pH Problems

[Matina]

I have a 55gal tank. I was having issues with pH being real low and my ammonia was real high. I read that if the pH was below a certain point and your ammonia was high then you had ammonium and that was not toxic to fish. I was finally able to get my ammonia to 0ppm and my pH was around 7-7.2. But I had to get new filtration cause what I had wasn't working. So I got Marineland penquin power filters. For the first week or so my ammonia was 0 and my pH was low. I thought it was from the water change. I put some pH Up in it and it brought it up to where I wanted it, around 7-7.2. But it didn't stay. It keeps dropping down to around 6.0 or lower. If I add pH up it goes up, but within 24 hours or less, it's down again. I just checked my parameters and my pH is 6.0 or lower, my nitrate and nitrite are within the safe range, but my pH is registering real high. My fish are fine. But I'm at wits in as to what to do to get the ammonia way down and get the pH up. Any suggestions or ideas are all welcome.

 

[ScotJudd]

Hi Matina.
My first thought is that your water is very soft and has next to no buffering capability. My tap is zero Gh and Kh, Kh being an indication of the waters ability to buffer against low Ph. I add 2.5 ml (half a teaspoon) of bicarbonate of soda to every bucket (10l/2g) of water at each water change. This raise Kh to about 6 which stabilises my Ph at around 7. It never drops. However Kh is referred to as temporary hardness and needs to be replenished with every water change.
Have you tested your water for Gh and Kh, if not I would recommend it. I raise both to about 6 and have a very stable tank.


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[Matina]

I honestly do not know what Gh and Kh are. I have hard water. It's also well water.

 

[gemach7]

KH is carbonate hardness and in simplest terms is the proportion of h+ ions to oh- ions in the water... Bi-carbonate breaks water molecules apart to its ions raising the KH.

Gh is general hardness and is a measurement of the Ca and magnesium ions in the water.

In both cases the higher the number the more buffering capacity the water has for resisting acid.

Well water can be very soft if is not from a limestone aquifer.

Some Good permanent ways to increase the hardness of your water would be to use sand meant for salt water tanks, like crushed coral. You can also decorate with lime stone rock.

The ph up and down included in api testing kit are near worthless and dangerous imo.

Seachem makes a couple products that can be used to find ph equilibrium that can be added to your WC water.

Also I'd try drawing your wc water 24 hours in advance and placing an air stone in the water. If your well has a lot of dissolved co2 will cause a ph drop in the tank.




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