Bulbs affect water ph?

[WalkGood]

I bought some dry Lily bulbs from Petco, the kind that are on a hanging card. I don't know what kind , family member threw out the info. The picture showed a pinkish-purplish colored lily plant.

I put the bulbs in my freshwater community tank of platy, neon tetra, cory, ottos that has many plants. Tank pH was 7.2, nine days ago when bulbs first floated. Today pH is is 6.4 , any chance it is the bulbs?

I have read that driftwood tannins can lower pH. Can the same happen with bulbs?

 

[Mebbid]

If the bulbs are still good they should sink straight to the bottom rather than float.

Have you ever had shifts in your pH before? It's common that it will change during the day / night cycle of your tank. Try testing it a few different times throughout the day and see what the difference is.

As for the bulb itself changing the pH, I don't really see that as a plausible explanation.

 

[Khuligirl93]

I have heard that decomposing organic matter can lower pH, perhaps the bulb was no good and is decomposing?

 

[Rivercats]

One bulb decomposing won't drop ph that much. Tannins can lower ph but there has to be a lot of it to make any real difference. What is your WC schedule and how much do you change out each time? Also how long has the tank been set up? Was it cycled?

 

[WalkGood]

9 months, cycled for 7. Regular 25% wc 2 weeks. Sometimes every week. 0 ammonia, 0 nitries, 30 nitrates. pH 7.0 ish usually.

 

[Rivercats]

You need to be doing a 50% WC weekly to add fresh buffers back into your tank and to keep nitrates down to at least 20ppm or less. Also do you gravel vac when you do WC's?

Have you Ph tested your tap water? In order to do that you need to put tap water in a cup and either aerate it or stir it off and on for 24 hours to gass it off. After 24 hours you can take your Ph on it and this will be your taps true Ph reading.

 

[WalkGood]

Gravel is vac'd with each WC.

 

[Rivercats]

I'd test the tap water and up your WC's to 50% weekly to ensure your adding enough buffers in your tank to keep your ph stable and to keep nitrates down to under 20ppm.

Also what size is your tank and what is you stock and amount?