Correcting pH

[Fishyfanatic]

I re-tested the pH in the 55 gal tank 24 hours after adding the peat. It has plumited to 6.0. I'm sure it is lower than that but the AP test kit only goes to 6.0. The water is soft from the tap. I may be messing with fire here, but I put crushed coral in the filter in addition to the peat. I figure that this will increase the hardness and help stabalize the pH at a low level. Am I correct in assuming that this will work? Or am I just setting myself up for a disaster?

And, before I get bombarded with "a stable pH is better than a perfect pH", I already know that but I added the peat because I read that German Blue Rams prefer peat in the filter because of the tannins. Should I just remove the peat and crushed coral or what? Logically it should work, but science is another thing.

 

[Toirtis]

Technically, it should work, but you may need to do a fair bit of experimentation before you find the ratio of peat:coral that will give you a stable, reasonable pH over a long period of time....remember, the peat will act far more quickly than the coral, so you will likely need more peat than coral. That being said, our usual ph here in Calgary is around 7.8-8.2, and I know plenty of people that have kept and spawned rams quite successfully without using any peat whatsoever.

 

[LittlePuff]

Take out the peat.


Kim

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I noticed the peat working VERY quickly. Yesterday it was 7.0 (normally 7.6) and today it was 6.0 or lower. I need to increase the hardness in the water to be able to have the buffering ability (regardless of having the peat in the filter). The hardness was I believe 2 drops (somewhere around 34 I think) before adding the peat. So this does need to be increased. I figured that the crushed coral would do this for me. But if I add the crushed coral without the peat, then the pH would be in the mid 8's. Therefore, adding the peat would help lower the pH while the crushed coral increased the hardness. Does this make sense? Given this, should I just remove all of it even though the hardness is low and hope for the best.

 

[aqh88]

If your water is under 8.0 and you aren't trying to breed a sensitive wild caught fish I'd leave it. I've spawned otos, rams, panda cories, and a few tetras in 8.0, gh 15, kh 15 water. Adding peat just gave me a dark tank despite tons of carbon and an unstable ph.

 

[greenmaji]

What are you tap waters KH and PH?
What are those numbers after it is allowed to set?
What are the current KH and PH of the tank?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The water isn't browned in any way. It is slightly cloudy, but that will settle in time. I'm not trying to breed any fish, but the fish that I am getting are wild caught. The store that I am buying all of my fish from is the BEST in the area but most of their South/Central American fish are wild caught. That's where I have issue. I want the water to be similar to where they are from.

Green- I already answered the pH questions before, but my tap pH is 8.4, the water set out is 7.6, the tank is now 6.0. Tap KH is 71.6 ppm. After setting out (tested from 29 gal tank) is 35.8 ppm. 55 Gal tank is 17.9 ppm. The peat has taken it's toll already on the hardness, that's the whole point of the crushed coral.

 

[greenmaji]

Your KH and setting out numbers sound like your PH will drop fine without the peat..

 

[Fishyfanatic]

What about the hardness? It's pretty low.

 

[greenmaji]

you bairly need much more.. 53ppm is the good level.. Im not so sure how it dropped in your 29 gallon..

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I don't know either. But that's the only source that I have for aged water is from the fish tanks. The 150 has crushed coral added to it so I couldn't test from that one. There's nothing in the tank to alter the hardness. It's sand, a fake ship, fake plants, heater, and thermometer. Can the hardness decrease as the water ages? Based on these results I would assume so, but you can never be sure.

 

[aqh88]

How long did you leave the water out and did you try it with some water movement like a small airstone? I would wait at least 48hrs then test especially if you have no water movement. The best way I found to lower my ph and soften my water was to mix in a bit of distilled. When my well water got really hard and high ph during dry weather I'd mix in 1/3- 1/2 distilled or I wanted to breed wild caught fish I'd just mix 1/3 well water with 2/3 distilled. I got a ph below 7 and gh closer to 5. The peat was unpredictable at best and peat can potentially lower your water to a ph of 5.0. All my peat experiments got me nowhere.

 

[greenmaji]

I would assume that your tapwater just so happened to be lower in KH when that tank was filled.. that would be the most likely culprit..

 

[greenmaji]

btw. I would slowly discontinue the use of peat to lower the PH in your 55.. you have a low KH and you also have driftwood in the tank.. the PH will sink naturally givin a little time.. HTH

 

[Fishyfanatic]

So you guys think that I'll be fine with the hardness level that I have? If I take out the peat and cc, it will still be low. Wouldn't that cause pH swings in the future?

 

[malkore]

unless you're injecting CO2 or plan to only do yearly water changes a dKh of 2 is fine for 99% of the fish out there.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Ok. I was just concerned about the hardness. With the level being so low, I figured that it may cause pH issues. I do water changes on a weekly basis and will be ultimately stocking rams and Rummynose Tetras. They are sensitive to water quality, that's why I was afraid of pH fluctuations from too low of a hardness. But if you guys say that they will be fine, I'll remove it. I do still have the driftwood in there, but it isn't effecting the pH. I had it sitting in the tank full of water for 3 weeks and the pH was the exact same as the other tanks. Thanks guys!

 

[greenmaji]

As I posted before the recommended KH is 3 or around 53ppm but more or greater quantity water changes can fix a lower then 53ppm situation.. as far as PH crash resistance is concerned.