 hours. You can add crushed coral to your filter to buffer kh, this would most likely get your ph to stick around 7.

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[54seaweed]

you could try a few things
1) a bottle of seltzer water 16 oz per every 10g (the bubbles from seltzer water will help slowly raise ph)
2) teaspoon of baking soda in a 8 oz bottle of water adding about a oz a hour till your testing your desired ph
3) you could buy a buffer
4) crushed coral
5) few sea shells

 

[dalto]

Personally, I would be hesitant to modify the water chemistry until you got reading from your tank and tap on KH.

 

[Brookster123]

Personally, I would be hesitant to modify the water chemistry until you got reading from your tank and tap on KH.

Agreed,absolutely test first, I was just throwing out a possible solution..

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[54seaweed]

yes always test
sometimes all it needs is a simple water change a little bigger than normal
never know could be just that simple

 

[kpea43]

Yeah. Appreciate the feedback. I'll be testing my water from the tap as soon as I get home tomorrow and buy the other test kit someone had mentioned . And I'll be letting everyone know what i find out


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[kpea43]

So my water right out of my faucet and the water in a bucket that's been sitting for over 48 hours , both came out blue on the pH test. 7.6 +


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