What to do about pH?

[missmonday]

Hey guys,

I don't have access to a general hardness/carbonate hardness water test right now (should have access by the end of the week, bless Amazon) but I've been told by family/friends that the area where I live in has relatively soft water.

I should probably re-test, but several weeks ago when I tested my water straight out of the tap, it was about 7.2. However, I guess there's not much kH because I would get some fluctuations whenever I would test my water, the lowest I remember testing was 6.8 and I was pretty concerned that fluctuating pH would stress my fish.

I then got a little sack of crushed coral from my lfs and stuck it in the back of my tank. I think it's stabilized things to about 7.4 and it maintained there for at least a month.

Now, however, it seems to be increasing? Not sure if it's just the lighting of the room I'm looking at the tubes in or what, but it seems as though my pH is increasing, which I'm not too thrilled about. The fish I intend to keep are happy anywhere between 6.5-7.5, but I just don't want to go too far into the alkaline side.

What actions should I take to keep my pH stable? Should I take out the crushed coral? Add some Indian almond leaves or cholla wood or something? There isn't space in my tank for driftwood, really, but I'm open to natural suggestions.

I also have some seachem pH regulator (powder form), but I've heard mixed things about using chemicals to regulate pH. I don't want to constantly be tweaking things and stress my fish.

When I get my gh/kh test I'll post my results!

 

[Caliban07]

Hey guys,



I don't have access to a general hardness/carbonate hardness water test right now (should have access by the end of the week, bless Amazon) but I've been told by family/friends that the area where I live in has relatively soft water.



I should probably re-test, but several weeks ago when I tested my water straight out of the tap, it was about 7.2. However, I guess there's not much kH because I would get some fluctuations whenever I would test my water, the lowest I remember testing was 6.8 and I was pretty concerned that fluctuating pH would stress my fish.



I then got a little sack of crushed coral from my lfs and stuck it in the back of my tank. I think it's stabilized things to about 7.4 and it maintained there for at least a month.



Now, however, it seems to be increasing? Not sure if it's just the lighting of the room I'm looking at the tubes in or what, but it seems as though my pH is increasing, which I'm not too thrilled about. The fish I intend to keep are happy anywhere between 6.5-7.5, but I just don't want to go too far into the alkaline side.



What actions should I take to keep my pH stable? Should I take out the crushed coral? Add some Indian almond leaves or cholla wood or something? There isn't space in my tank for driftwood, really, but I'm open to natural suggestions.



I also have some seachem pH regulator (powder form), but I've heard mixed things about using chemicals to regulate pH. I don't want to constantly be tweaking things and stress my fish.



When I get my gh/kh test I'll post my results!

The crushed coral is fine. It's a good way to 'trickle charge' ph. As ph decreases the coral erodes and releases carbonates keeping ph relatively steady. You could try removing some coral but I doubt it's increasing much more now after a month. The other thing is that the fish will be able to adapt to different ph levels. The powders just make things worse in my opinion. Your fish will be fine at a few points adrift of their preferred ph.


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[Chest Rockwell]

Use peat moss. What I do is go buy some panty hose. cut out what i need tie one end off then pack it with peat moss then tie the other end, then i get another cut piece and basically double bag the peat moss. next I rinse the moss squeezing it out. I then let it sit in a container for 24hrs to leak out. After that throw into your tank or filter. It should over time soften the water up to 3 months then switch out. It will leak tannins and turn your water a tea color but over several water changes it lessens.