Angels

DavidZ

DavidZ

AC Members
Sep 20, 2007
1,426
3
38
NY
When I buy angels from the store, they are used to about PH of 7. My tank at home is about PH6 if for some reason not lower. The tap PH is 7, I am in NY.
When I put the new angels in the tank they do not do well.
What should I do.
50Gl tank:
nitrate (NO3) 20
nitarte (NO2) .5
Hardness 25
Chlorine 0
Alhalinity 0
PH 6 or lower

What should I do, add baking soda?
I also wanted to mix other fish in this tank.
 
Your Nitrites need to be 0 and what is your Ammonia levels? Do you have anything in the tank currently? Is it cycled? I've read angels prefer lower PH's, but mine has been doing very well in ph 8 water, but that is also what the pet stores around here keep their tanks at.
 
Buy a small bag of crushed coral and a mesh filter media bag. Put a handful or two in the mesh bag and then set it in your tank or in a hang on back filter. This will buffer the pH up. Add or remove crushed coral to the bag until the pH stabilizes at 6.8-7.2.

Have you been able to keep any other fish successfully in your current water parameters?

How long has the tank been setup.

Do not using baking soda, pH up or anything like that. It's way too difficult to balance the pH that way as it will keep bouncing up and down.

Once you stabilize the pH with crushed coral, only do 5-10% water changes at a time. Do them several times a week though to be the equivalent of one larger once a week water change. This will limit the amount of fluctuation in the pH.
 
your tap is 7 and the tank is 6?
find out what is causing the drop in pH..I would suspect low kh/gh but you need to find out.
if the ph is stable I would not recommend doing anything to the water..too much of a PIA.

if there is a difference in ph use drip acclimation to get new fish time to adapt to the new water.. if you find low kh/gh then consider crushed coral.. as you will need to bump the kh/gh to help keep the water ph stable.
 
Thanks, can't keep anything else in the tank.
Did not use anything to lower PH.
Some sugested baking soda.
Tank is over a year old, had no problems untill meds to cure what I thought was fungus were used.
I do water changes 505 for the past 3 days no change.
KH is low 0
I vac 2 times a week.
do not see changes.
 
What kind of gravel do you have? Regular aquarium Quartz gravel can over time lower the ph, somtimes very suddenly causing "ph crash". If you tap water ph is at 7 its got to be something in the tank causing the problem. I've never had medications cause a change in ph, but I don't know if that could be a problem or not.
 
If the tank Ph is that much lower than the tap something is reducing it. That requires an acidic substance to reduce the Ph that far. See if you can determine what is causing the release of an acid - could be decaying life, urea from animal waste, or a release from an ornament. Try different items from the tank in new tap water. Let each soak for one day and see if the Ph changes. Also see if the Ph drops by itself with no additional substance. The scientific method is needed here. If the tank water drops by itself, use a calcium based sand or crushed coral to buffer. If an oblect from inside the tank is causing this, remove and discard it. I live in upstate NY and our water is hard and Ph is around 8. My angels are thriving in their tank with cories.

Charlie
 
I wouldn't do anything. What's more important over all is a stable pH. Using means to lower or raise it, IMO isn't a good solution. As others have said though, you need to find out why the tank pH is different than the tap. Something is causing it. What are the ammonia levels and is this a new tank? Is the tank cycled? If so, what is your water schedule like and what chemicals do you use to treat the water?

Just want to add that when there are different pH levels from your tank to the stores, a very slow acclimation process needs to be followed when bringing home fiah from the store. It should go from what would be minutes (30 or so) to what should be closer to hours depending on the hardiness of the fish.
 
I started using prine to treat the water.
I just picked up a used, but new looking 65GL tank, will do a move.
What do you think I should do, knowing what problems I am having with the old tank.
The new tank came with a penguin 330 filter hob, I think i need to add another filter. Any ideas? and what Media to keep?
Amonia is 0 in the old tank, the ph in the tap is 7.
I have some plastick plans and a sail boat in the tank now.
 
kH is 0???
kH acts as a stabilizing/buffer. with a 0 kH you won't have much buffer capability and the pH may fluctuate.

I would venture your gH is amiss too.
 
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