Hi all, I started a 10 g cycling about 3 weeks ago and it seems that it's finally done (I seeded it with filter media from my 20 g). Yesterday, I tested the water, and ammonia was 0, nitrites were 0, and nitrates were 40 (this after I dosed the tank with ammonium the day before so as to see how long it took to cycle it).
But when I tested the pH, GH, and KH, the pH was 6, the GH was 60 mg/L (ppm? unsure but it took 6 drops of solution to make the reaction, using the Nutrafin testing kit) and the KH was below 10 mg/L (it took only 1 drop of solution to make the reaction happen).
In my 20 g, the pH is pretty stable at 7.6, with GH at 120 and the KH at 60. It's a planted tank, with java moss, java fern, amazon sword, water sprite, and others, with a large piece of driftwood. The substrate is Flourite and black sand.
In the 10 g, I have java moss and one java fern, with Fluval shrimp substrate (8.8 pounds) and 4 pound of black sand under the shrimp substrate.
In the 20 g, I have 8 glowlight tetras, 6 dainty corys, 2 platys, 1 dwarf gourami, about 4 ghost shrimp, 1 bamboo shrimp, 1 nerite snail, and a bunch of red cherry shrimps.
I was planning on moving the red cherries to the 10 gallon once it was stable and cycled.
I did a 50% water change last night after I tested the water, and will retest tonight, but does anyone have any ideas as to why the pH, KH, and GH are so low? And will it come back up on its own, if I let it cycle another week or do massive water changes, or should I add Equilibrium or Alkaline buffer?
Thanks so much for everyone's help!
But when I tested the pH, GH, and KH, the pH was 6, the GH was 60 mg/L (ppm? unsure but it took 6 drops of solution to make the reaction, using the Nutrafin testing kit) and the KH was below 10 mg/L (it took only 1 drop of solution to make the reaction happen).
In my 20 g, the pH is pretty stable at 7.6, with GH at 120 and the KH at 60. It's a planted tank, with java moss, java fern, amazon sword, water sprite, and others, with a large piece of driftwood. The substrate is Flourite and black sand.
In the 10 g, I have java moss and one java fern, with Fluval shrimp substrate (8.8 pounds) and 4 pound of black sand under the shrimp substrate.
In the 20 g, I have 8 glowlight tetras, 6 dainty corys, 2 platys, 1 dwarf gourami, about 4 ghost shrimp, 1 bamboo shrimp, 1 nerite snail, and a bunch of red cherry shrimps.
I was planning on moving the red cherries to the 10 gallon once it was stable and cycled.
I did a 50% water change last night after I tested the water, and will retest tonight, but does anyone have any ideas as to why the pH, KH, and GH are so low? And will it come back up on its own, if I let it cycle another week or do massive water changes, or should I add Equilibrium or Alkaline buffer?
Thanks so much for everyone's help!