[Gone Fishy]

Woke up this morning and was doing some testing, ph has crashed to 5, please help me with any advice you can

Lance

 

[eternity302]

Left CO2 on all night? What's the KH GH? Fish stock? Tank dimension? drop to 5 from what PH?

I'm sure someone can help after you give us all that info!

 

[plantedinvertz]

What do you have in the tank?

You may need to add some coral chips to the gravel.

 

[tony1928]

Try adding a small amount of crushed coral in a bag in your filtration. How much depends on volume of tank, but it really stabilized my pH for me. My pH was always dropping from 7 to low 6.

 

[crazy72]

I'm no expert but I'd say large water change + get yourself a bag of crushed coral to put in your filter to buffer the pH.

+ see IPU sticky here
http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=715

 

[Gone Fishy]

BCA Friends,

The tank is a 6' 125 gallon, with fx5, fluval 405 and an ac110. Also have a AC powerhead with filter attachment. Regular substrate, three fairly big pieces of driftwood and some fake plants. Stock includes one 15" endlicheri, and an 11" green terror. Ph out of the tap is 6.4, not sure on KH,GH I need a new kit, but I'm pretty sure they are close to 0 as I only use prime with water changes and don't add anything else to the tank.

Lance

 

[eternity302]

Driftwood can slowly drop PH!
And you might wanna buff up your GH and KH with some alkaline buffer!
As for crushed coral, like everyone else, I use it too in my canister filter, I have 2 small bags, about 2lb's or more in there! And it stablize my PH at around 7.3? all the time, even after water changes!
Just mah 2cents here =)

 

[Gone Fishy]

Any idea of how much crushed coral I should use?

 

[eternity302]

I would buy 5lbs!

 

[2wheelsx2]

I would also consider adding some Epsom salts or cichlid salt (http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/AmericanCichlidSalt.html) with each water change to buffer your system. Epsom salts can be bought at most supermarkets and all pharmacies.

 

[eternity302]

I would also consider adding some Epsom salts or cichlid salt (http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/AmericanCichlidSalt.html) with each water change to buffer your system. Epsom salts can be bought at most supermarkets and all pharmacies.

=) Agreed, made a huge difference after you told me to!

 

[MadgicBug]

The nitrification process uses up KH\Alkalinity. Once it is gone, you PH drops. Vancouver's water KH (by the time it reaches your house) is =<1. The water is pretty close to RO, once again compared to other parts of Canada. IMO, add some buffer to the water during WC and clean the filter media. For a tank that size, its hard to hide the amount of crush coral. As well CC is only as affective as the amount of surface area and water flow over it.

 

[Peterchow]

The nitrification process uses up KH\Alkalinity. Once it is gone, you PH drops. Vancouver's water KH (by the time it reaches your house) is =<1. The water is pretty close to RO, once again compared to other parts of Canada. IMO, add some buffer to the water during WC and clean the filter media. For a tank that size, its hard to hide the amount of crush coral. As well CC is only as affective as the amount of surface area and water flow over it.

Totally agreed. For immediate effect, just use baking soda and your ph will increase within 5 to 10 minutes.

 

[eternity302]

Totally agreed. For immediate effect, just use baking soda and your ph will increase within 5 to 10 minutes.

But wouldn't that stun the fish if you raise it up too quick? Just curious!

 

[gimlid]

for a 75 gallon I used about a 1 cup in a Aquaclear 500 filter bag. Kept my ph and gh and kh stable long term. I recently removed it due to keeping BN Plecos which like lower ph and less hard water.
usually ph 7.2 or so.

 

[MadgicBug]

Baking soda would spike the PH up quickly and the tank will\may correct itself later...similar to adding acid directly to the water would drop the PH immediately and then correct itself if there is enough buffering (KH) capacity. If you choose to do the Baking soda (I don't use it myself), IMO it would be best to desolve some in water and add very little at a time...almost like a slow drip.

Everyone's tank setup, filtration, amount of plants, WC and tank husbandry are different. One method may work for one, but does not work for another. CC may work for one setup, but may not be sufficient for another or works too well (increase PH too high). CC also comes in different grades and granularity, which also affects how it desovles. The thing is that there is no right way or wrong way. Grant from IPU has a post up about this or in the same line.

 

[Rastapus]

Using Crushed Coral with buffers puts you at risk of having a pH higher than what you want. If you are starting with water as acidic as ours and are adding salts, buffer etc. to fix the GH/KH problem, why use Crushed coral at all? The buffers will maintain the pH anyways and at a more controllable pace. Baking Soda is not very soluble and can cloud the aquarium easily and increase pH too quickly. I would use extreme caution with that one, shortcuts are just that, shortcuts.

 

[Peterchow]

But wouldn't that stun the fish if you raise it up too quick? Just curious!

Baking soda is very easy dissolved in the water and I use it for over 10 years and I never had one siingle problem. The only effect is the water will turn a little brownish if your dosage is too high. Just drop a little at a time and measure your PH accordingly.

 

[Gone Fishy]

The nitrification process uses up KH\Alkalinity. Once it is gone, you PH drops. Vancouver's water KH (by the time it reaches your house) is =<1. The water is pretty close to RO, once again compared to other parts of Canada. IMO, add some buffer to the water during WC and clean the filter media. For a tank that size, its hard to hide the amount of crush coral. As well CC is only as affective as the amount of surface area and water flow over it.

Well went to IPU to get crushed coral and left with the alkalinity buffer to begin a more long term solution, exactly as you said. Came home and did a 40% water change, cleaned out my fx5 (bio in tank water) and started the buffer treatment. I will monitor water chemistry in the morning and post updates. I've read the posts regarding our water and chose to ignore them....lesson learned, hope everything works out, just picked up a 11" Green terror, one hell of a beast last night!!!! Thanks to everyone for their input and the team at IPU, will keep everyone posted.

Lance

 

[April]

baking soda is good a bit at a time to get it back up but wont last. good for a start. then add a buffer to keep it even.
theres other factors also though..filter not keeping up..needs rinsising..it will drop fast.
i use aragonite. it works well and keeps it even at about 7. cheap..easy..maybe half a cup to a cup inwith the substrate..or..half a cup in the filter in a stocking.
theres mixes you can make..with epsom salt, regular salt, and some calcium . but i find aragonite is very easy to use and helps alot. it also helps with ammonia and nitrates. i use it in all my tanks including my discus. helps with growth as more minerals and calcium.
as they stated..our water is like ro . no minerals or calcium hardly..as so much rain our water doesnt have time to absorb in runoff. also we dont have alot of rock like calgary, ontario etc..