PH help

[matthew_raw]

my ph is as 5 (orange) and is there a way to raise it to neutral without chemicals also i dont have any limestone or corals ? will my fish survive in a ph as low as 5 ?

 

[Rivercats]

Do you have baking soda? If so what is the size of your tank?

Are you doing 50% weekly WC's?

If your fish are doing fine now then it's okay for a short time but you need to get the buffers built back up in your tank so you ph raises. Unless you have very soft water I would start by suggesting you do a 50% WC wait two hours and do another 50% WC. Same with tomorrow.

Also what is your fish stock?

 

[matthew_raw]

tank size is 57 liters, 2 rosie tetras, 3 guppys, 2 swordtail, 2 angle fish, golden gouram, common pleco, 2 cherry barbs. overstocked i know but water paramaetrs are fine except ph , and as for baking soda i can get some how much do i add to the 57 liters? filter is an aquavital avc600 600lph external, interpet pf1 internal and air stone

 

[mrvincent]

Parameters?

What are your parameters actually ?

Mainly the KH is interesting me...

Do you add reverse osmose water or tap water ?

What's your tap water PH if using tap water ?

What kind of test are you using ? Test stripes can be unprecise. Just make sure your PH is REALLY 5.0 before doing anything... Do you use CO2 injection ?

Before adding any baking soda, please note it doesn't take much to big raise the KH.

You got a big mix of fish.... Are your fishs attacking other fishs ?

 

[matthew_raw]

all of my fish get along, i use tap water with aqurian tropical water conditioner no co2 lots of live plants and java moss, i use nutrafin liquid test set and it does ammonia, ph, nitrite and nitrate, whats is kh ? my ttap water is 7.5 and the test set is made by hagen i think
parameters are
ph: 5
ammonia: 0.6
nitrites: 0
nitrates:0

 

[mrvincent]

KH is carbonate hardness. You should test it both tap and aquarium water. (You can test it in your LFS if you don't want to pay 10 bucks for the test).

If your tap is PH 7.5 and aquarium water 5.0, maybe your test is accurate and there's something wrong somewhere... There's a possibility that your tap water contains a LOT of chlorine/chloramine. chlorine is a basic solution (above 7.0) and removing it from water with a treatement can lower the value.

Can you do an experiment ? Take tap water in a glass, put a very little of dechlrinator in it, then compare your tap ph vs treated water in the glass... Are the values the same ?

If really your ammonia is at 0.6ppm and nitrates at 0, it means there's no cycle in your tank. Your fish must really not be happy in this tank. Your ammonia should be at 0, and nitrates should be above zero if it was cycled properly.For the ammonia, I'll recommand you to do NOW a 50%WC, then add liquid bacterias to the tank after you add the dechlorinator.

If you are changing your water with a bucket, put the dechlorinator in the bucket before you put the water in the tank.

Are your fish gasping air at the surface of water ? If yes it is not a good sign...

 

[matthew_raw]

my fish are all happy and swimming around, no gill burn or signs of anything wrong, ill re-test the ammonia and nitrates and nitrites now

 

[mrvincent]

my fish are all happy and swimming around, no gill burn or signs of anything wrong, ill re-test the ammonia and nitrates and nitrites now

Good idea ! Give results asap

(Note that I edited the last message while you was reading it)

And what is your temperature ? PH and Temperature both change toxicity of ammonia (NH3 vs NH4) according to this chart: CNYKOI - Ammonia calculator but at your PH level, I think your ammonia is more ammonium, very less toxic for fish.

 

[matthew_raw]

ph :5.5
ammonia:0.4
nitrite:0
nitrate:5

 

[mrvincent]

ph :5.5
ammonia:0.4
nitrite:0
nitrate:5

If you raise KH with baking soda or increase PH with a base, your ammonium will convert to ammonia, and it will be toxic for your fish. Don't do WC for now, just wait a bit the ammonia lower by itself.

Do you have an airpump ? It will be the time to plug it. Be sure to watch both ammonia and nitrite level, as nitrite can increase while ammonia decreasing. Note than nitrite is less toxic than ammonia, and nitrate less toxic than nitrites.

The thing you should really now do is mesure the KH of your water by youself or your LFS and do the chlorine removing test to see if it can lower your PH that much...

 

[matthew_raw]

yeah i have an air pump but no air stone i have the line running streightr into the tank, the ph is unstable i think aswell because when i tested it before it was green now its gone red again ?

 

[mrvincent]

yeah i have an air pump but no air stone i have the line running streightr into the tank, the ph is unstable i think aswell because when i tested it before it was green now its gone red again ?

So at NOW, what is the PH value in the tank ? (I can't tell what PH red refers to -.-)

It is ok to run the airpump without airstone, to aerate the water it only need to make surface agitation...

Are you testing with bromotymol blue ? Red is low value and blue high values...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromothymol_blue

 

[matthew_raw]

5.5 is the ph value, very acidic i think

 

[mrvincent]

Are you using this test ? http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Watercare/Test-Kits/A7812

Or this one http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Watercare/Test-Kits/A7810

Or this one ? http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Watercare/Test-Kits/A7815

 

[aqua_chem]

Did you ever change your water? How frequently are you doing it?


I personally don't think that KH is important to know for most people. It doesn't really change your decision making unless you are deciding whether to get a particularly demanding fish or measuring CO2. If KH is high, what are you going to do? If it's low? Either way, WCs short term and crushed coral long term if frequent WCs don't solve the problem. Since their pH is so low, it's pretty much a given that they have low buffers.

Also, when pH is that low, nitrogen fixation really slows down. It needs to come up before I would trust the BB.


In addition, your tank is overstocked, as you already acknowledged. That alone will play a role in reducing your pH.

 

[matthew_raw]

the test kit i am using is non of them, its called the nurtafin minimaster test kit, and water changes are 10% twice daily to raise the ph and keep toxic levels down

 

[mrvincent]

If his KH is VERY low value, like 1 dKH, he should add a bit of baking soda to increase KH, then PH will raise and stabilise...

But I think he should lower ammonia (WC) before adding baking soda, because NH4 will transform into NH3 (toxic)

 

[mrvincent]

Also, when pH is that low, nitrogen fixation really slows down. It needs to come up before I would trust the BB..

When you talking about BB, you mean Bacterial Bloom ?

 

[aqua_chem]

Which is what he would do anyways if his pH won't go up.

 

[aqua_chem]

When you talking about BB, you mean Bacterial Bloom ?

Beneficial Bacteria