librarygirl
Look It Up
Hi everyone,
I posted yesterday about a new piece of DW I found at my LFS. I've been soaking it in an 18 gal rubbermaid tub with hot water for a few days.
For kicks yesterday I tested the water that the DW is soaking in after 24 hours and my PH plummeted to 6. My tap PH is around 8.4 until it gasses out after a few hours to 7.4-7.6 which is what my tank's PH is (due to the dramatic difference in PH I let my tap water gas out with an air stone in buckets for a couple of hours before doing water changes).
I do also add RO Rite to my water with water changes which can raise GH. (longish story --- I had much trouble cycling my tank and I narrowed it down to my tap water, either something in the water inhibiting the bacteria or lacking from the water. After changing my water source to spring water and adding RO Rite my cycle took off and completed in 3 weeks after 4 months of no movement. I now am back to tap water but I add a small amount of RO Rite with each water change to enhance my tap water). So I emptied and refilled the tub with hot water and added a teaspoon of RO RIte to try to mimick the environment of the tank and see if it would help buffer the water. I tested this morning after about 12 hours and the PH plummeted again to 6.2.
I do have a small amount of crushed coral in my filter to buffer my water. Will the CC help keep the PH stable even with the DW piece in there or not? Should I not use it? Can DW even alter PH this much? The piece isn't even leeching any tannins in the water at all. I'm wondering if it's the piece the DW is attached to (thought it was slate but it seems like it's a white marble covered with something else -- see linked post above for photos and further info). I may try resoaking it and keeping the "slate" portion out of the water and testing it with just the DW in there to rule out that it's the bottom portion plummeting the PH and not the DW itself.
I LOVE this piece. I want to use it. Problem is I need it ready by tomorrow night. I'm receiving a new shipment of fish (YAY!) and my first ever live plants. I wanted to attach some of the live plants to the DW and then rescape the tank with the new DW and plants while the new fish are acclimating. What I don't want to do obviously is have the PH crash and lose all my fish.
Any thoughts?
I posted yesterday about a new piece of DW I found at my LFS. I've been soaking it in an 18 gal rubbermaid tub with hot water for a few days.
For kicks yesterday I tested the water that the DW is soaking in after 24 hours and my PH plummeted to 6. My tap PH is around 8.4 until it gasses out after a few hours to 7.4-7.6 which is what my tank's PH is (due to the dramatic difference in PH I let my tap water gas out with an air stone in buckets for a couple of hours before doing water changes).
I do also add RO Rite to my water with water changes which can raise GH. (longish story --- I had much trouble cycling my tank and I narrowed it down to my tap water, either something in the water inhibiting the bacteria or lacking from the water. After changing my water source to spring water and adding RO Rite my cycle took off and completed in 3 weeks after 4 months of no movement. I now am back to tap water but I add a small amount of RO Rite with each water change to enhance my tap water). So I emptied and refilled the tub with hot water and added a teaspoon of RO RIte to try to mimick the environment of the tank and see if it would help buffer the water. I tested this morning after about 12 hours and the PH plummeted again to 6.2.
I do have a small amount of crushed coral in my filter to buffer my water. Will the CC help keep the PH stable even with the DW piece in there or not? Should I not use it? Can DW even alter PH this much? The piece isn't even leeching any tannins in the water at all. I'm wondering if it's the piece the DW is attached to (thought it was slate but it seems like it's a white marble covered with something else -- see linked post above for photos and further info). I may try resoaking it and keeping the "slate" portion out of the water and testing it with just the DW in there to rule out that it's the bottom portion plummeting the PH and not the DW itself.
I LOVE this piece. I want to use it. Problem is I need it ready by tomorrow night. I'm receiving a new shipment of fish (YAY!) and my first ever live plants. I wanted to attach some of the live plants to the DW and then rescape the tank with the new DW and plants while the new fish are acclimating. What I don't want to do obviously is have the PH crash and lose all my fish.
Any thoughts?