Hi, everyone.
I have a 5 gal planted tank with, at the moment, two Glo danios and two amano shrimp. It's my first tank, I didn't do a fishless cycle, and I've had it for a little over two months now. After the first month or so, I thought I was doing fine. Then my pH started to fluctuate drastically, spiking up to 7.6 and down to 6.0 almost from day to day. I brought a water sample to my LFS, and I was told that my water hardness was very low. They sold me some Alkaline Buffer (I use Acid Buffer to drive the pH down from the 7.6 that comes out of my tap) and told me to use that with the Acid Buffer. My water's not so soft anymore, but now, for the past two weeks or so, no matter what I do with my tank, the pH keeps spiking back up to 7.6. I consulted with my LFS again, and after some thought they said that it might be something up with my tap water. First they told me to leave out a sample of my tap water and test it every day for fluctuations. I did so, it consistently came out 7.6. They weren't sure what else it could be, so they gave me a couple of gallons of theirs, told me to do 10% water changes every two days for a week or so, and the problem should hopefully clear up.
I'm a tad bit skeptical. I trust the people at my LFS, because it's a small local business and most (if not all) of the employees there have tanks of their own at home, but I'm not sure what could possibly be so wrong with my tap water. I'm looking for a second opinion, mostly.
Here are my current water parameters:
pH: 7.6
Amm: 0-0.25 ppm
NO2: 0 ppm
NO3: 5 ppm
kH: ~100 ppm (turns green at six drops, yellow at seven)
Temp: 80 degrees F
I did a 10% pwc today with my LFS's tap water after using acid buffer to bring the pH down to 7.2 over the course of a half hour. It was back up to 7.6 four hours later, when I next tested it. I do my water changes with SeaChem acid and alkaline buffers, and I condition with StressCoat. My fish and shrimp seem to behaving okay, and I know that stability is important, so I haven't played around with my pH in the past week, aside from before water changes. When I first started out the tank, I used to have a consistent pH of 6.8.
Any advice would be helpful! Thanks.
Amartha
I have a 5 gal planted tank with, at the moment, two Glo danios and two amano shrimp. It's my first tank, I didn't do a fishless cycle, and I've had it for a little over two months now. After the first month or so, I thought I was doing fine. Then my pH started to fluctuate drastically, spiking up to 7.6 and down to 6.0 almost from day to day. I brought a water sample to my LFS, and I was told that my water hardness was very low. They sold me some Alkaline Buffer (I use Acid Buffer to drive the pH down from the 7.6 that comes out of my tap) and told me to use that with the Acid Buffer. My water's not so soft anymore, but now, for the past two weeks or so, no matter what I do with my tank, the pH keeps spiking back up to 7.6. I consulted with my LFS again, and after some thought they said that it might be something up with my tap water. First they told me to leave out a sample of my tap water and test it every day for fluctuations. I did so, it consistently came out 7.6. They weren't sure what else it could be, so they gave me a couple of gallons of theirs, told me to do 10% water changes every two days for a week or so, and the problem should hopefully clear up.
I'm a tad bit skeptical. I trust the people at my LFS, because it's a small local business and most (if not all) of the employees there have tanks of their own at home, but I'm not sure what could possibly be so wrong with my tap water. I'm looking for a second opinion, mostly.
Here are my current water parameters:
pH: 7.6
Amm: 0-0.25 ppm
NO2: 0 ppm
NO3: 5 ppm
kH: ~100 ppm (turns green at six drops, yellow at seven)
Temp: 80 degrees F
I did a 10% pwc today with my LFS's tap water after using acid buffer to bring the pH down to 7.2 over the course of a half hour. It was back up to 7.6 four hours later, when I next tested it. I do my water changes with SeaChem acid and alkaline buffers, and I condition with StressCoat. My fish and shrimp seem to behaving okay, and I know that stability is important, so I haven't played around with my pH in the past week, aside from before water changes. When I first started out the tank, I used to have a consistent pH of 6.8.
Any advice would be helpful! Thanks.
Amartha