Low pH...

[suzie83]

HI, was wondering if anyone can tell me how bad it is having low PH in your tank.

Have 68l tank been set up for months now and PH is usually around 7.2. I have recently got a 420l tank and have been cycling it, now heading into the 5th week and the PH in this tank is now pale yellow so approx 6.0. This was around 6.6 consistently until recently.

The large tank has a few pieces of bogwood and another kind of wood. However my tank has alot of algae growing in it with 2 T5 bulbs so i tested the Phosphate of the water and it was high so i put in API prevent algae liquid and now the PH has dropped.

Has this caused the large drop in the PH or could it be something else and how significant is this to potentially transferring my fish between the tanks?

Water reading is PH 7.0

Large tank readings Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm and Nitrate 0ppm. The ammonia was higher before but has dropped.

Hope someone can help.
Suzie

 

[FishontheRock]

That is a neutral ph and is fine.

 

[Stephen Rollins]

HI, was wondering if anyone can tell me how bad it is having low PH in your tank.

Have 68l tank been set up for months now and PH is usually around 7.2. I have recently got a 420l tank and have been cycling it, now heading into the 5th week and the PH in this tank is now pale yellow so approx 6.0. This was around 6.6 consistently until recently.

The large tank has a few pieces of bogwood and another kind of wood. However my tank has alot of algae growing in it with 2 T5 bulbs so i tested the Phosphate of the water and it was high so i put in API prevent algae liquid and now the PH has dropped.

Has this caused the large drop in the PH or could it be something else and how significant is this to potentially transferring my fish between the tanks?

Water reading is PH 7.0

Large tank readings Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm and Nitrate 0ppm. The ammonia was higher before but has dropped.

Hope someone can help.
Suzie

The drift wood could be causing your low ph. It did the same thing during my cycle and wasn't allowing the bb to form quickly. I was advised to take the drift wood out until ready to add fish. Hope this helps

 

[BBradbury]

Water Chemistry

HI, was wondering if anyone can tell me how bad it is having low PH in your tank.

Have 68l tank been set up for months now and PH is usually around 7.2. I have recently got a 420l tank and have been cycling it, now heading into the 5th week and the PH in this tank is now pale yellow so approx 6.0. This was around 6.6 consistently until recently.

The large tank has a few pieces of bogwood and another kind of wood. However my tank has alot of algae growing in it with 2 T5 bulbs so i tested the Phosphate of the water and it was high so i put in API prevent algae liquid and now the PH has dropped.

Has this caused the large drop in the PH or could it be something else and how significant is this to potentially transferring my fish between the tanks?

Water reading is PH 7.0

Large tank readings Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm and Nitrate 0ppm. The ammonia was higher before but has dropped.

Hope someone can help.
Suzie

Hello suzie...

Unless you keep and breed rare fish, you don't need to worry about the pH of your tap water. As long as there are no sudden changes, then a pH between 6 and 8 is fine for aquarium fish. They will get used to the water.

Driftwood is a good thing to add to the tank, it will naturally raise the pH a little bit. Adding aquatic plants is good too. Plants are natural filters and help maintain clean, stable water and they love water that's a little acidic.

I wouldn't add any chemicals to your tank water or try to change the water properties in any way. For an established tank, all you need to do is remove and replace half the tank water every week. If you'll commit to this water change routine, your fish will be fine.

B

 

[librarygirl]

How are you cycling this tank (fishless or fish-in)? Have you done any water changes? If your smaller tank's PH is 7.2 (which is fine btw) then it seems like the larger tank is going through a PH crash (common in cycling tanks) or it could be the driftwood too if it's new; nitrification of bacteria slows dramatically at a PH of 6 so I'd do a larger water change to get PH back up to your tap water's PH.

 

[suzie83]

Hi, thanks for all your replies.

I had read that the PH really should only be a problem with breeding which i won't be doing, however as I am planning to move fish between the tanks I wanted similar levels with all my tanks, my small quarantine tank is very similar to my 68l so was really shocked with the large tank after the drop.

The driftwood has been in the tank since the first day as well as plants so i don't reckon they were the cause after 4 weeks, unless i am mistaken. Completed a 25% water change but PH is now at 6.2 but need to do more, just my buckets are being used for more plants to check for snails so couldn't do larger change straight away. Hopefully this will continue to rise, I was just concerned due to the drop that maybe something had happened as i haven't experienced that before.

Thank you for all your responses.

Suzie