PH problems

[tamtam]

I'm hoping someone can help me out with this because I'm completely lost. I don't know what happened or why it happened but it's a PITA.

A bit about my tank.
It's a 30 gallon fresh.
Lightly planted - some small amazon swords and 3 java fern windelov.
I use flourish root tab and flourish liquid ferts(does a bit once a week).
I have a bit of drift wood in there but it's older, was in my tank for at least 9 months before hand so I'm certain this isn't what is effecting my PH.

So I'm currently in the process of trying to cycle my tank. It's been a few weeks now, I honestly lost track but it's been a while. This tank was set up before but the whole thing went to crap and illness wiped out my tank. I decided to start over from the beginning after a couple month break of saving money and getting supplies I started it back up.

Ever sense starting it back up I'm having PH issues. My tank before ran at 6.6. 6.8 straight from tap. It was like this the whole time my tank was running with no issues. Now my PH is way off. I've tested more times than I can count and it doesn't make sense at all. Straight from the tap now it's 6. A big drop from the 6.8 it was. I did the gas off test and let it sit out over night and I got a 6.4 but when I test my tank it's still usually on 6.0 even after plenty of time to gas off. I will sometimes see it rise to 6.4 but it doesn't stay there long. a Day or so and it's right back down to 6.

Now I have no idea why this has happened. Why suddenly the water from my tap is different than it's always been but I am city water. It's not the tests. I've tried a few different ones and am still ending up with the same results.

It's been weeks and I am obviously not having any progression with my cycle because of my low PH. Would this be the time to invest in some crushed coral? At this rate it will be summer before I can even think about putting fish in there.

 

[Ghostwolf42]

I'm having high ph issues at the moment. I'm trying a ph balance tablet treatment. That's all I can think of. Have you tried a ph up treatment?

 

[jcolon]

Yes go with some crushed corals... it's not uncommon for tap water pH to fluctuate somewhat ... though the drop to all the way to 6.0 could be due to bacteria in the water consuming minerals during the cycling process. That's why PWC's are so important during cycling to maintain the buffers to prevent pH swings. At low pH, bacteria don't multiply / die and your cycle stalls .. which sounds where you are.

Crushed Corals will add some kH to your tank to better maintain the pH. Others will surely chime in on other alternatives. GOOD LUCK!

 

[tamtam]

I had a similar thought jcolon and have been doing 2 30-40% water changes a week right along to be sure. I figured that about should be enough to keep things going?
It's been probably a month and a half and I've yet to see any nitrite. I know this is because of my PH crashing the cycle. I'll have to look into finding some crushed coral and see if it will help.

Ghostwolf, typically I avoid chemical and additives like that. It's why I mentioned crush coral it's a more natural option and from my reading is more consistent and easy to control.