Wrong Eco-Complete Used!

[realcanadian]

D'oh.

I had a simple 10-gallon tank for the past year and a half, going strong with some platies and neon tetras and a cool piece of driftwood. Genius me: Decided to change out the inert gravel substrate with Eco-Complete to start growing neat plants... Except I used the wrong Eco-Complete substrate!

I made the switch on Friday, and after checking water parameters today, I noticed a huge spike in pH (usually sits around 6.0, now registering at 7.6)!

After some scrambling, I think I may have used the cichlid version of the eco-complete substrate (LFS had them in the same pile, I swear). I was planning on using pressurized CO2 for the plants, which should slightly lower the pH. I am not sure if that will have a huge impact since the substrate seems to be significantly buffered.

Am I out of luck? Do I need to switch out the substrate again or can I do something to keep this in control? And are my livestock in trouble?

Thank you so much!

Edit: My other water parameters are as follows: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 phosphates. Currently no plants. I had my filter with additional floss running, so I don't think I'm experiencing a mini-cycle...

Edit2: I'm not so sure anymore... This is the packing... Doesn't say cichlid-specific anywhere... Could this just be a mini-cycle then?

 

[Tobykourtney]

D'oh. I had a simple 10-gallon tank for the past year and a half, going strong with some platies and neon tetras and a cool piece of driftwood. Genius me: Decided to change out the inert gravel substrate with Eco-Complete to start growing neat plants... Except I used the wrong Eco-Complete substrate! I made the switch on Friday, and after checking water parameters today, I noticed a huge spike in pH (usually sits around 6.0, now registering at 7.6)! After some scrambling, I think I may have used the cichlid version of the eco-complete substrate (LFS had them in the same pile, I swear). I was planning on using pressurized CO2 for the plants, which should slightly lower the pH. I am not sure if that will have a huge impact since the substrate seems to be significantly buffered. Am I out of luck? Do I need to switch out the substrate again or can I do something to keep this in control? And are my livestock in trouble? Thank you so much! Edit: My other water parameters are as follows: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 phosphates. Currently no plants. I had my filter with additional floss running, so I don't think I'm experiencing a mini-cycle... Edit2: I'm not so sure anymore... This is the packing... Doesn't say cichlid-specific anywhere... Could this just be a mini-cycle then?

That's the right stuff I don't know what could be going on. What's your ph out of the tap?

 

[realcanadian]

Thank you for the response!

I've just checked water out of tap and it is around 8-8.4 pH. This means that the tank is fine and the issue is from the water supply. This is odd because for the longest time I was measuring 6.0-6.5 pH.

I guess I started to panic and didn't check the most obvious thing. Thank you very much for clearing this!

 

[Mebbid]

Tap water ph is generally quite a bit higher. Let a bucket of it sit out overnight with a bubbler or occasional stirring and then test in the am. That will give you your base line for ph to see if its the substrate or the water.

 

[aqua_chem]

Eco complete can leech GH... but usually not KH. Do you happen to have access to a KH test kit? If not, right now I would concentrate on monitoring your pH and comparing it to tap to see if you're really changing, the change was a fluke, or if something weird happened to your tap chemistry.


All things considered though, if you pH mellows out at 7.6, that's still a very good pH to grow plants in.