Please help with Ph

tmtpowers

tmtpowers

AC Members
Jun 15, 2006
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Burlington, NC
www.ferretvillage.org
I just got my proper Ph today and put it in my tanks this morning. Around 8 hours later the Ph hadn't changed a bit! So I added a second dose as I was told sometimes it can take more than one dose. Well its been another 2-3 hours and no budge in the Ph! Why isn't my Ph going up? I am trying to get it to 7.5 for the benefit of my snails.

Here are my water parameters:
55G
Temp: 78F (working on trying to get that to come down a little more)
Last PWC was yesterday 25% was changed
Ph:7.0
Ammonia: less then .25 but not 0 possibly due to new snails and a few new fish.
Nitrates: <5.0 but not 0
Nitrites: 0
Gh: 71.6
Kh: 161.1

Before I added the proper ph my Kh was about 56 or so as well as my Gh but thats all that has changed! I've read a bit about the Ph but from what I'm reading, my Ph should be going up? What am I doing wrong?
 
Hello again!

I'm sorry, nobody's giving you the answer you want, are they? pH is bouncing back because the hardness (in particular, carbonate, I believe) is buffering it and forcing it back to where it is naturally. Therefore, trying to force a change with a chemical additive is probably not the best route. That's why most people on this forum are vehemently against using those commercial pH altering substances. First of all, they don't work. Second, the fluctuation in itself is doing more harm than getting the perfect pH reading.

the crushed coral didn't work for you?

I think that if your snails have enough calcium, then pH shouldn't bother them. At a neutral pH, they should be fine. It's if your water is extremely acidic, like 6.0 or less, that I think you might run into problems. Are their shells breaking apart, or anything?

Maybe I could ship you some of my water :D The water here is pretty hard (14 degrees, or 250 ppm, GH and 8 degrees, or 143 ppm KH) and pH is sometimes as much as 8.2. People here told me it's just fine, though, as far as my fish and plants are concerned. When I start to breed snails, they'll be in heaven.
 
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You're not using CO2 injection for your plants, are you? Because that will cause a shift toward lower pH. CO2 + H2O = H2CO3 which is carbonic acid, hence more acidic water.
 
Hey thanks for replying. No, I am not using a CO2 injection. LOL At this point, I am allowing my plants to become food to my canas snail LOL. My Gh before adding the proper ph was only 53.7 as well as my Kh. Also, I checked the ph right after adding the proper ph every very little bit and it hasn't budged at all! Not from the minute I put it in, 15 minutes later, 30 minutes later, ect. It just isn't changing at all! The coral actually was working and I may go back to that. I had gotten rid of the coral because we got it from a friend that had once used it and we felt that there could have been a chance that our flatworms came from that. I later realised that that was impossible after being dried for several years but I didn't want to take any chances.
The one other thing I worried about the coral was that 7.5 is pushing on the higher end for my neon tetras. My other fish would be ok with a little higher then 7.5 but I don't want to cause harm to my neons.
 
A steady ph is so much more important than a certain ph. Unless you have wild caught fish, your fish should do fine with proper acclimation. Even discus do well in a higher ph tank, but it may have to be lowered if you want babies.
 
well, I think that if you must raise it to 7.5, the crushed coral is the way to go. you don't have to dose the tank, so there would be little fluctuation. and your neons should be fine in 7.5, as long as it's stable (which coral will help with). before I started running CO2 in my tank, I had a scool of tetras in water that was 8.0 and they were fine, so I would be willing to bet your neons willbe ok as long as you can keep the ph stable.
 
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