|
| FAQs on pH, Alkalinity, Acidity: Troubles,
Fixing
Related Articles: pH, alkalinity,
In praise
of hard water; How hard, alkaline water can be a blessing in disguise by
Neale Monks, Treating
Tap Water,
A practical approach to freshwater aquarium water
chemistry by Neale Monks,
The Soft Water Aquarium: Risks and Benefits
by Neale Monks,
Freshwater Maintenance,
Treating Tap water for Aquarium Use,
Related FAQs: pH, Alkalinity,
Acidity 1,
pH, Alkalinity, Acidity 2,
pH, Alkalinity 3,
pH, Alkalinity 4
& FAQs on: FW pH/Alkalinity Science,
pH/Alkalinity Measure,
pH/Alkalinity Adjustment,
pH/Alkalinity Products,
& Water Hardness,
Freshwater Aquarium Water Quality,
Treating Tap Water for Aquarium Use,
Freshwater Algae Control,
Algae Control, Foods, Feeding, Aquatic
Nutrition,
Disease,
|
Testing is critical... determining the existing water quality, the sources
of Alkalinity, Acidity, and solving these, adjusting for them. |
Freshwater Tank & pH problems 9/21/09
I have a 26 gallon tank with five Ticto barbs and two black ruby barbs.
I originally had four black ruby barbs but have recently lost two.
<Odd; usually a pretty robust species.>
I have a biofilter, undergravel filter, and air stone in the tank.
<Do check your undergravel filter is sufficiently deep (around 2-3
inches) and that you give the gravel a good stir every few weeks.>
My tank's pH keeps dropping and I am wondering what is causing this
since it is an established tank and I have not had this happen before.
<If you see consistent pH drops, then there's usually a lack of
carbonate hardness.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwsoftness.htm
>
My tap water readings are Nitrate - 0, Nitrite - 0, GH - 300 ppm, KH -
180 ppm.
<Actually sounds pretty good. This water should be hard and fairly
basic.>
These ratings are after having the water sit in a bucket for 24 hours
with an air stone.
<Okay.>
My current tank water's readings are Nitrate - 0, Nitrate - 0, GH - 300
ppm, KH - 40 ppm, and pH - 6.
<Yikes!>
Ammonia is currently at 0.
<Good.>
I am afraid to do water changes since that will cause the pH to rise up
and since the KH is low, I am assuming that the pH will drop rapidly
again and I know rapid pH changes can be harmful to the fish.
<Indeed, though precisely how harmful has been argued in recent years.>
Can acidic water be harmful as well?
<Oh yes.>
Is it possible that my tank is recycling and it is going to be a slow
process since the water is so acidic right now?
<Don't see that that's the issue here. If you have zero nitrite and
ammonia, and the tank is more than, say, a couple of months old, it
should be properly cycled and nicely matured.>
When I did a water change yesterday I did add some StressZyme. Last week
I had a large amount of brown algae so I did a larger cleaning on my
tank and now I am wondering if that is causing the tank to recycle.
<Diatoms thrive in unstable water conditions seemingly better than other
algae, and are just plain common in newly established tanks. They go
away eventually, or at least, reach proportions easily managed with
algae
scrapers or things like Nerite snails.>
Please provide any advice you can.
<It's actually not clear to me why your hard water suddenly becomes
soft.
But stepping backwards through the issue: The reason the pH drops is
that the carbonate hardness goes from fairly high, 180 mg/l, to very
low, 40 mg/l. This in turn allows background acidification -- which is
quite normal -- to create conditions where the pH drops abnormally fast.
My gut reaction here is that your water chemistry test kits are
misleading you about the amount of carbonate hardness (KH) you have.
Your GH reading stays the same, so that's probably fine. But under some
circumstances it appears that carbonate hardness test kits can be misled
by other minerals and/or chemicals such as flocculants added to drinking
water. For whatever reason, this is something I've never heard of in the
UK but seems quite common in
some parts of the US, particularly where people use well water. Your
water supply company might be able to enlighten you here. Anyway, given
that the KH value is perhaps bogus, I'd use a little of the Rift Valley
cichlid salt mix outlined on this page:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwh2oquality.htm
Since you already have a reasonably high level of general hardness, I'd
perhaps skip the Epsom salt and marine salt mix portions, and
concentrate on the baking soda. Instead of adding one teaspoon per 5
gallons as you'd need for Rift Valley cichlids, add a third of that
amount, i.e., one teaspoon per 15 gallons, and see how that works. If
you find the pH stays stable, then you're fine. If not, up the dose to
one teaspoon per 10
gallons. Don't make sudden changes, but over the next few days do a
series of small water changes, say 5 gallons. Add an appropriate amount
of baking soda (in this case, one-third a teaspoon to start with per 5
gallons). Do this each day for the next week. That should give your fish
ample time to adjust to any pH changes. By the weekend, see where the pH
is, and if you're happy with the results, stick with this dosage each
time you do your water changes. Remember, dose the baking soda per
bucket of water, not for
the whole tank! If you change 10 gallons, then add as much baking soda
as you need to each bucket of water ONLY.>
Thanks!
<I've asked Bob to chime in if he sees anything obvious I've missed.
Good luck! Cheers, Neale.>
<<Mmm, maybe I'd encourage the addition of "crushed coral" or similar
source of solid/bulky calcium carbonate in a bag (Dacron or such) in the
filter/flow path; but otherwise your response is complete. RMF>>
Re: Freshwater Tank & pH problems (RMF, ideas?) 9/21/09
<<Mmm, maybe I'd encourage the addition of "crushed coral" or similar
source of solid/bulky calcium carbonate in a bag (Dacron or such) in the
filter/flow path; but otherwise your response is complete. RMF>>
Hi Bob. I'd offer a caution to this approach: once such material becomes
covered with algae or organic detritus -- as will quickly happen inside
a filter -- it's ability to dissolve reduces dramatically.
<Yes>
The analogy I like to use is to compare the bacterial slime around such
material to the candy coating around the chocolate inside an M&M; with
the coating, the chocolate can't melt; take the coating away, and the
chocolate warms up easily and melts more quickly. Adding carbonate
hardness direct to the buckets of
water is precise and more or less fail-safe provided water changes are
regular. By contrast, the bulk use of calcareous material is imprecise
(how quickly and how much the water hardens is difficult to predict) and
can fail after a while without regularly cleaning, replacing the
calcareous material. I'm sure Bob will be aware of the danger of "pH
crashes" in old marine tanks where too much reliance was placed on an
undergravel filter made from coral sand and coral rubble. So, in short,
by all means install a filter media bag with a half-cup of crushed coral
into an external canister filter and see what happens, but be aware that
such an approach may not work as well, or as reliably, as you'd expect.
Cheers, Neale.>
<Thank you for this input. BobF>
Re: Freshwater Tank & pH problems (RMF, ideas?) 9/21/09
Thank you for the information.
<Happy to help.>
I will try changing out 5 gallons per day and adding the baking soda to
see if this helps. Could adding fish cause the water to get acidic?
<Only in extreme situations, e.g., adding a giant catfish to a 10 gallon
tank. Not the issue here, I expect.>
I recently added the four black ruby barbs. I wanted to only add two
since they were on the larger side to begin with but the guy at the
aquarium shop said when adding a new species of barb I need to have more
than two, and he suggested four. Could that have caused the pH drop?
<Unlikely.>
I have since lost three of the black ruby barbs. I have one left and the
Ticto barbs seem to be ok. My largest Ticto seems to be harassing the
ruby barbs and one by one they have died.
<Ticto Barbs are generally pretty well behaved, but all barbs are highly
social and have an intense "pecking order". As a general rule, keep 6 or
more. The more you keep, the less trouble they tend to be. If that means
sticking with a single species in your aquarium, so be it, though they
usually mix fine. I'd suggest keeping an open mind here: are the Ticto
Barbs being bullies because the Rubies are sickly, or are the Rubies
sickly because they're being bullied...>
About two months ago I was out of town for two weeks and other people
were feeding my fish. When I got back fish were dead and the water was
gross so I did a massive water change. I think the fish were overfed
while I was gone. I believe my tank did a mini cycle at that time. It
finally seemed back to normal, although I did add StressZyme to help it
cycle and then I got a major brown algae bloom, but the water readings
where all good with the pH around 7 at that time.
<Very rarely do such problems as this cause long term issues. Assuming
an abused tank gets a chance to recover, it should settle down fine, and
the fish inside likewise.>
I did clean out the water again to get the brown algae out and then I
added the new fish and now it is all out of whack. I think maybe I
cleaned out all the beneficial bacteria, but I am not sure.
The bacteria are in the filter; provided the filter media is left alone,
or merely rinsed in buckets of old aquarium water, then you can scrub
down the rest of tank if you want, and it couldn't matter less.>
Is brown algae a sign of poor water quality?
<Diatoms are generally not a sign of poor quality; rather, they tolerate
varying conditions well, and thrive under less light than most other
algae.
Funnily enough, this month's CA has an article on algae; might be
useful:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_3/fwalgae.html
>
Again, any further thoughts would be helpful.
Kelly
<Cheers, Neale.>
Odd Water Parameters, FW... no Alk! – 09/03/09
Hey there WWM Crew- I have planted two tanks, one 10g other a 29g.
Recently I discovered some very unhappy fish and tracked it down to a
drop in my tap pH. All parameters (nitrates, nitrates) are appearing
okay. Buffering capacity is 0! (NOT OKAY!)
<Indeed!>
pH is showing up as below 6.5 (that's as low as both types of my strips
go!)
<Not good...>
I've been reading and am totally confused as *how to raise the buffering
capacity and the pH on a regular basis and keep it stable*.
<Surprisingly easy. Do read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwh2oquality.htm
Typically, unless you're keeping fish that need hard water (e.g.,
livebearers, goldfish) simply use one-quarter to one-half the dose
recommended for the Rift Valley cichlid salt mix will increase and
stabilise pH for pennies a month.>
I tested two different water taps, and I was wondering (also) if it's
normal for one tap to have a pH of 7, and another to have 6.5 or lower.
<Not normal, no. Do watch that some tap water, especially well water,
has variable readings across a period of time after it is drawn from the
tap.
Testing water, then leaving it for 24 hours, and then testing a second
time, is often revelatory. Also, all aquaria tend to become acidic over
time: accumulation of nitrate, decaying organic matter, tannins will all
lower the pH. Conversely, photosynthesis raises pH because it uses up
dissolved CO2 during the day. Within reason, fish tolerate these changes
reasonably well, but sudden changes can cause problems if there's
ammonia in the system, because ammonia becomes more toxic as pH rises
(if I recall correctly). So overall you want a steady pH.>
Shouldn't the entire house be using the same water source? I would like
to use the tap with the pH 7, but cannot as the water siphon cannot
connect to that faucet. Any help would be appreciated. City water
reports state that water should be in the 7.2 range. I'm guessing this
may be a plumbing issue- is that even possible?
<Use the Rift Valley salt mix suggested, at 25-50% the dose required. A
pH between 7 to 7.5, hardness 10-15 degrees dH is ideal for most
community fish.>
-- Thanks! Anitra
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: My fish died last night ... culprit might be pH? 9/1/2009
Hi Neale. A month ago I had a convoluted set of issues. Earlier note is
attached below. Your recommendations were great!
<Glad to hear it!>
My main problem was low KH. So ph was crashing.
<I see.>
I've been fiddling around with different percentages of Rift Valley.
Trying to find the best mix. Before I add more fish. Now I only have a
couple platys left. Would like a mixed freshwater tank. Following are
test results. Using a dropper test kit. No more pesky test strips.
My tap water is (ammonia, No2 and No3 all zero):
ph 7.2 ... KH 2 ... GH 8
<Somewhat low carbonate hardness, but with regular water changes, this
would be ideal for soft water tetras, cichlids, etc.>
Using 50% Rift Valley mix (although can't remember if this was seasoned
water or right out of the tap). The bucket tested at:
ph 7.8 ... KH 9 ... GH 22
<Ideal for livebearers, Goldfish, Mbuna, Tanganyikans and Central
Americans.>
Elsewhere for a mixed tank. I think you said KH should be 5-10. GH 6-18.
So I figured this GH is too high.
<Actually less of a deal than many suppose, unless you're breeding.
Visited Southern Ohio last couple of days where people are breeding
Angelfish in "liquid rock" very similar to this.>
First, I reduced just the Epsom salt % in the mix. To knock down GH
only.
Did baking soda @ 50%, Epsom @ 33%, marine salt mix @ 50%. That bucket
tested out at:
ph 7.6 ... KH 8 ... GH 15
<This would be ideal for a wide range of fish that don't need especially
soft water. Livebearers would thrive, and barbs, rainbowfish, catfish
and many other community species would also do well.>
I figured that was pretty good. But when I put it in the tank via 20%
weekly water changes. Half way through the week KH is down to 2-3.
Although ph stays pretty stable in that time frame. I've been afraid to
wait much longer (for a 20% water change). Afraid of another ph crash.
With so-low KH.
<Indeed.>
Then I figured to boost KH only. Try goosing the baking soda %. So I did
baking soda @ 100%, Epsom @ 33%, marine salt mix @ 50%. That bucket
tested out at: ph 8.0 ... KH 13 ... GH 14
<Somewhat too high for standard community fish, but the hard water fish
mentioned earlier (livebearers, Mbuna, etc.) would thrive.>
To me that sounded like probably acceptable KH and GH. But ph too high.
I'm scared to dump it in my tank.
<I'd actually use one bucket of that mix, and one bucket plain water,
and see what you got. 8 degrees KH and 7 degrees dH wouldn't be a bad
mix for a wide range of community tropicals.>
I thought of trying. Baking soda @ 50%, Epsom @ 33%, marine salt @ 100%.
But figured let me ask first. If this makes sense. Or I'm going down the
wrong road. Fiddling with these percentages. Chemistry was not my thing
in high school. As you can probably tell (yuck, yuck).
<Pretty much everyone comes down to this. While the Rift Valley salt mix
is a good starting point, many people find they have to "eyeball" the
dosages to match whatever comes out their tap/faucet. Someone with hard
water probably won't need as much salt mix as someone with very acidic
soft water.>
In other words. Does the ratio of the 3 Rift Valley ingredients NEED to
stay constant? E.g. 50%-50%-50%. Or 25%-25%-25%. But NOT 50%-33%-50%.
Or 100%-33%-50%. The way I've been trying.
<You are free to experiment as much as you want. Don't expose the fish
to wild changes in pH or hardness (like from pH 6 to 8 in 20 minutes!)
but broadly speaking, making changes from one day to the next doesn't
usually harm most community species. Indeed, many fish are quite able to
adapt to changes in water chemistry, and have to, e.g., when
photosynthesis cases pH to rapidly changes during the day, or rainstorms
suddenly dilute the amount of hardness in the water.>
If so, how high is too high for GH?
<For most community fish, somewhere around 10-15 degrees dH general
hardness is ideal. Lower levels will suit soft water fish, but
livebearers and other species that need hard water will complain. Most
community species will adapt to 20 degrees dH, including most barbs and
Corydoras,
even though they inhabit softer water in the wild. But there are some
fish, like Cardinals and Ram cichlids, that never quite adapt fully to
very hard water, and tend to be disease prone or simply short lived
above 10 degrees dH.>
Sounds like fish can get used to almost anything.
<Pretty much. Oddly perhaps, hard water fish are more sensitive to soft
water than soft water fish seem fussed about hard water.>
But I'm worried if my GH is sky high. Vs. the pet store tank. I'll shock
new fish I'm adding to my tank. Even if I slowly transition them. By
adding small amounts of tank water (to the bag they're in). Over 2 hours
or so.
<Should work fine. See the "drip method" as used by marine aquarists.>
Any thoughts? Of the best way to increase KH. Without driving GH through
the roof. And I don't want to raise my ph too high either.
<I'd think about the ph 7.8, KH 9, GH 22 mix as a starting point, but
for each bucket of that you add, add a plain vanilla bucket of tap
water. I suspect you'll get something around pH 7.5, 4-5 degrees KH, and
around 10-12 degrees dH. That would suit virtually all but the fussiest
community fish. Provided you did regular water changes, I wouldn't
expect pH to drop much between weeks. If you find pH changes rapidly
from one day to the next, check your water isn't "funky". Some folks
find their water drawn from the tap *before* adding salts has a certain
pH and hardness when fresh, and then 24 hours later is totally
different. It seems the test kits are "fooled" by unstable chemicals in
certain types of water (often well water, but sometimes water treated
with flocculants and other chemicals).
So, you need to leave the water overnight, test it, and then add your
salt mix. That way, you'll have a more reliable product.>
I'm anxious to decide what Rift Valley mix is best. Then I'll stick with
it. Looking forward to adding more fish. These platys are getting
lonely.
<I bet!>
Thanks! Rich
P.S. mixing Rift Valley. After swirling the water in a circle. When the
current settles down. I notice a decent amount of black granules
collecting in the center. Seems like the mix isn't dissolving
completely.
Even after a day or two. I figure it's no big deal don't worry about it.
<Don't worry about it. Cheers, Neale.>
Fw: My fish died last night ... culprit might be pH? 9/1/2009
Amendment to yesterday's note (attached below). Turns out my prior
"bucket tests" were right out of the tap. Instead of 24 hour aerated
water. So pH is higher (about .4) than I thought. Sorry!!
<A-ha! Yes, this is often the case, as I just wrote in my preceding
e-mail.>
Yesterday I re-did prior tests using 24 hour seasoned water. Seems like
anything close to 50% Rift Valley mix. Gets my pH up to 8.0.
<Which, in itself, isn't a big deal. Most community fish tolerate this
just fine, and livebearers love it.>
So I'm going to go with 25%-25%-25% (consistent percentages) Rift Valley
mix for a while. And see where that gets me. If I have to change water
more often I will. I figure gauge how long it takes for KH to drop to
say 2-ish. Hopefully I catch it before a pH crash.
FYI here's what my 25%-25%-25% Rift Valley bucket tests out to (using 24
hour aerated water):
pH 7.6 ... KH 4 ... GH 8
<Not bad at all... keep on top of the water changes and you should be
fine.
A little soft for some livebearers, particularly Mollies, but Platies
should be fine.>
My tap water (24 hour aerated water):
ph 7.2 ... KH 2 ... GH 7
<Very soft indeed, or at least, very lacking in carbonate hardness.>
Thanks you're the best! Rich
<Glad to have helped. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: My fish died last night
... culprit might be pH? 10/17/09
Hi Neale. During my first 6 months of fish keeping. You were a GREAT
help. That's why I just made a donation (to WetWebMedia). It's only
right. You're a volunteer. Without you, I probably would have given up.
And put the tank in the basement. To gather dust.
<Thanks for the kind words.>
Thought I'd give you a status report. Things are MUCH better now. Your
guidance below was invaluable. Along with all your prior guidance.
<Glad to help.>
I ended up choosing Hagen Aquaclear for filtration. It's made a HUGE
difference. My water is like glass now. I find it stunning. I never had
water like that with the Penguin. Algae seems less of a problem. The
sour odor is gone. When I vac my gravel, it's not as funky looking. And
my fish seem more active. Especially the Corys. Before, they would
inevitably become lethargic. Float to the top. Then die. It happened a
couple times over. Now they're happy, energetic & getting bigger. Yea!
That tells me they're healthy.
<Sounds as if the filter was the key!>
Instead of one Aquaclear 150 for my 28 gallon. I got two. Turning the
speed control down halfway. That way the current isn't too strong for my
small fish. Someone suggested this. I thought it was a GREAT idea.
<Indeed. Because hang-on-the-back filters have the inlet and outlet next
to each other, having two smaller units rather than one big unit allows
you to ensure better circulation throughout the tank.>
Advantages:
1) two filters vs. one = twice the filtration volume (without too strong
of a current, when you turn filter speed down to medium),
2) to quickly clean up dirty water, you can temporarily turn the speed
up to maximum (i.e. 300 gph in my 28 gallon tank). It works perfect. I
do this to clear up the junk vacc'ing stirs up. The fish huddle in a
quiet spot for a while. Seems like no problem at all for them. They're
fine when I turn the filter speed down.
3) you've got an automatic backup (if one breaks down or to start a new
tank),
4) you can alternate cleaning the filters. So you'll never destroy
enough bacteria to cause problems. Like I think I did with the Penguin.
When I changed cartridges. Or that pesky BioWheel stopped. Which it did
a couple times.
<All well said.>
I almost didn't go with Aquaclear. Because online I read it's difficult
to prime.
<This is an argument made against canister filters, but to be honest,
"difficult" merely means there's a trick to learn. Once you've done it,
it's easy.>
And wouldn't restart after a power outage. But if the water level hasn't
dropped. So the "siphon" isn't lost. The Aquaclear restarts just fine.
No need to prime at all. So I'm not that worried about a power outage.
Frankly, the Aquaclear restarts with less ruckus than the Penguin. And I
always had to re-prime the Penguin.
<Not familiar with the Penguin filter, but I'm sure you're right.>
Also, I had to shut off the Penguin for 20-25% water changes. Because
the water level went below the upper intake opening. So it had to be
re-primed every water change. Vs. the Aquaclear doesn't draw water from
the top level of the tank. So I can leave it running during partial
water changes.
<Useful.>
I don't even shut off the Aquaclear during feeding. Which I did with the
Penguin. Because its return water hit the surface like a bucket of
bolts.
Knocking food to the bottom before the fish ate much. So I had to
re-prime my Penguin. Each & every time I fed my fish.
<Leaving the filter on while feeding fish is sensible, and I rarely do
otherwise.>
Vs. you can leave the Aquaclear running during feeding. Just turn the
speed control all the way down. The water hits the surface so gently. It
barely knocks any food to the bottom.
<Cool.>
The only time I shut off the Aquaclear is for cleaning. After which it
needs to be re-primed. But doing so is no harder than re-priming the
Penguin. Taking about the same time. As long as you turn the speed
control all the way up. Until the siphon restarts. It's fine. No problem
at all.
<Sounds a good filter.>
Sorry, this wasn't supposed to be an advertisement for Aquaclear. But
I'm so impressed with it. Vs. the Penguin. It's better designed. And
more effective. Even in terms of noise level Aquaclear wins. It's
practically silent. Vs. the Penguin could be heard all around the room.
And down the hall.
<Don't worry about sounding too "commercial". Folks do ask us about
whether a particular brand is any good, and it's useful to have reports
from users we can direct them too. This is doubly so with filter for
which we have no personal experience, as would be the case here.>
Anyway ... I'm still using your Rift Valley mix (100-33-50) for water
changes. It works perfect. And it's inexpensive (I can't thank you
enough!!). Tank is a steady 7.8 pH. GH is a steady 10-12. KH goes up to
5 after a 20% water change. Which I still do 2/week. To avoid KH
dropping too much. I learned the hard way that KH of less than 2. Is
trouble about to rear its ugly head. Having had a couple pH crashes.
<Great! I'm glad you have the water chemistry issue fixed.>
Now I'm experimenting with Purigen & Chemi-Pure in the AquaClears.
Instead of plain carbon. Thinking these might (indirectly) help the
dropping KH.
And yes, I still have that hunk of driftwood in the tank. I know it's an
aggravating factor. But my fish are in love with it (me too yuck, yuck).
And carbon/Purigen seems to suck all the yellow tinge out of the water.
So not a negative, appearance-wise.
<Cool.>
The bottom line is. Things are great now. Because of you. So thank you!!
Rich
<My pleasure, and thanks for writing back to us with this update.>
P.S. someone else said the AquaClears draw so little current (6 watts
each). I should plug them into a UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
designed for computers. These are inexpensive. And also protect against
power surges (that fry electrical equipment). I have one for my work
computer. Which draws a lot more current than a couple AquaClears. So I
imagine it would keep them running for a long time (during a power
outage).
Sustaining filtration + aeration + keeping my bacteria alive. I just
need to do a little more research. Re the right size (capacity) UPS.
<Bob and many other of the experienced reefkeepers do strongly recommend
the purchase of UPS devices for their tanks. While freshwater fish are
more tolerant of power outages than marines, there's no question at all
that having a UPS is better than not having one.>
A UPS setup to run one's chosen filter. Seems a lot more sensible. Than
buying that Azoo battery powered air pump. Which would only aerate the
water. No filtration. No keeping bacteria (inside the filter) alive.
<Indeed. But one way to keep filter bacteria alive outside a filter is
to put the sponges or whatever in a shallow bowl or basin, just covered
in water. This allows oxygen to get in. The bacteria die when kept in
enclosed spaces (like the inside of a filter) because they can't get
enough oxygen.
External canister filters are notoriously bad in this regard since they
have almost no opportunity to get oxygen from the air, being connected
to the water via narrow hoses.>
FYI link below is the UPS I got for my computer. 390 watts. WAY stronger
than I'd need to run two 6-watt AquaClears. So I'll probably choose a
less expensive, lower capacity model. Although $64 isn't bad.
Considering the Azoo "battery backup pump" is $59 on sale (in
drsfostersmith.com). And it's only an air pump. Vs a UPS could power
anything you plug into it.
Except for a heater I suppose. They draw so much current. It would
probably wipe the battery out pretty quick. Unless you bought a huge
UPS.
Too pricey for me. I'd rather bear hug the tank to keep it warm.
http://www.staples.com/CyberPower-AVR-685VA-8-Outlet-UPS/product_616051_HC2?
cmArea=FEATURED:SC3:CG75
<Do read Mike and Merritt's article on surviving power outages, here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_5/volume_5_3/power.htm
As I say, while freshwater fish tolerate power outage problems for
longer than most marines, there's certainly a good argument in taking
the same precautions for a freshwater tank as you'd take for a reef
tank. Cheers, Neale.>
pH levels
8/22/09
My boyfriend has a 40 gallon corner freshwater aquarium. Its been in
constant use for at least the last 6 years with no trouble. Recently,
however, the pH has dropped to 5.0 and we cant get it back up, despite
water changes and adding pH balancers.
<What's the water chemistry? For a stable pH, you need a reasonable
amount of carbonate hardness:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
Soft water poses particular problems:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsoftness.htm
>
The fish tank houses several angel fish, a Cory cat, a couple
swordtails, and until a couple days ago, a Pleco. Last week, we removed
the old gravel and went with all natural rock as well as added live
plants in place of the fake, plastic ones. We were wondering if the new
plants, the new rock, or the plant food would have an effect on the pH
and if there was something we are/aren't doing that we need to, to get
the pH up?
<Potentially changing things can lower the pH. A small number of plants
-- most importantly Elodea-type things -- can remove carbonate from the
water, allowing pH to drop. Bogwood will also tend to cause pH to drop
between water changes. Again, these are issues where carbonate hardness
is low. Aim for a carbonate hardness around 5 degrees KH. If you don't
have such a level, then use the "Rift Valley Cichlid Salt" mix as
described in the article linked above; a half should be ample, added to
each new bucket of
water as required. In other words, if you take out one 5 gallon bucket,
add one new 5 gallon bucket with the 1 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon, and 1
tablespoon doses of marine salt mix, baking soda, and Epsom salt
respectively.>
The fish seem fine (other than the death of the Pleco).
<Biological filtration stops below pH 6, so you do have a major problem.
Fish will die, and soon, without a repair. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Ph levels 8/25/09
Thank you so much for your advice! We added some crushed coral (with
more to add in a day or two) and already the pH is up to 6 and a couple
of the plants grew several inches over night! This website has been the
most helpful I've found. Thank you!
<Glad to have helped. Now, do remember that as the crushed coral gets
covered with algae and bacteria, it will lose contact with the water,
and this in turn means it can't dissolve into the water, and so it can't
buffer
the pH. If you find the pH starts falling once more, you may need to
"refresh" the buffering capacity of your aquarium. Taking out some of
the substrate and replacing it with a fresh gravel/coral sand mix may
help. But
the best approach is to use a media bag (or the foot from an old pair of
tights/stockings/pantyhose) and parcel up a portion of crushed coral or
coral sand. Empty this out every 2-3 months or whenever you find pH
isn't buffering properly. The easiest, lowest-tech approach is to make
up some Rift Valley Salt Mix, as mentioned here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
The basic formula for Rift Valley cichlids and other fish that need
really hard water is to each 5 US gallons (20 litres) of water you stir
in 1 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), 1 tablespoon Epsom salt
(magnesium sulfate), and 1 teaspoon marine salt mix (sodium chloride +
trace elements). Since you're keeping community fish, one-quarter to
one-half this dosage should be ample. Add the right amounts of these to
each bucket of water you add to the tank every time you do a water
change.
You'll find it costs pennies per month, and works very well. Cheers,
Neale.>
My fish died last night ...
culprit might be pH? – 07/28/09
29 gallon. 6 weeks old. Have been using Kordon products. Novaqua+ for
new water. In the beginning I started with dry "Amquel plus buffers". I
misunderstood, thinking it was "Amquel+ and buffers". 3 weeks ago I
switched to regular Amquel+. I put it in weekly or so. Everything seemed
fine.
<Whilst maintaining a steady pH is important, it is usually a bad idea
to do this by adding pH buffers. Why? Because aquaria have a background
tendency to acidify anyway, so even if you tweak the pH of a bucket of
water one way or another, that may not prevent acidification in between
water changes. Ideally, choose fish suited to your local water
chemistry.
If you must, add a Rift Valley cichlid salt mix at a half- or full-dose
to make water that is moderately to very hard, depending on your needs.
For most community fishkeeping, moderately to very hard water is the
optimal, since high levels of carbonate hardness inhibit pH changes. Do
see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
There's a Rift Valley cichlid salt recipe there, and it's a lot cheaper
and easier to use than buffering potions.>
Got ich about 10 days ago. Started with Kordon Ich Attack. Seemed to
work in a couple days. Lost 2 Cory cats & 1 platy. The 2 Corys were
floating up to the surface. They struggled but just couldn't stay near
the bottom.
They kept floating up. Same problem I had with the first 2 Corys. Then
switched to Rid Ich+ 4 days ago (took out the carbon). When I noticed
clear jelly like stuff collecting around the base of a couple artificial
plants. Seemed like part of the ich or fungus. Figured I needed
something stronger. Also because Rid Ich+ mentions ok for Corys, figured
it might be less of a problem. Everyone seemed to be doing ok.
<Catfish react to certain copper- and formalin-based medications, and
while Brand X might be safe under one set of conditions, if there's
something else going on in the tank stressing them, that medication
could cause harm.
By default, choose the heat/salt method when treating Ick in tanks with
catfish, loaches, and other sensitive species.>
Testing all along has shown ammonia, NO2 & NO3 zero or very close. With
the Amquel+ I figured. The only problem has been the ph. My municipal
tap water (Connecticut) tests @ 7.2. But, the tank is 6.0. Even with
water changes it barely raises.
<It sounds as if your water has little to no carbonate hardness.>
Anyway, last night I got another test kit that goes below 6.0 ph. The
test indicated 5.5 I think. I read online that's too low.
<Yes.>
Less than 6.0 and the bacteria won't grow, all that.
<Oh, there certainly are bacteria that thrive in acidic conditions --
just not the filter bacteria we want!>
So it said you can raise ph by putting some sea shells in.
<Not really worthwhile.>
I put a couple in and everything was ok. One platy even hung around the
sea shells. Then at the store a guy told me they have to be crushed up
sea shells. So I came home and crushed them up. Leaving them in a net so
they wouldn't all get mixed in.
<Hmm... solid chunks of calcium carbonate (crushed shells, crushed
coral) can work, but only if placed somewhere with a strong water
current, i.e., inside a canister filter or else as part of an
undergravel filter.
Otherwise, there simply isn't enough water moving past the calcium
carbonate to "absorb" carbonate hardness at the required rate.
Furthermore, such calcium carbonate only works while it is clean: once
covered with bacteria and algae, it's insulated from the water and stops
working.>
Two hours later I came back because the room had a horrible sulfur
(rotten egg) smell. Really strong. And every fish was dead except 3
platys. I lost 3 Danios, 5 Neons & 2 Cory cats. This am the strong
sulfur smell is gone it's ack to normal pretty much.
<The sulphur could be caused by simply decay, particularly anaerobic
decay.
Hydrogen sulphide is certainly toxic to fish, though almost never is it
available in sufficient quantities to cause serious harm. You see,
hydrogen sulphide reacts instantly with oxygen, so as soon as it bubbles
out from the anaerobic pocket in the sediment where it formed, it reacts
with oxygen in the water, becoming sulphur dioxide. This is why the
hydrogen sulphide produced in the black, anaerobic mud in ponds doesn't
kill your goldfish.
Anyway, if you smell sulphur, it's likely to imply decay, but rather
than being the direct cause of death, you should be more concerned about
the decay in the aquarium, and the effects that'll have on acidification
and oxygen availability in the water.>
I figure it had to be those damn shells. But with < 6.0 ph I thought I
better try to get it up. Figured the shells would do it slowly. Didn't
put a lot in. Maybe 1/4 cup (crushed up). And what was that sulfur stink
all of a sudden.
<Were the shells clean? It's a silly question really, but it is
important
the shells were cleaned and didn't containing dead snails or whatever.>
Also that new test kit (dip strip type) last night showed: total
hardness: 25 (scale 0-1000)
<25 what? 25 mg/l? If so, that's a trivial amount, and far too low for
most fish.>
total alkalinity 0 (scale 0-300)
<Here's your problem. Right here. Zero carbonate hardness means your
water has zero ability to prevent acidification.>
Ammonia, NO2 and NO3 0.0.
And again, ph under 6.0 it looked like. But the colors aren't exact so
hard to tell. And these test strip types aren't too good I've heard.
<The precise pH doesn't matter. Yes, it should be around 7 to 7.5, but
precisely where doesn't matter within the range so long as its steady
from week to week. On the other hand, pH 6 is far too low.>
The only other thing is I had a piece of driftwood in the tank. Pretty
good size. That's why I figured the ph dropped vs. the tap.
<Yes, driftwood produces tannins, and these lower pH.>
Plus in the beginning, I was thinking the Amquel with buffers might have
messed up the pH. But I've probably done a dozen 20% water changes since
then. Periodically & due to the Rid Ich+. And I figured the driftwood
would have less of an effect over time. It's been soaked a lot. Now,
barely turning the water a tea color any more. Well, hard to tell I
suppose with the GREEN/BLUE Rid Ich+ in there huh! But the guy in the
store said it should be fine. They prep the driftwood before they sell
it.
<Even cured driftwood will lower the pH over time. It's what driftwood
does, period, end of story.>
Just for grins retested the water this am (after the fish died). It's
all the same except hardness looks like 75 not 25 like last night
(before the fish died).
<Still too low. You're aiming for something like 100-300 mg/l, with
about 200 mg/l being optimal for the widest selection of community
fish.>
Any help you could give me would be appreciated. I'm thinking the shells
did the deed last night. Big mistake. But can't understand why I've had
two sets of Cory cats. And the same thing happened to both. They start
floating up to the top and stay there. It's a struggle to get down to
the bottom of the tank.
<May be insufficient water circulation, at least in part. Catfish get
their oxygen from the water at the bottom of the tank, and if the water
quality down there is dire, they're going to be the first fish to die.>
A couple times they got themselves pinned under some overhang. To keep
down. Or they'd just float back up. Seems like they just get exhausted
and die. That's why I did the shell job. I was thinking pH is the only
measure off whack in my tank. Ammonia, NO2 & NO3 seem pretty good all
along. I hope that made sense! Thanks!
<Do read the article mentioned earlier on. Read, digest, and if you're
still stuck, write back. Don't add any more fish until you've stabilised
pH from week to week, and have learned how to mix a Rift Valley salt mix
such that you produce buckets of water with adequate carbonate and
general hardness. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: My fish died last night
... culprit might be pH? – 07/28/09
The site you provided was incredible
(http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm).
<Glad you liked.>
Re the Rift Valley salt mix. It's ok to use in a freshwater tank?
Sounded like it.
<Yes.>
But I got a little concerned reading the section titled, "Aquarium
Salt".
When it said, "marine salt is not really a viable option...". So with
freshwater would it be safer to:
1) invest in a commercially available freshwater product (if I can find
one with no salt)?
<Marine salt mix is a key ingredient, and at the dosage used, won't harm
freshwater fish in the least. Yes, you can buy commercial Rift Valley
cichlid salt mixes, and these will work very well. But the recipe given
in the article here at WWM is just as good, and costs pennies per month
to use.>
2) prepare the Rift Valley mix but skip the marine salt ingredient?
(only use baking soda & Epsom salt)
<Don't skip the marine salt mix if using this recipe.>
3) mix Rift Valley as indicated. But reduce the dose to 25-33%. Plus
choose soft water fishes. Not sure where to check what fishes are
particularly adverse to salinity.
<You misunderstand... my point here is you can't use marine salt by
itself to harden water for freshwater fish unless you know they tolerate
both salinity and hardness. Mollies and Guppies for example will do
perfectly well in brackish water, or even seawater, so if you live in a
soft water area, one way to keep these fish successfully is to switch to
a brackish water aquarium. But other hard water fish won't tolerate such
conditions.
Mbuna cichlids for example don't tolerate brackish water, and are in
fact made sick by it.>
Re the sulfur smell. Wow maybe you're right. The last time or two
vacc'ing the gravel I was surprised what came up out of there. Pretty
dark and rude looking. Maybe the cycle never got going. With that way
low pH (since day 1). Vacc'ing weekly I have noticed the gravel getting
skunkier. I gassed my poor little Cory's!!
<Yikes!>
Re circulation. I have a 12" bubbler buried under the gravel. And a
Penguin 150 filter (whose return makes some bubbles).
<When was the last time you checked the diaphragm in the air pump? Most
need this little bit of rubber changed every year or two. If you don't,
they push less and less air, and your bubbler won't be doing much good.>
Maybe a canister filter would be better. This was a cheap setup.
<Well, there's certainly an argument that says one big, decent filter is
better than a poky filter and an airstone. The Penguin 150 filter has a
turnover of 150 gallons per hour. For small fish, turnover should be at
least 4 times the volume of the tank. Since 4 x 29 = 116 gallons per
hour, your Penguin filter should be adequate. But do check it's working
properly, that the media selected are logical, and that you are
maintaining it correctly. Specifically, make sure the media are mostly
biological in nature (carbon and zeolite are largely useless in this
type of tank). Clean the filter every 4-6 weeks, but remember to rinse
biological media in buckets of aquarium water so you don't kill the
bacteria.>
Also I've been shutting off the bubbler at night. To make it easier for
the fish to sleep. I figured a less strong current to fight. Means
better sleep. Maybe not.
<Not. Leave filters and air pumps running 24 hours.>
Thank you Neale. You're da best!
<Thanks!>
P.S. I didn't clean the shells. Rinsed & crushed them. Then microwaved
to sterilize.
<Ah, while microwaves will *kill* bacteria and such, and organic debris,
like dead, dried snails, will still be there.>
Until the towel they were inside got charred--whoops.
<Cheers, Neale.>
Problems with PH. FW Community 7/2/09
WWM Crew,
I’d like to start by thanking you for the immense amount of work that
goes into creating and maintaining a site such as this, as well as the
time spent responding to issues such as my own.
<Thank you.>
I do hope not all of my questions have been answered in the recent past,
as I have checked and did not find solutions. I’ll start with some
information on the tank( 36 US Gallon) up and running for 3 months.
Stocked with:
6 Julii Cory Cats
4 Sword Tails 1M 3F 1.5 – 2 in.
4 Assorted Platy 1M 3F 1.5 in.
<These should all be compatible, and share a similar preference for
relatively cool water, around 23-24 C.>
1 Red Tail Shark 2 in.
<Will likely become too aggressive for this tank as it matures, so be
prepared to move it to a new home; typically needs a well-planted
tropical tank at least 120 cm in length.>
4 Badis Badis .75 in. New Additions
<Would be extremely surprised if the Badis does well in this system.
They're almost always impossible to wean onto anything other than live
or wet-frozen foods, and even then, they feed very slowly. They're
suitable for single-species tanks, or else tanks where the tankmates
pose no threat in terms of competition for food; Hatchetfish and
halfbeaks, for example, would be ideal because they only take food from
the surface.>
1 Dwarf Gourami
<My thoughts on these fish are surely well known by now!>
Tank Water:
PH 6.4 – 7.0
<Far too acidic for livebearers!>
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10ppm before water changes and 5ppm after
KH 0
<Yowser! You do need a bit more carbonate hardness than this for
livebearers, and indeed most tropical fish, since without carbonate
hardness, pH will be prone to dropping between water changes.>
GH 300ppm (currently)
Tap Water
3 dKH
<This is too low for livebearers, but acceptable for soft-water fish.>
140ppm GH
<Too low for livebearers.>
PH 8.4
<Bizarre.>
I recently made the novice mistake of adding fish directly to my tank
with no quarantine period. 12 hours after the introduction Ich had
infected all my livebearers. I raised the temp to 82 and used an Epsom
Salt treatment and rid the tank if Ich. This was last week and I’m still
changing the salt out of the water, explaining the very high GH tank
reading….I think.
<Epsom Salt doesn't cure Ick.>
My main problem lies in the fact I can’t properly maintain the PH of my
water. I have very high PH tap water but I can’t keep the tank over 6.6.
<Of course not. Without sufficient carbonate hardness, you'll never have
a stable pH.>
Just changing 25% of the water raises the PH from 6.4 to over 7. The PH
falls back within 3 days. I’m assuming the swings are not good for my
fish. I selected primarily livebearers because of the high PH water and
would like to maintain the tank in the mid to low 7’s. I acquired, after
reading many of your PH crash FAQs, a hardness test kit to see just how
much KH my water had out of the faucet and in the tank. I was surprised
to find my tap water so low, but also to find a difference between my
tap and tank water. Can water lose buffering capacity naturally?
<If there's sufficient acidity being produced in the aquarium, yes, all
the carbonate hardness can be used up. Similarly, if you have a lot of
fast-growing plants that perform biogenic decalcification (not all do,
but species like Elodea and Vallisneria will) this also reduces
carbonate hardness.>
I’ve read many suggestions to use a marine/Epsom/baking soda salt mix to
add KH, but I don’t think my non-live bearers would appreciate the
addition.
<They'll be fine. Read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
Use the Cichlid Salt mix, but at, say, one-third to one-half the dose
per bucket of water added during water changes (don't add it all to the
tank in one go!). The Badis can't stay in this tank anyway, but the
other fish will be fine at pH 7.5, 10-15 degrees dH, 4-5 degrees KH. Try
a one-third dose on a single bucket of water, do water tests, and then
adjust the amounts you add per bucket up or down as required. You'll
need to experiment a bit, but once you've established how much to use,
you'll be able to do this each time you do a water change.>
Is there a way other than salting to add KH without sending the PH too
high considering my tap water?
<No.>
I bought a buffer/stabilizer that claims to set water at 7.5 by bringing
it down if above and maintaining if at of below. My worry when reading
the ingredients is it uses a “proprietary blend of sodium and potassium
salts”. Would a 5g per 10 US Gallon addition raise the salinity enough
to bother the cats? Any recommendation on what to do would be very much
appreciated.
<Wouldn't bother; it's always best to adjust all water chemistry
parameters at once, rather than just pH.>
My second and hopefully final issue has to do with the death of two
Dwarf Gouramis. I lost the two fish suddenly two days apart after the
Ich treatment. There were few outward signs of distress. One fish went
from normal to dead, and the other skipped an evening and morning
feeding and died in the afternoon. Neither had Ich spots but were
subjected to the eight days of 82F temps and 1 TBS per 5 Gallons of
Epsom salt. Did I do something wrong, other than selecting such a weak
species?
<It's tonic salt (sodium chloride, kosher salt) you need, not Epsom
salt. In any case, Dwarf Gouramis are rubbish, unless you can secure
locally-bred specimens.>
Thanks in advance,
Adam
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Freshwater Community Tank 7/6/09
Dear Neale,
<Hello again,>
Thanx a bunch for the speedy reply...in spite of the huge number of
mails you people probably getting every day and I sincerely apologize
for the spelling mistakes :-)
<It's the "text messaging" speak I really don't like... misspellings are
fine; we all make them!>
I would like to further get some more Professional advices on my new
tank...as I stated earlier I have 5 fancy goldfish with one serpae tetra
in a 60 gallon tank
<I see.>
With one UG filter and one top-box filter...this tank is actually new
and the cycle is not yet fully established.
However my problem is that one albino goldfish has ragged fin for almost
one week from now. I guessed that the tetra Might be nipping its fin but
in that case other GFs should have show ragged fin too...to some
extent...however they r fine.
<I'd still put money on the Serpae tetra. Let's be clear about this:
Serpae tetras (Hyphessobrycon eques) are notorious fin-nippers; in the
wild they view the fins of slow-moving fish as food, and when kept in
small groups --
or singly -- they become even more aggressive. Serpae tetras also have a
true "feeding frenzy". This means that when they're feeding, they bite
at anything, and often this means other fish! Serpae tetras were the
first tropical fish I ever kept, and I learned the hard way that they
are not -- repeat NOT -- community fish.>
So plz tell me if its fin rot disease and if yes how to treat it.
<Remove the Serpae tetra to another aquarium. If the Goldfish gets
better, that's your answer.>
My second question is that I tried to use live plant (short Amazon
sword) in this new tank and used coarse sand as substrate...
But almost all plants died and so others I returned to dealer...now I
read in a book to use clay+sand as substrate...also I think the clay
might make a cloudy water.
<No real point using plants in this tank: Goldfish will uproot plants,
and they eat many plant species as well. Would recommend floating
plants, such as the excellent Indian Fern (Ceratopteris spp.). These
will provide lots of shade as well as food for your Goldfish, while
removing all the nutrients they need from the water. This would allow
you to use plain sand on the bottom of the tank.>
Will it be ok for the fish?
My current ph is b/w 7-7.5.The tap water here is normally mildly hard.
<Cheers, Neale.>
FW biomineralizing life water
supplementation 4/5/09
Done a lot of research and haven't found a straight answer. I have a
freshwater community aquarium that besides tropical fish has apple
snails, golden clams, and shrimp. Should I be adding any kind of
supplement for the
invertebrates like liquid iodine or calcium? And if so what dosage to
you recommend. Thanks for any help.
<Is a good idea to periodically (I'd add in conjunction with your
routine for water changes... right after refilling) an iodine/ide
supplement... Calcium can be an issue if in short supply... along with
(in concert) alkalinity. These issues can not be entirely generalized...
as in "just plop in X on Y schedule)... the Iodine should be pulsed to
avoid
over-exposure... and Calcium and alkalinity re testing (kits) to assure
appropriate range. Bob Fenner>
Please help - pH going up in fw tank 04/03/09
Hi Neale,
you very, very kindly helped me with a fantail with dropsy last
September, and I'm after your help again!
<Oh?>
I recently managed to buy a 190 ltr tank for my two goldfish, one common
and one shubunkin and Hillstream loach. I had a 60ltr before and was
struggling to keep up with things. Well, I have to admit that I really
thought that getting a bigger tank would help a problem that I have had
really since I got my fish, 11 months ago. My pH seems to increase quite
quickly over several days, obviously this concerns me because when I do
a water change it decreases rapidly too.
<It goes *up* between water changes, and then resets to a much lower
value *when* you do a water change. How odd. Usually the other way
around.>
I have tried to research this on your site but everyone seems to have
the opposite problem, pH going down.
<Quite. Aquaria tend to have an acidification tendency because of the
way the nitrogen cycle works and the organic acids produced from decay.
But pH can go up for three reasons. The first is calcareous media in the
aquarium; as these dissolve slowly, they raise carbonate hardness and
pH. The second is ammonia, which is a 'basic' chemical and so raises pH.
Finally, the low pH you register in new tap water can be caused by some
unstable chemical in the water, such as carbonic acid, that leaves the
water within a few hours or days. When it's gone, the pH of the water
goes up. This would be like if you have a bottle of fizzy mineral water,
poured some into a glass, and took a pH test. This would be, say, pH 6.
The next day all the carbonic acid (i.e., the carbon dioxide bubbles)
would have gone, so the water would now have a higher pH, say, 7.5,
caused by the minerals in the water. So: the three things you can do to
help yourself are [1] look for anything calcareous in the aquarium; [2]
test for ammonia; and [3] draw some tap water into a glass, leave it for
24 hours, and then do a pH test.>
I will give you a detailed run down of what I am doing as I must be
doing something fundamentally wrong.
<OK.>
I got my tank almost 3 weeks ago, I have my old filter running in it at
the moment, but plan to put my bioballs and filter media into my new
filter in the next few days. I don't have any carbon in my filter. I
used all my gravel from my old tank - it's at a depth of about 1". There
is a piece of bogwood in there, 11 months old, lots and lots of live
plants, a couple of plastic ornaments and some smooth rocks for my
loach.
<All good. Bogwood will tend to lower the pH over time, but not usually
dramatically.>
I don't feed them much as there are loads of plants in the tank, I give
them broccoli, peas, spinach, cucumber, frozen daphnia etc. I have
learnt from my poor Daphne (ex fantail) experience. I do give then flake
food perhaps once a week, but soak it first.
<All fine.>
During every water change (except today's) I normally take all the
plants, wood and ornaments out. I started taking them out after I found
that debris got stuck under the ornaments etc.
<Been there, done that!>
I trim up the elodea etc, but don't normally clean much more unless its
getting black, my loach likes munching on it.
<Quite.>
I gently vac the gravel, just enough to stir up any debris laying on it.
I use Tetra AquaClear de-chlorinator in my water which is the same
temperature as my tank water. My fish don't mind the clean and seem to
be
happy and not at all stressed.
<They're used to it, I'm sure.>
I have an Aquis 1050 external filter with an operating flow rate of 750
litres per hour. I have my internal Tetra filter working too - I did
work out that they turn 5.5 volume of the tank per hour - you recommend
6 don't you?
<It's good enough! So don't worry.>
My tap water is about 7.4 (south east England!) I use API liquid test
kit and even got a new pH high range kit in case it was that! Sadly, no.
My KH is 14 and GH is 18. My nitrite always reads 0 and my nitrates
around 6.
<Rock hard water; should be very stable in terms of pH.>
All was great the first week, I did 1x25ltr w/c and 1x35ltr w/c as there
was a bit of ammonia in the water about 0.1, and it stayed around pH7.9.
After 4 days it had crept up to 8.2, then 8.3 two days after that. I
then did a 30ltr w/c which took it to 7.8.
The next day the tank tested 8.0, two days after 8.2.
The evening after I did a 30ltr w/c which dropped it to 7.9, at 8:30am
next day it was 7.9 (yay!) by 7:30pm it was 8.0. Then 7:30am it was
still holding at 8.0, but by 5:15pm it was 8.2!
Did another 30ltr w/c yesterday to take it to 8.0. Today 7:30am = 8.0,
2:50pm it was 8.1, then by 4:05pm it had got to 8.2. Had a reading of
01. for Ammonia today, so did another 30 ltr w/c, back to 7.8.
<These variations are relatively small, and to be honest, I'd worry more
about the ammonia than the pH changes. Indeed, the ammonia could be a
factor.>
My old tank used to rise from around 7.9 - 8.2 - I figured that perhaps
too much load on too little space with a small filter. I was unprepared
for it to be an issue in my big tank.
<What time are you doing these pH tests? Do you have bright lights on
this tank? Bright enough that the plants are able to grow rapidly? There
are some plant-related factors to consider. During photosynthesis plants
use CO2 from the water, and so pH tends to drop as the day wears on.
Elodea also happens to be one of a select group of plants that can do
something called biogenic decalcification -- a fancy way of saying they
absorb carbonate and bicarbonate ions from the water, and use these as a
carbon source for photosynthesis. This reduces the buffering capacity of
the water. So until you do a water change and top up the concentration
of carbonate/bicarbonate ions in the water, each day pH stability will
get worse and worse as carbonate hardness gets lower and lower. Now,
before we get paranoid here, for this to be a major factor you need
strong lighting and a reasonably large quantity of plants. One bunch of
Elodea under
indifferent lighting will have minimal effect.>
I obviously realise that this is just way too much in the way of pH
change and I have become desperately worried about my fish.
<Unless they're obviously distressed, e.g., gasping at the surface, I
wouldn't worry too much. In the wild they will experience pH variation
within this sort of level through issues such as photosynthesis anyway.>
They are always busy and my loach loves the new flow in the tank.
However, my shubunkin seems to have a couple of scales sticking out on
one side, viewed from about it looks horribly like dropsy, but she is
swimming, eating fine.
<A couple of loose scales does not Dropsy make; remember, the scales
thing about Dropsy is how the scales are pushed out as the abdomen
swells. If the fish has a normal shape, but is just shedding a couple of
scales, that's nothing too serious.>
I don't want to loose another one and I know dropsy can be caused by
poor water quality. Please help me - I feel like such a fishkeeping
failure.
<I don't think you're failing. Do focus on the ammonia issue here,
checking the filter is properly configured and that you're not
over-cleaning it (once a month is usually fine, and when you do that,
don't replace more
than half the media at any one time).>
Sorry about the novel but I thought you'd be better off knowing what I
have been doing.
Michelle
<Hope this helps, Neale.>
Re: Please help - pH going up in fw tank (RMF, thoughts?> for
Neale – 04/07/09
Hi Neale,
thanks ever so much for your reply- it has helped me to focus a bit, and
I am so, so relieved that I am not doing anything really silly! Thanks
too for your easy to understand explanation of the chemistry stuff, I
get a bit confused with this sometimes.
<Happy to help.>
I will get the ammonia situation under control first. I think I must
have unwittingly killed off some of my biological filter in my old
filter last week. I did just do a quick dip of my bioballs in tank
water, but perhaps I
was a bit rough with the sponge I 'gently' rinsed out. I will be more
careful next time.
<"Roughness" isn't usually a thing because bacteria don't fall off when
knocked about! What matters is exposure to dry air, being trapped in an
enclosed pocket of water with no oxygen; or being exposed to dramatic
changes in temperature, water chemistry or salinity.>
My ammonia seems to be 0 in the morning, around 7:30, but it seems to
show up in the evening, coincidentally with the rise in pH. I will keep
testing for both at these times.
<Ah... Perhaps coincidentally with when the fish are fed...? In which
case, the filter is likely not up to the job, or you're overfeeding the
fish.>
I've been testing my pH in the morning about 7:30, then around 1 - 2pm,
then again around 4:30 - 5:30pm. It seems to rapidly increase during
this late afternoon period. I got all concerned as I had read that pH
swings of more than 0.1 were bad - perhaps that was relating to
different fish than goldfish? I will relax a bit now!
<Definitely something going on...>
Once I have addressed this I can do some eliminating. My rocks are
smooth beach pebble type ones - I have no idea if they are calcareous or
not.
<<Easy to test for... either directly with an acid of some strength
applied to (outside the tank of course) or "soaked" in a small container
with water of known pH, alkalinity over a few days time... and tested
later for. RMF>>
As for the plants I have the following: 6 bunches of quite long and
bushy elodea (20 - 30cm in length), 2 bunches of Cabomba, 1 Amazon sword
plant, 5 Vallisneria of varying sizes and 5 unknown plants (can't seem
to find out what these are).
<Send photo.>
I have 2 x AquaOne T5 230v - 50H 39w x 25 bulbs. I'm really sorry but I
have no idea if these are bright or not - they came with the tank. Do
you think this may be part of the problem?
<Hmm... 190 litres is about 50 gallons. Two 39 watt T5 tubes on that is
about 1.5 watts per gallon. Not a huge amount of light, but T5s are a
bit brighter than plain vanilla T8 tubes, so could be a factor. Really,
the
proof is in the pudding: are the plants growing rapidly, i.e., enough
you need to (or could choose to) crop them back every couple of weeks.
If that's the case, then certainly Vallisneria and Elodea both remove
bicarbonate from the water and so can dramatically alter pH through the
day.>
Have a glass of water standing for 24 hours and will test that tomorrow.
My Shubunkin's scales seem to have flattened back down a bit this
morning.
I've done another 25ltr w/c this evening as the ammonia was back up to
about 0.1, I'll just keep at it!
<Should settle down... you shouldn't need to do water changes daily...
once a week is ample. Would look long and hard at the filter. Is it up
to the job? Does it contain sensible media options? Is it set up
properly? Does it get clogged too quickly?>
Thanks again for such a fabulous site - I am very grateful that there
are kind people like the WetWeb crew who are willing to help us newbies!
I'll let you know how I'm doing. Michelle
<Have been on vacation, so forgive delay in reply. Cheers, Neale.>
Please help - pH going up in fw tank - update 5/4/09 for
Neale – 04/07/09
Hi there Neale,
Michelle again!
<Hi Michelle,>
Have been doing water changes every day to sort out my ammonia
situation.
I'll say this for it - I have got used to doing my bigger tank much
faster.
It's a bit like writing lines at school - I will be more careful
cleaning my filter, I will be more careful cleaning my filter........
<Hmm... not sure I want a hobby that reminds me of school...>
Anyway, I let my water stand as you recommended. It started off at pH
7.0 within 24 hours it was at 7.6, and it has now leveled off at 8.3
after 48 hours. No wonder I had a problem.
<Indeed.>
Do you think I should let my water sit for a couple of days before I do
a water change?
<Yes. Grab yourself one or more 5 gallon buckets with lids (I got mine
from a DIY store). Fill with water, and leave with the lids on loosely
for 48 hours. Do your water changes using these once a week, such that
you're doing around 25% per week.>
Is such a change a problem with my goldfish?
<Nope.>
My shubunkin isn't that happy, her scales are raised and she has started
to glance off the filter pipe from time to time. She seems to have
periods of inactivity hanging around the top of the tank. When she is
doing this her dorsal fin is clamped down. Once she sees someone she
swims about begging for food as usual. Her poop is a bit thin and
stringy.
<Can be dietary, but Shubunkins are more pond fish than anything else,
and don't always settle into home aquaria all that well. Depending on
the other types of fish, adding more water movement might help.>
She is still eating algae in the tank and the occasional pea I put in
there for my other fish. Is there anything more I could do to help her
other than water changes every day?
<Not really; the daily water changes are overkill, I suspect. Certainly
not normal. I'm really wondering what's going on here, and wonder if the
rapidly changing pH has meant the filter has never become properly
matured.
25% weekly water changes should be ample.>
Many thanks for your help once again, Michelle
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Please help - pH going up in fw tank (RMF, thoughts?> for
Neale
4/7/09
<<Re: pebbles effect: Easy to test for... either directly with an acid
of some strength applied to (outside the tank of course) or "soaked" in
a small container with water of known pH, alkalinity over a few days
time...
and tested later for. RMF>>
<Bob, thank you, good catch. In my haste to clear the backlog, I missed
this key thing. Michelle, in any event, by default you should always use
a lime-free substrate... these are widely sold... gravel, smooth silica
sand, etc. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Please help - pH going up in fw tank (RMF, thoughts?> for
Neale 4/7/09
Hi Bob,
thanks for the suggestion - I will test my rocks. There are 5 of varying
sizes in the tank - I do have ordinary gravel from my LFS for substrate,
I guess I could test that whilst I'm at it.
Many thanks for your help, Michelle
<Ah, yes... good to test both. BobF>
Re: Please help - pH going up in fw tank - update for Neale
4/7/09
Thanks Neale,
I will let my water stand as you suggest.
<Good.>
I will have another look at my new filter and make sure everything is
working ok, as I haven't really touched it much yet. It's got
bio-noodles, 2 types of sponges and a fine wool filter pad which is the
pad I am assuming I change regularly.
<Personally, I don't change filter pads until they're really falling
apart!
Too expensive. Instead, simply make sure you rinse them off regularly.
So long as the pad is clean enough for water to pass through easily, it
doesn't need to be brand new to do its job.>
I'm pretty certain that I washed everything with old aquarium water. I
guess that if the filter is not up to the job I can just add another
external filter to the tank.
<Often makes all the difference. You'll note I stress turnover rather
than what size aquarium a filter is recommended for. But even so, some
filters are best suited to small fish. I write repeatedly on WWM about
the limitations of hang-on-the-back filters and some types of internal
filter in this regard; in large tanks with big messy fish, you want to
have the inlet and outlet pipes as far apart as possible, so there's
lots of
circulation.>
As for my plants, my elodea does get chopped back every few weeks;
perhaps I'll reduce the amount for a while and see what happens.
<Certainly worth a shot.>
Once the tank is stable I may have a go at re-introducing it and see
what happens. My Vallisneria is not growing that strongly.
<Then the lighting is perhaps not too strong to be a factor.
Vallisneria, when happy, spreads wildly!>
If my shubunkin is more of a pond fish could she be moved to my mum's
pond?
<In most parts of the world, yes, Shubunkins do well outdoors. Like
Standards and Comets, they do very well in ponds, and love swimming
space!>
If she can, when would be a good time?
<Since she's been indoors this winter, I'd not take her out until late
spring/early summer. >
Thanks very much for all your help again, Michelle
<Cheers, Neale.>
pH always increasing 2/27/09
Hello-
My
question is in regard to the water parameters of my planted freshwater tropical
tank.
The 20 gallon tank has been set up for two or three years. I used two
large bags "eco-complete" black aquarium gravel, which I got because it seemed
like the best choice for plants. I also have driftwood and two rocks that did
not fizz when I put vinegar on them (I think quartz). It is moderately to
heavily planted with many species of plants. When I initially filled it I used
conditioned tap water, which has a pH of 7.6 to 7.8. I continued to do water
changes using tap water until about 8 months ago, when I decided that I wanted
to gradually lower the pH to about 6.5. I began doing monthly 25% water changes
with RO water, (and topping off evaporation with too), but I mixed the water
change water with an electrolyte and trace element product called
"electro-right".
The pH of this prepared water was about 6.4. I added the
clean water gradually, (over several days), so I wouldn't shock the livestock. I
did this for a few months, and each time the pH would initially drop but then
rise back to 7.6-7.8 after a couple days. I collected some dead red oak leaves
from my yard and put in six. A few weeks ago I bought a peat granule product
which I have added to my filter. The pH is still 7.5-7.8! How do I naturally
lower it and keep it low?
<Mmm, remove the "quartz" rocks methinks>
Oh,
and I have tested it with my own digital pH monitor, which I calibrated and
tested 3 times in the last month, and brought a water sample to the LFS which
they tested with a titration kit.
Any thoughts/suggestions would be
appreciated.
Sam
<Likely the rock is continuing to dissolve...
particularly in the presence of your added acids. Try removing them. Bob Fenner>
Re: pH always increasing 3/1/09
thanks, I'll
give it a try right away.
<Ahh, please do report back your observations.
BobF>
Fish suddenly sick, FW, pH
shock 3/3/08
Hi Crew,
This is unfortunately an emergency. I have been keeping my fish (6 zebra Danios,
3 Cory cats) in a separate tank for about a week and a half while their normal
tank cycles with added ammonia. The tank they're in now is a half-full 20 gallon
tank with a heater (temp has been constant at 74F) and bubbler instead of a
filter because the filters are in the normal tank, hopefully building up
bacteria. I have some "Ammo-Chips" in the temporary tank to soak up the ammonia
since there isn't any established bacteria. I've also been changing the water in
the temporary tank often with tap water conditioned with Amquel. I did this
yesterday (actually, I added about 20% additional water since there is extra
space in the tank) and I swished the net around to grab some of the floating
"gunk" and cleaned a lot of that out. All seemed to be well this morning, but I
came back tonight after being gone the whole day and my smallest Cory was dead
and the rest of the fish were looking very sick. Some were hanging near the top;
others at the bottom. They don't seem to be breathing hard, just very listless.
Ammonia and nitrite are zero. I don't have a nitrate test kit, but I change the
water regularly and I doubt it could make them sick this fast. It would seem
like it had something to do with the water being added or the "gunk" being taken
out, although I did what I always do (add Amquel and get the water to about the
same temperature as the tank water). I now have the fish out of that tank in a
Tupperware container with the bubble wand. I added some Prime and some Stress
Coat even though there isn't an ammonia or nitrite problem. (I didn't know what
else to do!) The water has been pretty cloudy in the tank, but I think it's
because there isn't a filter, only a bubbler for oxygen. If it were a lack of
oxygen they would have been showing signs of distress earlier. And if it was
poisoning due to the decomposing "stuff" in the water, wouldn't I see some
ammonia or nitrites? I have antibacterial food on hand and I'm going to feed
that to them, if they'll eat. I have no idea what happened, unless the water
wasn't dechloraminated well enough, but I feel like I always add more Amquel
than necessary just to be safe. I don't have any clues! They all look like
they're barely hanging on.. I appreciate any help you can offer.
Thank you so much,
Allison
Hey Crew,
I just realized the problem: pH shock. I tested the tank - pH 6.0 - and the tap
water - pH 7.8 or more. Basically, the tank and the tap are at opposite ends of
my testing kit's scale, I guess because of aeration in the tank bringing the pH
down. I guess all I can do now is just hope for them to survive. Please let me
know if there's anything else to do. I'm going to put them back in the tank
(since now they're in the Tupperware container).
Thanks,
Allison
<Hello Alison. Glad you figured out what the problem was. Yes, pH can make a big
difference to how well (or otherwise) fish settle in. Maintaining a steady pH
between water changes is essential. If the pH in your aquarium is dropping from
7.8 to 6 within a week, then you have a serious instability problem. Have a read
of these two articles:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsoftness.htm
Essentially the problem is likely that your water has no carbonate hardness (use
the "KH" test kit for this) and so pH drops rapidly. One common mistake people
make is to use water from a domestic water softener: do not do this! However
hard your tap water might be, it's fine for most fish. In some ways hard water
is a positive asset.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwhardness.htm
In the meantime, your fish should recover from the pH shock. Obviously don't
feed them, and don't fuss over them either, as that'll stress them. Leave them
somewhere dark and well oxygenated to they can recover at their own pace. If
they don't survive, at least learn from the experience and read up on water
chemistry. Note that everyone thinks they understand pH, whereas the pH value
itself actually doesn't matter all that much -- what matters is pH stability.
And for that, you need carbonate hardness. Cheers, Neale.>
|
pH stuck at 6.6.
7/25/07
Dear WWM,
<Hello Giuseppe,>
I have the following setup:
10 G planted tank started 8 months ago
2 cories
1 Otocinclus
2 neon tetras
2 male guppies
(planning to add 3 neon tetras and 3 rosy tetras...would that be ok?)
<You'll get best results from all those fishes by keeping them in groups
of 6 or more. Schooling fish tend to be shy and nervous when kept in
pairs or trios... and then they die, prematurely. The fact you have a 10
gallon tank complicates things somewhat. Rosy tetras are FAR TOO active
for a 10 gallon tank, but Neons and Otocinclus are fine. Corydoras are
borderline. Small species are OK, but the bigger ones less so.>
The tank values are:
Nitrite 0, Nitrates 5, Ammonia 0, PH 6.6
<All good except the pH -- too low for guppies.>
I do 30% water changes once or twice a week by deeply siphoning all the
gravel (should I clean only the top part of the gravel to avoid any
damage to the bacteria living in it?).
<What you're doing is fine. But I'd kick up the water changes to 50%
weekly or 25% twice weekly, since you have a small tank. By the time you
have the bucket out, how much water you change doesn't add to the
workload. But the bigger the water change, the healthier a tank is.>
The two guppies are not doing well (see photo attached). The yellow one
is always hiding behind a plant and close to the surface. The blue one
is always resting on the gravel. I treated them with Maracyn/Maracyn 2
combination for 3 times over the last couple of months due to suspected
fin rot, each treatment lasted 5 days. Since the PH was stable at 7 and
dropped to 6.6 only in the last few months, I suspect that this may be
harming the guppies.
<Low pH is bad for guppies. But it isn't specifically the pH that causes
the problems. Low pH generally goes along with low hardness, both
general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH). Guppies, like most
other livebearers, need high levels of both of these. Ideally, at least
a GH of 15 degrees dH and 10 degrees KH. Or thereabouts, anyway.
Basically the harder the better, and in fact guppies will do better in
seawater than they'll do in the soft/acid water Neons enjoy. It sounds
as if you have a lack of carbonate hardness in your water. All aquaria
have a pH drift towards the acidic. It's caused by the accumulation of
organic wastes. Water changes "resets" this upwards, which is why water
changes are so good. But increasing the carbonate hardness slows down
the pH drop by buffering the water against acidity. Now, Neons and
Otocinclus don't care much, since they come from soft/acid conditions.
But guppies DO care, and this is why yours are getting sick.>
Even after changing filter and carbon and doing two 30% water changes
weekly there's no way to lower the PH under 6.6.
<Well, you can start by throwing out the carbon in my opinion. Other
than the fact it removes medications, making your treatments a complete
waste of time and money, it's wasting space that could be given over to
more useful biological filtration.>
To be honest I would like to keep the PH at this level due to the other
fishes in the tank and the ones I'm planning to introduce, but I'm
worried for the guppies.
<You do not want to mess about with pH until you 100% understand water
chemistry. There are articles here on the topic, and any good aquarium
book should explain the subject too. More fish are killed by people
misusing pH buffers without understanding them than die from simply
being kept at the wrong pH to begin with. My suggestion would be to aim
for medium hard water at around pH 7. This will suit all your livestock.
The idea Neons and other South American fish need acid water is
erroneous. They prefer it, yes, but they don't need it. They'll do much
better at a neutral pH and moderate hardness than your guppies will do
at an acid pH and low hardness. So, start by adding portion of crushed
coral to your filter and see how that changes the pH and carbonate over
the next few days. A tablespoon or two should be fine to begin with. If
the pH goes way over 7.0, then remove some. If it stays below 7.0, add
some more. What you're aiming for is a carbonate hardness around 8-10
degrees KH and a general hardness around 10-15 degrees dH. All your fish
should thrive at this level. If you get the portion of buffering
material right the effect will be slight but steady, and between this
and the water changes, you should find the aquarium nice and stable. If
this all sounds like too much work, you could alternatively use some
Malawi or Tanganyika cichlid salt mix, at around 5-20% dosages, mixed
into each bucket of water, so that you the sorts of values suggested
above. Or, you could just get rid of the guppies and be done with it.>
I would greatly appreciate if you could take a look at the attached
photo and tell me if you see any sign of sickness and also give me your
advise on the situation I just described.
<They look fine, just unhappy.>
Thank you,
Giuseppe
<Hope this helps, Neale>
Re: pH stuck at 6.6.
7/25/07
Hi Neale,
thanks for your prompt reply. I have one more questions based on your
comments? You suggest to get rid of the carbon and replace it with a
better media. What media should I use and how frequently should I
replace it.
Thank you,
Giuseppe
<Greetings. I should perhaps explain my objection to carbon first. The
only thing carbon is useful for is removing dissolved organic waste,
specifically the stuff that turns water yellow over time. If you're
doing regular water changes, it becomes redundant, because you're
removing organic waste through dilution before it reaches a level where
it affects water colour. Freshwater fish don't care about this organic
material (called by biologists "gelbstoff", literally "yellow stuff" in
German). It's purely a cosmetic problem, and carbon doesn't remove
bacteria, parasites, nitrogenous waste, or inorganic toxins like copper.
What carbon *does* do is remove any organic materials you deliberately
add to the aquarium, such as medications. It is very, VERY common that
people treat their aquaria for whitespot (or whatever) and then wonder
why their fish don't get better. The answer: they didn't remove the
carbon, and the carbon removed the medication before it had a chance to
cure the fish or kill the parasites! Hence by default, unless you have a
specific reason to want to use carbon, I always recommend people leave
it out of the filter. So what to put in its place? Nothing beats more
biological filter media. Doesn't really matter what sort you use, so
shop according to your budget. High-end ceramic media like Siporax are
the "best" in the sense of providing the highest population of bacteria
per unit volume and for lasting the longest period of time before they
need to be replaced (10+ years). But even plain old filter floss has its
place. As we've discussed previously, some crushed coral in a filter
media bag (or the "foot" from an old pair of nylon stockings) could also
be used to provide some chemical filtration by adding to the carbonate
hardness and moderating the pH a bit. Livebearers especially appreciate
this. As for replacing/cleaning media this depends on which you're
using. If a durable biological medium like ceramic hoops or sponge, you
want to rinse these off in a bucket of aquarium water but otherwise
avoid replacing them as much as possible. Good quality ceramic and
sponge media lasts for years. Filter wool tends to get clogged quite
quickly, and depending on your aquarium you may decide to replace 50% of
the stuff every couple of months. Chemical media need (generally) to be
deep cleaned or replaced monthly. In part, because they wear out (this
is the case with carbon, zeolite, and nitrate-removing media) but also
because bacteria coat them, isolating the medium from the water (this is
what happens to crushed coral). In some cases you can clean these using
hot water and sunshine (e.g., crushed coral) but others simply need to
be replaced (e.g., carbon). I hope this helps. Neale>
Re: PH stuck at 6.6.
8/25/07
Neale,
your comments are not just useful, but an eye opener for me. I totally
understand now and I agree with your point.
I will need a big help shortly to confirm the fish community that I
would like to have in my tank. As you know I have a 10G tank and it's
extremely difficult for me to decide which/how many fishes I can add,
even reading the books I have.
As I said, I now have 1 Otocinclus, 2 cories (fairly big unfortunately),
2 male guppies and 2 Neons. I'd like to add 3 more Neons and maybe 2
sparkling gouramis or fish a bit tall such as Pristella that would
differentiate from the slim Neons. Any suggestion would be highly
appreciated.
Thanks for your help,
Giuseppe
<Hello Giuseppe. Glad to help. Now, on to your tank. When selecting
species for a 10 gallon, you not only have to consider size, but also
how active the species is. Neons and Danios are the same size, but the
Neons are inactive and basically lurk all day under the plants, while
the Danios bomb around the aquarium all day long. So guess which species
does best in a 10 gallon tank? Sparkling gouramis are among my very
favourite fishes and an excellent choice. They view space more in terms
of up and down than front to back, and if you have lots of floating
plants (Indian fern for example) they'll be as happy as anything.
Pristella tetras are lovely fish, but in my opinion slightly too active
for this aquarium, though it's a borderline case. They are very
adaptable and exceptionally hardy, and in my opinion the single most
all-round reliable tetra on the market. But I think you'll find your
aquarium "more fun" if you went for a large school of one type of tetra
than two or three of a bunch of different tetras. 10 Neons, for example,
would school nicely and be very eye-catching, especially if you made the
tank "dark" by using black sand, shady plants, and blackwater extract to
tint the water. Under those conditions, Neons and cardinals really put
on a heck of show, equal to anything you can do with coral reef fish or
Malawi cichlids. I find Neons and cardinal tetras great small tank fish,
because you can use their "glow in the dark" colours to brighten up a
dark corner of a room without the need for a huge fish tank. Getting
them to school is the trick -- in small groups, they spread out randomly
and the colours aren't that impressive, but in big groups, they swim
together, and become really amazing fish. Cheers, Neale> |
|
 |
HIGH SUDDEN pH
Hi,
I have a 29 gal. tank with the eclipse filtration system and it has been stable
for at least 6 months. It is a planted tank with driftwood, 3 young angel fish,
two aquatic frogs, 2 Kuhlii loaches, a long nose whip tail catfish, and two
thread fins. We do 25-30% water changes every two weeks. Found two dead angel
fish today, they had not shown any signs of sickness that I picked up on, feed
well the day before. I tested the water and the pH and alkalinity were off the
dipstix chart... very alkaline! I did a water change of 30% and the water reads
much better now but I am wondering what triggered this big change. Do you have
any ideas why this would occur, I have not done anything different and my other
tanks are all fine. I do not have any limestone or shells in the tank. We do
have a lot of Malaysian trumpet snails and a porcelain decoration. Thanks for
you help.
Sandy
< Check the pH of you tap water. In some areas of the country the water source
changes or the water company adds lime to stabilize the water. In San Francisco
for example the water used to be very soft, but recently the water dept has
added lime to the water and the aquarists there are really having problems right
now. If the tap water checks out all right then I would check the water
conditioner. Some really kick up the pH. Topping of the tank with tap water may
bring the pH up by adding minerals while pure water evaporates making it harder.
Minerals in food may accumulate in the water band bring up the pH.-Chuck>
Calcium Snow in a Freshwater Aquarium? - 08/16/2005
Thank you for reading this. I have looked for my problem in your database
but can't seem to find an answer. I have recently purchased a 29 gal tank. I set
it up for the 1st time about 1 week and a half ago. I bought it at Wal-Mart and
it came with an aqua tech filter with the bio fiber and the carbon filter as
well. I added tap water to it, and used a conditioner they recommended to me at
Petco (API Stress Coat) to treat the water for chloramines and chlorine. About 5
days after cycling I added 3 Corydoras which I still have and seem ok so far.
That same day, before I added the Corydoras, I used a Wardley Bullseye 7.0 pH
regulator, because test strips were showing my pH to be 8.4 or so.
<Some of these "regulators" can be iffy, at best, if you're starting with a high
pH and alkalinity. Most will just be useless from that standpoint.>
Nitrate and nitrite seemed fine, hardness high, about 300 ppm, and alkalinity
(KH) about 300 ppm as well.
<Quite high, on both.>
Now, here is my problem, if I not mistaken, it was after I added the pH buffer
that this white stuff is all over my tank now. It looks like if you had
sprinkled the entire tank with snow.
<And there we have it! This is seen in marine aquariums sometimes, when using
buffers - I very much think you have a calcium precipitation. Basically, the
water has become so saturated with calcium that it simply can't hold any more,
so any calcium in the buffer will precipitate out. Hence the snow.>
It is like dust, that will come off the artificial plants I have, an ornament,
the water heater, the filter pump, and the air tubing connected to 2 air stones
I have. If you shake the gravel with a brush, or the artificial plants, this
"white dust" will spread around all over the tank to the point where it may be
hard to see the plants, fish etc. Once you let it settle for a few hours, you
can see it back on the plants, etc, but water is clearer.
<When it settles, start siphoning it out with a gravel vacuum.>
I checked the filter for the first time today and this white stuff was all over
both the carbon filter and the bio fiber.
<Can just rinse these out in aquarium water, once some/most of the precipitant
has been removed.>
I looked at the water coming out of the filter and it is coming out with this
white stuff, so I do not know if it is just cycling around and only little of
this stuff if being trapped, or if it has anything to do with the bio fiber.
<Just passing through the filter(s).>
I took the bio fiber out and rinsed it a little with tap water (which I now read
should not have done, so please advice me how much this could affect my tank and
what to do). In any event, I went to PETCO yesterday and talk to an expert?
about my problem, didn't seem to know what to do, recommended to me to do water
change with RO water.
<Though I do agree, to an extent, that this will help, I do not believe it will
make the calcium go back into solution.... Gah, it's been a while since my last
chemistry class!>
She told me at Super Wal-Mart they had RO water, I went there, read their
brochure, and in fact is RO water. Got a few gallons. Tested the water, came out
with 0 nitrates and nitrite, total hardness GH of almost 0, so very soft water,
alkalinity of 0, and pH of about 6.2, so pretty acidic.
<This will help bring your pH, hardness down, as well.>
According to this lady at Petco, I did not have to treat this RO water, so I did
a 2-3 gallon change today, and added that much of RO water. I have been testing
for ammonia and it shows about 0.5-1 mg/L so I added today a Jungle Ammonia
chloramine eliminator to see if it works.
<It does "work" in a sense, but really the only way to remove ammonia while
you're establishing a cycle is to do water changes.>
In any event, the main problem is that white stuff which does not seem to be ich
<No.... ich does not manifest visibly in the water.>
because I cannot see any on the fish (so far) and it just doesn't look like it
to me. Like I said, it looks like if I had sprinkled the water with a white
powder in enormous quantities.
<An excellent description. First time I've heard of it in freshwater, but the
principle is still the same.... I am confidant (never positive!) that this is
just a calcium precipitant.>
Please let me know what to do about this, and about the bio fiber I rinsed with
tap water lightly.
<This will be okay. Just do water changes to try to pull the stuff out. You
may be in for a long haul (several days) of water changes before it's all gone.>
Thank you for your help, your web site is great.
<Thank you very much for the kind words!>
Where do I look for an answer, what section I mean and when?
<Where? Aside from your email inbox? On our Daily FAQs, either later today or
some time tomorrow.... Then after, perhaps the Freshwater FAQs, then on to its
final resting place, probably somewhere in our water chemistry section in the
Freshwater index.>
- Ezequiel -
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina
Calcium Snow in a Freshwater Aquarium? - II - 08/16/2005
Thank you for your quick reply. Now, one more question regarding my
calcium precipitation/saturation in my freshwater tank. How often should I do
these siphonings of the water? Because every time I siphon I have to do a water
change essentially, and there is only so much I can take out, because I do not
want to replace too much water at once, so I want to know how often I
should/could do these water changes while the calcium saturation problem lasts,
<I would do no more than a 50% water change at a time, daily if
necessary.>
and once it is controlled, how often should I do water changes for
regular maintenance?
<Just as normal.... Whatever you must do to maintain nitrate at below
20ppm.... Once the precipitant is removed, do not use buffers that contain
calcium.... To bring your pH down, I suggest using peat or driftwood - or
investing in a RO or RO/DI unit of your own for making up your aquarium
water. It's much easier to start with a blank slate and ADD "stuff" (buffers,
etc.) than to REMOVE stuff....>
Thank you once again, - Ezequiel -
<Always glad to be of service! Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
pH Shock
Hi. We have very hard water in our area and hence we use water softener
(that uses potassium pellets). Apparently, this increases the alkalinity of our
water. I just recently installed a 10 gallon freshwater aquarium in my home and
used this water. I bought some fish like platy and zebra. These fish died after
a few days and apparently none of them survived. I checked my water: Everything
looked fine except the alkalinity and the pH. The pH was high around 7.7. I
treated my water with PRIME which removes all the nitrites etc and I also have a
filter with carbon. I used a pH reducer also. It brought down the pH to around
6.8-7.0 but the very next day the pH again increased to its initial levels. I am
frustrated and don't know what to do. Can you give me some advice on how I can
use my home tap water (which goes thru the softener) in the aquarium. Any
advice/suggestions you can provide is appreciated. Thanks, Kumar
<Ok, I'm going to assume you are still fishless. Right now I would drain down 90
to 100% of the water and refill with water from the tap. Your pH of 7.7 is high,
but not killer high. It's a change in pH that kills. Not a steady but
"incorrect" pH. Then do a fishless cycle by adding in a raw shrimp. Test for
ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. When the first two have spike and crashed to zero
AND nitrate is on the rise, you are cycled and can stock the tank. Expect this
to take 4 to 6 weeks. Do not add anything except dechlorinator. One time when
refilling. When you add fish, check the pH of the bag water. If it's the same as
your tank float it for 20 minutes or so to match the temps and release them. If
they are not the same, add about 10% tank water to the bag about every 20
minutes or so. When they match, release them. The more the two pHs differ, the
slower you need to adapt them. If they are way off, more than a full point, you
may want to put them in a small bucket with their original water and set up a
drip system. Use regular airline tubing with a knot tied in it. Adjust the knot
so only a slow drip is siphoned from the main to the bucket. As you are seeing,
changing the pH of your water is a touchy subject. Hard to maintain and makes
water changes a hassle and a danger. Best to let the fish adapt, IMO. Don>
Losing Fish To Low pH 1/11/06
Hi All, My problem is the pH in my aquarium gets much too low. I've lost 3
fish with no visible cause, but the pH was lower than 6.2 when I tested. I've
had my tank for about 6 4 months, and the bio-wheel is nicely full of bacteria.
I have a 12-gal aquarium with what is still living - 1 female Betta, 2 Corys,
and an Oto cat. It's moderately planted, with plant substrate (I forget the
name but it's not supposed to effect pH.) I have fake driftwood.
I do 25% water changes weekly. I have well water. My out of the tap pH = 6.2,
GH 150, KH 40. I have added coral in a mesh bag - about 1/2 cup, and the coral
is the size of peas. Within a day after a water change, the water shows pH of
less than 6.2 and the KH is 0. I've tried adding baking soda to the water, and
I can keep the KH around 40, but I see the pH fluctuate between less that 6.2
and 7.2, and I have to keep adding the baking soda. I keep reading that
chemical buffers (those sold in pet stores) and pH chemicals and stabilizers
shouldn't be added. I had a local fish store tell me to change my water
source. That's not easy - I would have to drive 30 miles to get different
water. Oh, the nitrates are always less than 40, usually less than 20, and the
nitrates are 0.Do you have any other suggestions? I'm ready to give up on
fish-keeping. Thank you. Chris Cope
< Most fish can handle a pH of 6.2 with no problem. The exception would be rift
lake cichlids, brackish water fish and many livebearers. No fish like rapid
changes in pH.
< Get a 5 gallon bucket and check the water right out of the well. Check it
again in 24 hours. If the pH goes up then you had dissolved CO2 gas in the
water. In solution it makes carbonic acid. After 24 Hrs the gas is dissolved and
this is the true pH of your water. When you add this water to your aquarium the
plants are removing nitrates and minerals from the water and they absorb
minerals like calcium and magnesium. As the tannic acids leeches out from your
driftwood the H+ ions are free in solution and decrease the pH and make the tank
more acidic. Many aquarists would love to have your water because it is always
easier to add minerals then to take them out. In that same 5 gallon bucket you
can add a good quality buffer and bring the pH up to the desired level. Change
20% of the water each week with the buffered water from the bucket. In a couple
of weeks you should see a more consistent pH reading. Without any further
details it is difficult to determine if this is what really killed your
fish.-Chuck>
pH levels a rising!
Hi Bob,
I've just started my first freshwater aquarium.
<Welcome to our ever-fascinating hobby>
I bought a 55 gal used tank, it came with a Hot Magnum and I bought a Python
BioWheel setup, (I was advised by the man at the fish store to run the carbon
filter in the hot magnum, not the other filter is this correct??)
<Yes, this will do>
a friend who has had a freshwater tank for years gave me her bio-wheel to get
"things started."
<Good idea>
I first added 20 Neons, they did great so then a week or so later added a dozen
cardinals, the third week I added 3-4 types of various tetras (equaling another
dozen fish) and 2 clown fish and a couple of guppies. For about 10 days everyone
was happy--- then it happened--- the PH shot up to 9.0... it had been between
7.0 and 7.2 up until then, my ammonia and nitrates are still fine. I did a 1/2
water change and nothing changed over then next 2 days, then the Neons and
cardinal fish began dying!
<Yes... they don't "like" high pH nor sudden changes in same...>
I went to the fish store, took in a water sample and they concluded that my ph
was 9.0 and they told me I needed a tap water purifier... so I bought one and
did another water change to 1/2 the tank. This dropped the ph to 8.0. The fish
at this point were dying in front of my eyes--- long story short I've lost
almost all of the fish and know if I do another water change I'll shock the few
I have left to "death." I have a couple of guppies and 2-3 tetra's left and
that's it... What do I do... I added PH neutralizer yesterday and am now down at
about 7.4... another person has told me I should add tetracycline to the tank
"just incase"...?????
<I would leave off with antibiotics, any other "medicines" at this point... not
likely to do any good, maybe some bad... >
Thanks for your help, I read your articles several times a week and have learned
a ton from you. Keep up the good work. Us fish novices really appreciate you!
Deb
<You're certainly welcome, and will do... Am curious as to the "why" of your
sudden jump in pH... Do you have materials (rocks, gravel, decor...) in the
system that might have dissolved in the water and changed your water chemistry?
Did you initially add "something" to your water to drive, keep the pH lower?
What does the water "right out of your tap" (before doing anything, running it
through your purifier...) measure out as in terms of pH? Do you have an
alkalinity test kit or would your fish store be so kind as to test your source
water? We should investigate these matters and come to a "best approach" for you
to treat your water now and ongoing... In the meanwhile, please just keep the
few fishes you have going... and we'll chat as your system settles in. Bob
Fenner>
Re: PH levels a rising!
<You're certainly welcome, and will do... Am curious as to the "why" of your
sudden jump in pH... Me to... I have 6 plastic plants and 2 live plants, 4 of
the six plastic ones came with the tank when I bought it, I also have gravel,
that also came with he tank, we washed it really good before setting up my tank.
I added a fake rock to my tank
<This "fake rock" may be trouble... would pull it, put in into some pH
near-neutral water and let it soak for a few days, re-test the water it's in...>
and two additional plastic plants about a week before things went wrong.
Do you have materials (rocks, gravel, decor...) in the system that might have
dissolved in the water and changed your water chemistry? Did you initially add
"something" to your water to drive, keep the pH lower? No, other than
dechlorinator... What does the water "right out of your tap" (before doing
anything, running it through your purifier...) measure out as in terms of pH?
It's a perfect 7.0
Do you have an alkalinity test kit or would your fish store be so kind as to
test your source water? I have one and have been testing daily... that's how I
noticed the spike, it literally went from 7.0 to 9.0 is a day.
<Hmm, no... this is not pH but a measure of resistance from change in pH...
Please read over the section "Alkalinity, pH" and related water quality areas
and FAQs on our site here: www.WetWebMedia.com... something/s adding to the
alkaline reserve in your system... very readily... We need to find and remove
this nefarious influence ASAP>
When I added the rock and plants I just washed them off with warm water do you
think I should remove them and bleach them or something?
<Not the plants but the gravel perhaps... Do you know what type this is? Is it
"white" colored, chalky? Does it give off powdery dust when washed, moved? And
the fake rock... and any other questionable decor (like coral, shells... What is
in there? A simple "spot test" with a dilute, weak acid (like vinegar/acetic)
put on a dry (out of the tank of course) part of these materials will likely
reveal the culprit/s through foaming (an acid/base reaction). Bob Fenner>
pH/Ammonia Problems
I have a 20H freshwater aquarium with nine fish in it. I have had it set up
at least a month if not longer and still cannot keep the ammonia from going
through the roof. My fish are not overly big and I am careful about not over
feeding. Also, my ph has just dropped to 5. My nitrates are zero though. I also
make weekly 1/4 water changes. My fish are healthy and acting fine. We have a
green spotted puffer, two clown loaches, red tail shark, Gourami, spotted
catfish, Pleco, a cichlid and a blood parrot fish. The blood parrot fish is a
relatively new addition and has come down with black spot which is obviously
from my water. What can I do to correct these probs.
<you have two primary problems: 1)water quality and 2) horrible fish
incompatibility problems>
In case you were wondering, we have a penguin 125 w/bio filter, an underground
filter with a powerhead for a 30 gal tank. I change the filter at least 2 times
a month. Help. Thanks, Lori.
<if the gravel bed is less than 2 1/2 -3" (fine gravel) or 4" course gravel then
the Ammonia problem is because the substrate is too shallow for a biological
colony to establish. Large gravel pebbles are especially poor for UG filters.
You want fine media of a size closer to large grains of rice (2-3X) rather than
pea sized. Regarding your fish selection, however... you need to prepare for
serious problems with disease and aggression or separate these fishes properly:
The puffers need brackish alkaline water, the loaches need somewhat soft acidic
water, the sharks are near neutral to medium hard water. The gouramis and
cichlids vary by species. Some of these fishes are going to suffer because of
the homogenized mix. Furthermore, the puffers are severely aggressive in time
and will literally pick the eyes out of the other fishes. The spotted catfish
will swallow all smaller fishes whole in time (and die from eating the toxic
flesh of the puffers if so) and the clown loaches grow to over 12" long each and
may stunt and die if crowded. Sheesh, my friend. Someone has steered you
terribly wrong. Do take the time browsing this site (WetWebMedia) and beyond to
get a better knowledge of the fishes before you buy them. My advice would be to
keep the gouramis, shark, Pleco and possibly the cichlid (if a smaller or more
peaceful species) and have an active semi-aggressive community tank. Get rid of
all other inappropriate fishes or get more, bigger aquariums :) Best regards,
Anthony>
Re: pH/Ammonia Problems
<Steven Pro in this morning handling the follow up questions.>
This is very weird because I have had this exact community of fish (except the
puffer and blood parrot)
<The puffer was one of your biggest problems, along with the Clown Loaches.>
when I was a kid in a 50 gallon tank and our fish lived for years w/o any
problems.
<50 gallons is considerably larger than your current 20, but even then I am sure
the Clown Loaches never reached their full size, nor lived a full life.>
As far as growth stunting, I can see your point if you buy larger fish to start
off with but again we were always told that fish will only grow to the size of
their surroundings for the most part. Is this not true?
<It is somewhat true and it is called stunting. The fish do not reach full size,
do not develop healthily, and do not live for their expected life.>
As for the puffer, he is a green spotted puffer and so far is very peaceful. I
did do extensive research on puffers before we chose one. All info suggests that
they are freshwater totally (a little aquarium salt for gill function for all
fish) and not aggressive and he is the biggest fish in our tank (3") and does
not seem to notice any other fish.
<True on the salt, but way off on not being aggressive. Please see here
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/fwbracpuffers.htm and
the related FAQ files.>
<<GSPs are brackish water animals. RMF>>
In fact, our reason for having the tank in the first place revolves around our
puffer. Let me ask you this, is it not true that a ph of 7 will be acceptable
for all of our fish?
<Acceptable and optimal are two very different things. You could be kept alive
constricted to only your bedroom and fed a diet of Ho-Ho's, but you would fail
to thrive and live a full life.>
Also, won't grain size gravel clog up our UG filter?
<You want to big enough so that it does not go through/under the filter plate.>
Pea size gravel at 2" deep was what we were told to use.
<Two inches seems a bit shallow for a large size gravel.>
Don't get me wrong, I trust your advice far more than any pet store around our
area. They would sell you anything. We just don't have the room or the time for
another tank and would hate to give up our fish when they all seem to be doing
quite well despite my water dilemmas. Besides the UG filter, what chemicals to
you recommend to keep everything balanced etc?
<Nothing.>
Thanks, Lori.
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>
Re: pH/Ammonia Problems
Hello again. So do I can I keep the gravel I currently have but just add
enough to equal 4" high?
<Yes>
And please tell me again how more gravel will help make the UG filter work
better?
<The 4" should be fine.>
So are you saying that chemicals for pH are not necessary/recommended?
<No, there are some occasions when I would use buffers to raise pH, but if you
want to target a pH of 7.0, water changes alone should do it.>
Thanks.
<You are welcome. -Steven Pro>
pH shock-- curable?
I did something very stupid just over a week ago-- I introduced an old piece
of mahogany driftwood I had into my discus tank. I had used the driftwood years
ago in another discus tank, and it provided a good buffering pillow. I was about
to introduce two new discus and also thought they'd like the shelter it
provided, as the three discus already present had pretty much staked out their
favorite spots around their piece of driftwood.
Darned if the new/old driftwood didn't leach scarily-large amounts of nitrate
into the water (which I didn't even think to check because everything else--
ammonia, nitrite, PH all tested fine), and drive the carbonate hardness down to
near zero-- and, of course, cause an acid fall -- from 7.0 to 6.2 between Friday
afternoon and Sunday night. Well, I've pulled out that hunk of driftwood and
carefully and slowly corrected the water conditions (PH back to 7.0, carbonate
hardness 50 ppm, general hardness 80 ppm or 4.5 dh, no detectable nitrites or
ammonia, nitrates still high at 50 ppm but much better than the 110 they were!)
and the discus are now looking a lot less stressed, as long as I don't walk up
to the tank, since they now connect me with Big Scary water changes instead of
yummy food. Their fins are barely clamped and are spread full much of the time,
body colour a bit dull but not dark anymore, eyes better-- still a bit dull, but
the red colour's back But nobody's eaten a thing for six days. And they're still
not at all frisky. They mostly hang about their old pieces of driftwood
Obviously, they endured PH shock.
Can they recover? Can I help them recover?
<More than nitrate was released by the wood... I would make a large (25%) water
change (with pre-conditioned water) today, maybe another tomorrow... and place
some activated carbon (several ounces) in your filter flow path. Do your discus
have favorite food items? I would try these. Bob Fenner>
Judy Waytiuk
Mollies acting odd!
Hi, just got a 29 gal kit March 7th, and currently have 12 mollies (Gold
Dust and Marble), and 3 young Albino Corydoras. I'm having water quality
problems. I think my ammonia test isn't working (it's the water tube test, not
the strips) because when I use it, I show NO ammonia, but when I have my water
samples tested at Petco (they use the strips), then they show ammonia!
<Very possible, this happens once in a while. It sounds as if you may be
overfeeding the fish. After this amount of time your biological filter should be
established and the ammonia and nitrites should stay at 0. Cut back on the
amount and/or frequency of your feedings and it should help.>
I also was having a nitrite spike and had high pH, which Petco people told me to
bring down. So, I've been doing water changes over the last few days and have
finally brought my nitrites down to 1.0ppm (they were at 5.0ppm).
<Ouch! Even 1.0 is still quite high and it’s a wonder any of the fish are still
alive after 5.0!>
I also treated each bucket of new water with Stress Coat, Water Conditioner, and
pH balancer (my tap water was off the charts when I tested it...must be 8.0+).
<Just make sure that the water in the tank stays at the lowered pH, sometimes it
will spike back up.>
MY PROBLEM IS...my mollies are acting weird, MANY are hanging around the surface
moving their mouths a lot, they're not moving and swimming around like usual,
and some will swim in place, others will sit on the bottom and move only every
now and then.
<Sounds like they are uncomfortable with the ammonia and nitrites. These are
common symptoms of poor water.>
Some still swim around, but only a few. I noticed 1 molly jump around on a rock,
rubbing his body on it a few times.
<This could be the beginnings of ick or just a reaction to the ammonia and
nitrites.>
I found 1 molly dead this morning, checked his gills and they're nice and pink,
no parasites, or weird markings on him.
<Probably a reaction to the nitrites then.>
My Corys act fine. And there is about 3 tsp.s of aquarium salt in the tank. My
nitrites are at 1.0ppm, nitrates 0ppm, ammonia=??? (need a new test kit, I'm
still showing no amm.), but my pH is 6.8 which is a drop from 7.0 an hour
ago!!!! Is this the problem?
<pH will fluctuate a little throughout the day so I wouldn’t be concerned about
this.>
Have I over treated my water in trying to decrease the danger to my fish? I
don't know what to do, they are clearly stressed! They still eat, but I don't
know how to help them. I don't want to damage my biological filter by doing
ANOTHER water change, but should I?
<For now, just keep up with the water changes and bring the ammonia and nitrites
down to a consistent 0. I don’t think you over-treated the new water although
you could probably get by without adding the Stress Coat. Small water changes
aren’t going to damage your bio filter, they’re actually going to help it.>
And should I use something to INCREASE my pH now that it is falling?
<Nope, they are adapted to the lower pH now and raising it would cause more
problems.>
Aren't mollies supposed to be in water with a higher pH?
<Yes, a little higher than what yours is. They do best in a pH of 7.5 to 8.2.
You can bring this up by not treating your newly added water with as much of the
pH reducer but the pH level needs to be brought up slowly or it can cause even
more problems.>
What am I doing wrong?--fish_puppy
<Do some reading at
http://www.wetwebmedia.com
and at http://www.fishbase.org to find out
more about your fish but I really think the main problem is overfeeding. Ronni>
pH and Hardness
I have checked the FAQ and search but have not quite found an answer. Thanks
for trying to help me.
<Any time, Ron.>
I have kept saltwater for 25 years and recently switched a 45 gallon tank to be
a cardinal/neon tank. My question seems elementary...but I am stumped.
<I think that pH and hardness are the least understood subjects (by hobbyists)
in dealing with freshwater chemistry. Not an "elementary" question, at all!>
My cardinals keep dying after 4-5 days. My pH is 6.7 after I added a buffer to
lower it. My tap water is pH 7.9 with a hardness of 150. The hardness in my
cardinal tank is 250!
<Are we talking carbonate hardness or general hardness, here? I assume general
hardness (total dissolved solids)? And I assume you're measuring in ppm?>
I added "Amazon Rain " but it did not lower the hardness.
<Usually adding something will not remove something.... in this case, adding
the buffers, etc., won't remove the dissolved solids.... uh, did that make
sense?>
Do the softening "pillows" work?
<I'm afraid I have no experience with these.... You might try experimenting
with a few gallons of tapwater in a Rubbermaid container and see what results
you come out with.>
I do not like the look of peat colored water.
<You *have* been reading the FAQs! And you knew exactly what approach I
would've suggested. Well, let's explore other ideas, then.>
I have 2 suspicions: the tofu (lava) rock or the driftwood decor. Would these
cause the hardness to raise?
<The lava rock may very well be contributing to this issue. The driftwood, on
the other hand, is your friend in arms, and will help (perhaps only minutely,
but help just the same) in keeping your pH low.>
What are "safe" rocks that won't leech and raise hardness? Slate? Sandstone?
Quartz?
<Yes, yes, and yes, all safe>
White Tofu? Red/Brown Tofu?
<Nope and nope/nope, both are suspect in this>
Petrified wood?
<Perfectly safe>
Shale?
<Won't affect your pH, *but* - depending upon where you collect this, it can
leach other nasty stuff into the water. This is a very, very absorbent rock, I
would avoid it. Use similar caution with sandstone. I do use sandstone, but
only collected from very natural areas; none from rock yards where
who-knows-what has been spilled.>
Thanks for your help!
<Please read here:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/
there is *so* much information, in that page and in the links within it, that
you'll be reading for days. Also read:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwph,alk.htm
, there is a wealth of knowledge in there, as well; I hope these will clarify
your situation. Please let us know if you have further questions; this is a
confusing topic.>
Ron
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
Re: more questions about aquarium problems
I have some more questions. This time about ph and snails. I have had an
ongoing problem of low ph. I raise the ph with some buffer I purchased and then
I notice that the ph is down again the next few days or so.
<Better to keep the pH stable than let it swing back and forth...>
I also notice there was a significant relationship between the ich and "shimmy"
problem showing up on/in my mollies and the low ph because they prefer a more
alkaline ph.
<Yup, they do. I've seen the ich/shimmy correlation, too, though whether it's
coincidence I don't know.>
I also noticed that there was a shell in my aquarium that dissolved at a very
fast rate almost completely dissolving before I removed it!
<Good grief. You probably have *extremely* soft water for it to dissolve like
that.>
Could there be a relationship between the dissolving shell and the low ph and is
it possible that the over abundance of snails could be the cause of the lowered
ph?
<The dissolving shell will release calcium. Many people use crushed coral as a
substrate to raise the pH in their brackish or cichlid tanks, and the coral
skeletons and snail shells both have a fair bit of calcium.>
If not, what else could be causing the low ph, because the ph is usually high
due to tap water changes and the shells sloughing off their calcium.
<Some of the things that reduce pH include bogwood in the tank, decaying plant
matter, peat in a planted tank substrate... Sabrina says undergravel filters are
often a culprit in low pH cases, due to decaying organics accumulating under the
filter plate(s) where it's hard to clean. Have you checked your alkalinity? I
bet it's quite low.>
I now have no visible ich on my mollies and I did not have to use ich medication
(the bottle I purchased is AP PLUS+ CURE-ICK by AP Aquarium Products). Anyway, I
didn't have to use the medication because when I raised the ph the ich
disappeared!
<That may not be due to the pH change, but to the ich parasite's life cycle.
There is a stage when it drops off the fish. If that's the case, the ich may
reappear in a week or so.>
The ich problem was probably exacerbated by the detrimental condition of the
water (for mollies). The ph is at about 6.8 + or -. I'm trying to get it up to
7.0, but seem to be having problems maintaining that level.
<What's your substrate? You might consider switching to crushed coral.>
No rush, but please advise with you opinion and or experience. Thanks a lot!
Leslie
<To see how much crushed coral might help, you could put some in a filter bag
and into a power filter or canister filter. --Ananda, with help from Sabrina>
UGF and High pH? - 04/14/2004
Hi guys....
<Hello>
I have a 39G high tank that has been set up for 10+ years. All of a sudden my ph
is 7.6 , no ammonia, no nitrates, I do a 25% water change 1-2 x a month.
<"All of a sudden".... Have you added any new rock recently? New
substrate? Anything at all new in the system?>
I have a undergravel filter. LFS says that is the problem with the pH.
<If the UGF is properly maintained, I doubt that this is likely at all. Do you
regularly vacuum the substrate? Any large pieces of decor that would create a
"dead spot" under the UGF plate?>
PH used to be 6 and then it went up and won't go down. My live plants are not
enjoying it. Should I just remove UGF.... I know the plants would be happier?
<The plants would certainly do better without it, that's for sure. But I am not
convinced that the UGF is the cause of your problems.... Have you tested your
source water? Removed peat or driftwood from the system?
Changed the manner in how you go about regular maintenance? Added or removed
anything at all in the system that may have contributed?>
Please advise. Monica
<Hope to help you get to the bottom of this.... Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
UGF and High pH? - 04/18/2004
Nothing has been added; no rock, substrate, nothing. I'm doing everything
the same. Source water is 7.0 or greater, but has been that way, and ph has
always stayed down, 6.4-6.8 or so.
<Accumulated organic debris under the filter plate will tend to drop pH. Ah, is
it at all possible that you were more thorough than usual on your most recent
gravel vacuuming before the jump in pH? And again, any large decor items that
might create a "dead spot" under the filter plate, where you don't/can't vac
under, and where there is no suction through due to the footprint of the item?>
I tried SeaChem buffer to get ph down a little but it did not budge...
<What product did you use, specifically?>
That is when LFS said it was UGF set up for 10 yrs + , don't know what to do....
oh, and yes, I regularly vacuum
<It is not my experience that an aged system using UGF will go *up* in pH, but
the exact opposite - pH should drop due to decaying organics trapped beneath the
filter plates. Another thought, perhaps your test kit reagents are old/expired;
try testing with another kit (new, a friend's, even the LFS, if necessary) to
verify your readings - and keep in mind the dipstick-type tests can be grossly
inaccurate. I do hope we can help you figure this out.>
Monica
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
UGF and High pH II (03/01/04)
<Hi! Ananda here with some ideas...>
No....nothing new....yes I vacuum, nothing has changed, it was 6 for so long and
now 7.4-7.6 ....tried SeaChem acid buffer/alkaline buffer.....for a few days and
ph did not budge....I am clueless
<Do you, by chance, have kids? Is there a possibility that the kids sent
something into the tank that you haven't seen? Or perhaps your municipality has
changed the way it treats its water supply? Or have you recently started to use
a different household cleaner? Are you using the same brand/type of pH test kit?
Is it possible the test kit chemicals have expired, giving you an inaccurate
result? Or did you recently get a new test kit, and your old test results may
have been inaccurate? Also, if you've had the windows and such closed all
winter, perhaps you've had a high level of ambient CO2 in the house, which would
depress the pH. If you've recently had a bout of spring weather and opened up
the house, the pH could go up as the CO2 levels in the house drop. Hope this
helps.... --Ananda>
UGF and high pH III (03/12/04)
no kids, ? municipality changing the treatment, no new cleaner, same
brand/type kit, bought new a few months ago....but old one was showing the same
results. just have recently opened windows, but ph was up before that.
Hope this does not mean that ph will go up more. I have also lost a lot of fish
just recently. I added some Otocinclus (spelling?) algae eaters on a Sat. lost
one oto the next day, another one the day after, then in one day (Thursday) I
lost 2 dwarf cichlids, and a turquoise rainbow....all were behaving normally
that morning....and were dead by the afternoon. 2 days later I lost my Siamese
algae eater. I have left 1 clown loach, 2 boesemanni rainbows, 2 red tetras , 2
Otocinclus....they all act fine..., I have never (in 10+ years) lost that many
fish in that short of time frame. I am beside myself trying to figure out what
is going on, the tank at LFS that the Otocinclus came out of is fine....they
were with some discus that have been there awhile. LFS tested my
water....everything within normal...but they came up with ph of 8.....but said
that would not of killed fish since they have been living like that for a few
months. I am clueless....any more ideas? thanks, Monica
<<Hello. From what I've read so far, it sounds possible that your municipality
has changed the water. Even where I live, which is a major city, the pH in our
tap water can fluctuate from 6.8 to 8 within weeks. This would wreak havoc in
your fish tank, and even result in fish deaths from pH shock if you were unaware
of the problem. The pH from your TAP needs to be tested, and compared
immediately to your tank pH. I recommend buying a new pH test kit, and make sure
the new test kit is Wide Range, and that it will register pH from 4 or 5 right
up to 10. Perhaps your old test kit was simply giving you a false reading. Also,
you must realize that, for example, if a pH test kit is rated from 6.0 to 7.6,
and you test your water and the test reads 7.6, it means the test kit is not
capable of showing you a higher reading, so it will show the highest one
possible, even if your pH is 8. Same with low range test kits, if your pH is 6.5
and your test kit is rated from 7.0 to 9.0, then your reading will show the
lowest on the test kit, which would be 7.0, even though your pH is lower. Also,
I recommend you stop adding anything to "adjust" your pH until you figure out
what's going on. So far, you have added products to change the pH to no avail,
this is probably because your water lacks sufficient buffering capacity, in
other words, your carbonate hardness (KH) is probably quite low, even though
your pH is high. They are not the same thing. If you could find out your KH, it
would help. One last thing that I highly recommend is that you get your water
tested for ammonia, nitrite, AND nitrates, as pH will fluctuate when cycling a
tank...in other words, have you cleaned your filter lately? Changed the filter
media? Added medications? Added salt? (salt in high enough concentrations, e.g.
brackish, can affect bacteria) Anything that interferes with your biological
filtration can result in ammonia/nitrite spikes, and hence, pH imbalances.
Hope this helps. -Gwen>>
- The pH is Falling! -
Help! I am desperate to solve my dropping ph problem that has killed all my
fish save one. I am totally at a loss as to what to do and I don't want to give
up.
I first set up my 25-gallon Eclipse tank about 3 1/2 months ago. I ran it for
about a week with nothing but water, a couple of lava rocks, a presoaked piece
of driftwood (it had been in the tanks at our fish store for a couple of weeks),
live plants and gravel (natural looking regular gravel) and then added a modest
number of really hardy fish (there were 2 striped Danios, 2 Bloodfins, 2
Callistus tetras and 2 cherry barbs). I fed the fish very a very small amount
of flakes every other day and added 10 ml of Kent Pro-Plant and Kent Plant Food
on alternate days through the first cycle. Everything was fine. I regularly did
25% water changes once a week, added bi-aquaculture every 2 weeks and changed
the carbon filter every 3-4 weeks. <Well... before we get much farther, I can
pretty much guess that your problem is being caused by either that driftwood,
the lava rock, or both. Even wood that's been soaking for years has the ability
to release tannic and other acids which will drop your pH slowly to the floor.
Lava rock is as well suspect - I'd remove both to a bucket or two of clean water
and run two tests - one to see if the pH in your main tank returns to normal and
the other test on the bucket of water to see if it is becoming acidic.>
After the tank cycled, I added 4 Clown Loaches and 2 German Rams and some more
plants. I continued to feed lightly but increased it to every day and added
frozen blood-worms to the diet about 2-3 times a week. Everything was going
great for about 3 weeks. Then all of a sudden, the water clouded over white and
some of the fish developed ick and fin/tail rot. I had the water tested and the
PH was as low as could be measured. The fish store recommended a buffer. I added
that and did an additional small water change. Also, I got medicine for the ick
and fin/tail rot, removed the carbon from my filter and on the first day, it
seemed to help. They started to look better and the water cleared. Then the
second day, I tested the water and the buffer had done nothing to effect the ph.
<Well... again, the presence of something in the tank producing more acid than
the buffer can remedy, and the acid will slowly deplete the buffers.> The fish
started to look worse, the water clouded over again and that night, all the fish
(except one of the German Rams) died.
I took the surviving fish and some water to the store. They tested the water and
the only problem was that the PH was off the charts low. They suggested that I
do a complete water change and clean out the tank. I did that and changed the
substrate to FloraBase to help my live plants. I tested the ph of the tap water
and it was at 7.6. Within 24 hours of putting the water into the cleaned tank,
the ph in the tank was under 6. I tried the buffer again with no rise in PH. I
did a 50% water change and added some baking soda. The ph then tested at 7.2 but
within 4 hours has sunk to 6. Then I tried removing all the lava rocks and
driftwood and doing another complete water change. The ph was 7.6 when the water
went in and within 24 hours had sunk again to 6.
I then tested the tap water but setting it out in a glass overnight. The ph in
the tap did not change after as much as 36 hours. Luckily, my one surviving fish
has been living at the fish store until I can correct this problem.
We are at a loss of what to do now other than change the BioWheel, which I am
loath to do because then I have to cycle the tank all over again (and change all
the water and substrate again).
Do you have any thoughts or ideas? I really don't want to give up but I am
getting close to doing just that! <Yes, please take out the driftwood and the
lava rock... try running without them for a while. I'll bet at least a dollar
that this will solve your problems.>
Thanks in advance for any help,
Lynn Bartsch
<Cheers, J -- >
- The pH is Falling! II -
Thanks for your response. I have had the driftwood and lava removed for over
three weeks and the problem persists. Even after a total water change to get
higher PH water back in there. The Ph dropped again after 24 hours. Any other
ideas?
<<Dear Lynn; Hello. Do not change your BioWheel! Since you have tried everything
J recommended and nothing has worked, I think you would be wise to buy a small
bag of crushed coral. You can experiment by either mixed it into your substrate,
or putting it into a bag and running it (kinda like carbon) inside your filter,
and then test the pH to see which method raises the pH to a decent level and
keeps it there. Add a small amount at a time, until you can get your pH to
measure, say, 7.0. You can do this over a period of a couple of weeks, keep
testing the pH and see what happens. Normally I would recommend crushed coral as
the sole substrate, but that may cause some problems with your plants. At any
rate, I DO believe you need some coral in that tank to raise the pH and keep it
there, and crushed coral is the most stable method, and cheapest long-term. Good
luck. PS make sure you keep doing weekly water changes and vacuuming the
gravel.. -Gwen>>
Re: Dropping pH syndrome II
Thanks for your response. I have had the driftwood and lava removed for
over three weeks and the problem persists. Even after a total water change to
get higher PH water back in there. The Ph dropped again after 24 hours. Any
other ideas?
<<Dear Lynn; Hello. Do not change your BioWheel! Since you have tried
everything J recommended and nothing has worked, I think you would be wise to
buy a small bag of crushed coral. You can experiment by either mixed it into
your substrate, or putting it into a bag and running it (kinda like carbon)
inside your filter, and then test the pH to see which method raises the pH
to a decent level and keeps it there. Add a small amount at a time, until you
can get your pH to measure, say, 7.0. You can do this over a period of a couple
of weeks, keep testing the pH and see what happens. Normally I would recommend
crushed coral as the sole substrate, but that may cause some problems with your
plants. At any rate, I DO believe you need some coral in that tank to raise the
pH and keep it there, and crushed coral is the most stable method, and cheapest
long term. Good luck. PS make sure you keep doing weekly water changes and
vacuuming the gravel.. -Gwen>
I'll try it. Thanks.
>Please let us know how it goes :) -Gwen>
High pH, Fighting Danios
Hi guys. You have the greatest website! I got my first tank two weeks ago.
It is a ten gallon freshwater community tank, several plastic plants, 50 watts
heater, two thermometers one internal and one external, one fake rock with 3
holes on it, one undergravel filter, two inch deep gravel strata (rounded and
more or less pea sized), one aqua-tech outside power filter, one small sponge
filter. The pH of our tap water is about 7.4 to 7.6. I added water conditioner
(Tetra Aqua Safe), Stress Zyme, five teaspoons of salt for freshwater aquarium.
At the beginning the water got a little cloudy. I waited one week and added 3
Zebra Danios Next day I added one ounce of Bio-Spira freshwater bacteria from
Marineland. The water became clear again within 24 hours. The Danios (one small
male, one small female and a larger older individual whose gender is a mystery
to me) were fine. They were exploring and racing around. Then the two smaller
Danios began to dance in circles at the bottom of the aquarium. The older
individual took possession of the upper and middle part of the aquarium and
began to chase and bump-fight the small male while the small female was hidden
in the plants. Within 48 hours the small male stopped racing and eating and
died. I examined the body. There were no signs of disease or injury. The older
individual still chases the small female every time they meet. The small female
is fine but she is confined to a corner of the aquarium that is covered in
plants most of the time. She ventures out often, but she goes back when the
larger Danio chases her. When I feed the fish, I feed them very little food,
twice or once a day. I try to feed them the minimum amount of food possible. I
underfeed them because they are too busy fighting each other to eat all of it.
Although the Danios come immediately to the food, they promptly begging to fight
and some flakes end up sinking and the fish remain hungry. I worry about the
food sinking. My last pH reading is in the range of 7.6 to 8. My ammonia reading
is 0. My nitrite reading is 0.2. I have several questions:
What could have happened to the small male Zebra Danio?
<<Aggression, high ammonia, nitrites. What did your ammonia test at last week?
Must have been some, there has to be ammonia for it to be converted into
nitrite. Do you have nitrates yet? You should be testing this tank everyday.>>
What is it with the large Zebra Danio (I was told they are peaceful fish)?
<<They are not. And a toxic tank will not make them any nicer, either...>>
Could the small female Zebra Danio be hurt by constant harassment?
<<Certainly>>
Is it a good idea to add other fish to the tank?
<<No.>>
If so is this list a good list: one male Beta, two more Zebra Danios, two female
Guppies and two small Cory Cats? Are this fish too many (taking into account all
my filters and that I am willing to do a 25% water change weekly and a mayor
water change monthly)? Would they take my pH as it is? How can I modify this
list to avoid disaster?
<<Do NOT add any fish now. Your tank is still cycling. Hence the high pH, etc.
And certainly don't add all of these at one time! And definitely avoid putting
guppies and a Betta into a tank with Danios. Disaster awaits if you do.>>
Until now I have resisted the impulse of applying pH-lowering product to my tank
but What can I do with my pH (7.6 to 8.0)? Should I make a 25% water change now
(taking into account that the food keeps sinking because of the fighting of my
Danios)?
<<As I said, your pH is high because the tank is CYCLING. It will stabilize in a
month or so. Have PATIENCE, please. Do not mess with your pH, you will not be
helping your fish if you do. The pH will end up all over the place, and your
fish will end up dead from a combination of pH shock, nitrite poisoning, and
stress..>>
Finally, If Bio-Spira is so amazing, why are some dealers against it? Thank you
for your help.
<<I personally like Bio-Spira, it's an excellent product when it's being used
properly. However, results will differ from tank to tank. Dealers simply don't
like it when people with no experience try to cycle with it and end up with dead
fish, as in your case. Please do some reading, buy yourself some ammonia,
nitrite, and nitrate test kits, and be PATIENT. Test your water regularly, do
water changes when readings become high, and do NOT add fish until the tank has
NO ammonia and NO nitrites left. Keep two small fish in the tank during cycling.
TWO! not more! Keeping a written record of your test results will help. :)
-Gwen>>
pH Climbing
Hi,
I hope you can shed some light on this for me. I am new to all of this but am
trying to learn. I got my aquarium up and running on June 3rd of this
year. This is what I currently have :
Freshwater tank
Aquarium -- 75 gallon (48L x18W x21H)
Filter -- Rena Filstar 3 canister filter (suitable for up to 120 gallon) with
spray bar
About 60 lbs of gravel from LFS
2 live plants and the rest are plastic
A Large sunken ship decoration from the LFS
2 clay pots
one glass rock
10" bubble wand
6 zebra Danios
5 hatchet fish
3 Corridors
6 Pristellas
2 Chinese algae eaters
About a month ago I had to treat my tank for ick (used RidIch+) and so far so
good. My question is my PH. It stays pretty high but I don't know why.
I use well water - out of the tap my water has no ammonia or nitrites, has a GH
of 4 and a PH of 6.5. After I set up my aquarium it took no time at all and the
GH went up to 6 degrees and the PH was at 7.5 and has stayed around 7.5 the
entire time.
As of last night my readings are :
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 10 ppm
GH = 4
KH = 6
PH = 8.0
I am baffled as to what is causing the PH to rise. I thought about adding some
peat moss or getting some of the Blackwater extract for the tank but I think
that also softens the water and I don't know if I should soften it any more than
what it already is. Could it just be that it still hasn't completely finished
cycling and it will eventually even out??? Any suggestions are greatly
appreciated.
< Your well water has CO2 in it. When you pump it out of the ground it leaves
the water and goes into a gas. The same thing happens when you open a bottle of
soda pop. The Co2 makes a carbonic acid in the water. After the CO2 vaporizes
after a couple of days the water returns to its stable natural state. The
nitrates come from agricultural runoff into the shallowest aquifer from which I
suspect you well is pumping its water from.-Chuck>
Frances
Re: pH Climbing
Me again,
If CO2 is what is causing the PH to rise - what do I do to control it????
< CO2 causes the pH to drop lower. 7 is neutral. Above seven is alkaline or
basic. Below 7 and the water is considered acidic. You are losing the CO2 from
the water and the pH is rising. I recommend that you go to the Marineland.com
website and check in on Dr. Tim's library and it will give you a very detailed
explanation on pH and how you can safely change it and keep it stable.-Chuck>
Frances
Freshwater pH blues...
Hi Crew,
First let me add my thank-you to the hundreds of others -- you guys do a great
job keeping us informed. <Thanks>
This question is about my freshwater tanks, one 46 gallon, 1 29g, 1 20g, 1 5g
and 2 2.5 gal. They all share one problem -- my tapwater, which I'm convinced is
among the worst in the civilized world. Suffice it to say that WE don't drink
it, and are the ideal demographic for Deer Park bottled water! :>
I don't know what the actual pH is, since my tests show a maxed-out result on my
high-range tests with a maximum 8.8 result, but it's HIGH. <Far too high! even
high for salt water> All of my equipment and fish are from PetSmart (I know, my
bad!) I'm doing different things in the different tanks -- goldfish, Bettas,
schooling fish, angels, gouramis, etc. None of them are overstocked by even the
most conservative standards I've seen. In all of them, the pH is off the charts,
as I've mentioned. The KH ranges from 12-14 degrees (# of drops before the
solution turns from blue to yellow), or 215-260 ppm . All of the tanks have
cycled, so the Ammonia and Nitrites are zero or virtually zero. Nitrates are at
negligible levels <Great, how are you keeping the nitrates from rising?> and
phosphates are testing around 2 (perhaps slightly higher- the color shade is
hard to read) on my Doc Wellfish liquid-tester scale of 0-10. (No copper at all,
for what it's worth.) I've been surprisingly successful with the tanks -- most
of the fish have survived -- but only because I've chosen hardy captive-bred
fish. The goldfish in typical fashion have adapted, as have most of the
schooling fish (mostly barbs, platies and mollies). The angels died quickly of
course, but my daughter wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so at least it was a
good lesson learned! :>
I have been experimenting with the 46 gallon tank, which holds 4 Rosy Barbs, 3
black mollies, 8 mixed Danios, and 7 platies. Filtration centers around a
Penguin 330 with the standard activated-carbon-filled filters and BioWheels. To
reduce the pH, I first tried a half-cup of peat granules (Fluval) in the filter
for a week, then added another 1/2 cup -- the pH did not drop below 8.8 after
three weeks of this treatment, although my water looked like a nice cup of Earl
Grey tea. As a next step, I started doing water changes every 2 week with
bottled water. In the past six weeks, I've done two 10-gal changes and 1
5-gallon change. The pH is still off the scale. As a test to uncover alkaline
elements in the system, I filled my 5 gallon quarantine tank (aerated tank,
activated carbon filtration but empty except for gravel) with bottled water
(Deer Park Drinking Water) with a pH of about 6.8-7.0. After four days, the pH
moved up to 7.3-7.4. My conclusion is that my pretty blue PetSmart gravel is
leeching alkaline elements into the water. I've bought replacement gravel from a
more reputable (I hope) LFS. I'm soaking the PetSmart gravel in the same bottled
water in a separate container to confirm the result from my QT, and the pH IS
rising after 3 days. <Wow!>
Wow! This message is getting long. Short ending is this: I'm putting in a
central DI filtration system primarily for my new 220 gal reef system, and plan
to use the DI water with a Kent Marine buffer additive for all future water
changes in my freshwater tanks. In addition, I plan to replace the gravel in all
tanks with gravel that has tested in a small container as NOT raising pH. My
questions are these:
1.) when I change the gravel, can I do this 'around' the fish, or should I
remove them all into my 5 gal QT while I remove the gravel and replace it?
<Stress either way, but I think I'd remove them to a tank that was filled with
their original tank water.>
2.) should I worry about a 're-cycle' of the tank when I remove the gravel that
presumably has established bacterial colonies (considering that I also have a
bio-wheel, etc.), and then re-introduce the fish listed above a few minutes
later? <The bio wheel should have enough bacteria to keep your cycle going. Of
course watch for ammonia or nitrite spikes and be ready to do water changes. I'd
wait an hour or more to re-introduce to allow any dust to settle.>
3.) am I missing some obvious, other solution here? <Just make sure that any
change in pH is done slowly, days better than hours>
Any and all comments welcome! Thanks for your time.
Kind regards,
Hal <Don>
pH question for neon tetra
Hi Crew,
You have a really great site: I have been finding answers for most of my
questions since I started my aquarium. But this one is still bugging me.
What would be better for my tank to keep pH stable but fairly high or try to
reduce in with chemicals risking its stability? It is 40Gals planted tank that
have been running for about two moths, while fish is living there for a month.
No detectable ammonia and nitrates. My tap water is about 7.0pH and very soft,
but as soon as it is in the tank the pH goes up to 7.4pH and the hardness sets
at 80 mg/l. I have been filtering water through peat from the beginning and
doing weekly 20% water changes. I keep 8 neon tetra for now and plan to add a
small shoal of Corys, gouramis and, possible, a couple of small loaches (if
snails got out of control). Now I understand that pH 7.4 is too high for Neons,
yet from what I learned the playing with pH is least desirable thing. Please,
give me some advice on how to deal with this dilemma. It will be very much
appreciated.
<Something in the tank is buffering the water to the higher pH. Calcium in the
water may be one source or even the sand/gravel may be reacting to the water. If
you get your water from a well then check the water from the tap and then let it
sit overnight and then check it again. If the pH rises then the real pH of your
water is the 24 hour reading. Well water sometimes contains co2 and this
temporarily lowers the pH until the co2 is off gassed. Assuming the true pH of
your water is 7.4 I would recommend the following. Start getting some
RO/distilled water and do a 5 gallon per week water change with it. Treat the 5
gallons of water with a buffer that will bring the water down to where you want
it. After a few water changes your water will gradually be lowered to where you
want it to be. Be careful . New fish from the store need to acclimated to the
lower pH over time. If the local stores have water that is hard and alkaline
then they may not appreciate the abrupt change.-Chuck>
Thank you,
Konstantin.
Re: pH question for neon tetra
Thank you Chuck. From your reply I got that I do need to reduce the pH and the
question is just how to do it properly. Following your advice I did left my tap
water standing for a day, but pH and KH have not changed. After some head
scratching, I began to do some tests. First I soaked stones there - no change,
then put some gravels - no change. The next thing to test was a large piece of
driftwood that is quite hard to get out without wrecking the whole set up.
Fortunately, before doing that I decided to check water conditioner, and here it
comes - the treated water immediately changed its pH from 7.0 to 7.4 and KH from
10mg/l to 50mg/l. A bit surprised I rushed for water conditioner from another
brand and, no, this one has not changed water properties. As it might be of
interest for some other beginner aquarists the "bad" brand is "TetraAqua" and
the "good" one is "Hagen". I suspect it has something to do with my tap water
being very soft, but, anyway, they might have put sort of a warning or something
on the package.
Konstantin.
< Thanks for the feedback. I am sure others reading this on the website will
appreciate your experiment.-Chuck.>
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