pH levels

[hoppershaun]

Hi guys!

I have just tested my water levels and found that my pH is 6.0, yesterday it was 6.4 but one of my fish died overnight. Could this have made the pH lower that much? The rest of the water parameters are as follows:
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm
I had 3 leopard danios, but like I said one died yesterday. The other 2 seem fine, the one that died looked very ill from the moment I got it home.
Do I have to raise my pH, and how do I do it without stressing out the 2 remaining fish?

 

[rich311k]

How old is the tank? I would imagine it is likely the ammonia that killed the fish. What is your KH?

 

[hoppershaun]

The tank is only 1 week old, so it's still cycling. Don't know what the KH is, don't know how to check for that. I've just made a 1/3 water change so will see if that affects the pH. Yeah, thought the ammonia might have something to do with the fish dying, but the ammonia wasn't as high as I thought it would be after only a week. (just guessing, new to all this!) I thought the fish might have had TB, it should many of the later syptoms of it; crooked spine, shrunken stomach, protruding red gills and not wanting to join the oher fish.

 

[rich311k]

Red gills, sounds like ammonia or nitrite poisoning but it may have come sick from the LFS. KH is carbonate hardness, the reason I asked is, if it is low, under 3, you can have some wild PH swings and you may want to add some crushed coral to your filter to stabilize it. There are test kits available to test it.

 

[hoppershaun]

Thanks, i'll look into getting one.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Leave a sample of tap water uncovered for 24 hours and then test it: that'll give you a true indication of your tap water pH and you'll then be able to keep up with your tank water.

Steer clear of the pH adjustment chemicals: they cause more harm than good, IMO.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Best thing for cycling with fish, daily PWC's. Even if it's just small ones. This will help keep the ph more stable.

 

[hoppershaun]

My tap water is pH 7.6, and water in tank is still pH6.0. Is this amount of difference normal? Or should the pH in the tank be similar to the pH of the tap water?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

During a cycle, it is normal for a tank to sometimes drop like that. Just keep up with the PWC's, as those drops could hurt the fish. The ph drops probably because you have a relatively low kh level. I have a kh of 60 (3.4 degrees) here and mine also dropped like that, but I was doing a fishless cycle. But once you get cycled, it will get back to normal. Try doing a 50% PWC and then check the ph an hour after doing it.

 

[hoppershaun]

Checked my KH, its 0 degrees! My GH is over 16 degrees though. Will rasing the KH increase the GH too?

 

[Elle2]

My tap water is pH 7.6, and water in tank is still pH6.0. Is this amount of difference normal? Or should the pH in the tank be similar to the pH of the tap water?

Did you leave it out for at least 24 hours as Voodoo mentioned? This makes a really big difference. My water comes out of the tap at 7 Ph but when left for 24 hours it drops significantly. Also make sure you tap the vile to allow the bubbles to gas out. This will give you an accurate reading.

 

[rich311k]

KH and GH are sperate. Test your tap water for both KH and PH after sitting out overnight. If it comes out 0. You will need to add somekind of buffer. Either CC or baking soda.

 

[IceH2O]

My tap water is pH 7.6, and water in tank is still pH6.0. Is this amount of difference normal? Or should the pH in the tank be similar to the pH of the tap water?

Did you leave it out for at least 24 hours as Voodoo mentioned? This makes a really big difference. My water comes out of the tap at 7 Ph but when left for 24 hours it drops significantly. Also make sure you tap the vile to allow the bubbles to gas out. This will give you an accurate reading.

Really? My tap water comes out under 6 and after 24 hours climbs to 6.8.

 

[Purrbox]

Normally water will have a much lower pH straight out of the tap than after it has rested for 24hrs. The reason is that many water companies saturate the water with CO2 to help maintain the pipes. CO2 cause the pH to go down without affecting the rest of the water chemistry. After 24hrs the CO2 will have gassed off allowing the water to return to it's normal pH.

 

[hoppershaun]

Tested my tap water after leaving it for 24 hours. pH dropped from 7.6 to 7.0. KH is still 0 degrees and GH is 6 degrees. Left some tank water out also, the pH is still 6.0, KH is 0 degrees and GH is 10 degrees.

 

[Elle2]

My tap water is pH 7.6, and water in tank is still pH6.0. Is this amount of difference normal? Or should the pH in the tank be similar to the pH of the tap water?

Did you leave it out for at least 24 hours as Voodoo mentioned? This makes a really big difference. My water comes out of the tap at 7 Ph but when left for 24 hours it drops significantly. Also make sure you tap the vile to allow the bubbles to gas out. This will give you an accurate reading.

Really? My tap water comes out under 6 and after 24 hours climbs to 6.8.

Yup. But I live in an area know for its very soft water. Although this seems to be the experience of quite a few members as they advised me to do this when I was having similar problems.

 

[Purrbox]

Tested my tap water after leaving it for 24 hours. pH dropped from 7.6 to 7.0. KH is still 0 degrees and GH is 6 degrees. Left some tank water out also, the pH is still 6.0, KH is 0 degrees and GH is 10 degrees.

I'd say that some buffering is in order. The easiest would be to get ahold of a small quantity of Crushed Coral and add some to your tank. Preferably in the filter, but you can place it in a stocking in the main tank too. You can adjust the levels by adding or removing a little bit, which is why it's good to keep it contained instead of having to pick it out of your gravel. Not sure how much you'll need to raise it, but I would probably aim for 3 dKH or 50ppm KH. Since you're doing this for the health of your fish and not for CO2 injection you may not need to raise it quite so much. You will periodically need to replace some of the Crushed Coral as it will slowly be dissolved.

You could also go the Baking Soda route, but this will involve treating your water everytime you do a water change. I does give you more control over the exact levels, so it may work better for you. Choose whichever method best suits your needs.

 

[hoppershaun]

Thanks, I think I'll use baking soda for now until I can get my hands on some crushed coral. Like you said, at least then I can have control over the exact levels. I bought some powder to set the pH to 6.5 but I'm guessing it wouldn't stay at 6.5 for very long because of the low KH? Haven't used it yet.

 

[Purrbox]

Unless the product tells you exactly what it's ingrediants are, I wouldn't touch it. Even it if does, it may not be good for your tank. Many of the products that are advertised as setting your tank to a specific pH don't work as promised and often cause other problems.

 

[JRagg]

Unless the product tells you exactly what it's ingrediants are, I wouldn't touch it. Even it if does, it may not be good for your tank. Many of the products that are advertised as setting your tank to a specific pH don't work as promised and often cause other problems.

I'm pretty sure most of those products contain phosphate buffers, which we all know to be the source of a lot of algae problems.

I definitely agree, don't add that stuff.