Low PH

[puffergirl]

One of my established tanks has a really low PH and I've tried everything to raise it. I've done tons of water changes and am going to buy some crushed coral to add to my filter. Any suggestions? Why would this be happening all of a sudden? Yes I do have driftwood in the tank but its been there for awhile now and all my other tanks have driftwood and the PH is fine.

 

[TankGirl]

pH will naturally lower as a tank matures, due to the acidic nature of fish waste. The risk present with low pH is that some of the nitrifying bacteria don't work much, but the ammonia converts to ammonium at low pH, which is good for the fish. The problem comes when you do lots of water changes to raise the pH, quickly converting that ammonium back to ammonia, and killing the fish. This is why so manyh people will say they don't ever do water changes and the fish are fine, then they all die when they finally do decide to do water changes.

Just a cautionary tale against drastic water changes to correct the problem. The only thing I can think is that this tank has been set up longer than the rest, is that true? If not I will really have to put my thinking cap on.

Crushed coral in the filter should help quite a bit, as will a generalized slow, gradual increase in the frequency of water changes, assuming your tap water is more alkaline that what you have in the tank.

Good luck and post back with more info if I have it wrong

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

What are the pH, KH, and GH values of your tap water?

 

[chasgood]

My tap water is different in the summer. My city buys lake water from near by bigger city in the summer because the wells cant keep up. My winter ph is in the mid to high 8's and mid 7's in summer.
So check your tap water.

 

[puffergirl]

I went to my LFS and asked about my PH and mentioned the crushed coral. They suggested a superbuffer-dKH by Kent Marine. Told me to add 1/4 or less Tsp every 24hrs until my PH slowly rises to where I want. So I'll let you know how this works. They told me that crused coral would take my PH up to 8 in one shot. So I'm going to try this and see how it goes.

 

[TankGirl]

I find that pH products are a pain, and it is easy to mess up and have a fluctuating pH. You really need to know your KH here - that will help a lot in this situation. If it is under 3-4 degrees you ought to go ahead and use the crushed coral. I really don't think CC is going to get your pH up that fast - for me it is slow and steady, and results are not dramatic, which is good since I don't like much drama in my tanks, LOL!