pH

[JP457]

My pH has dropped down to 6.0 in my 46 gal. I need to raise it. How much will the adition of some shells affect pH?

[NJ Devils Fan]

What fish do you have in there?

[125gJoe]

http://gordon.sourcecod.com/images/flagicons/american_flag.gif
I'd like to have a steady 6.0 pH.....

As NJ Devils Fan asked, ...what fish do you have? What is your normal tap water pH?

[wetmanNY]

The flexibility of your pH depends on your alkalinity, or "carbonate hardness" measured as KH. Probably your KH is low. Some crushed coral in your filtration will help buffer your pH.

[Faramir]

I'd be interested in knowing:

(a) tap water KH
(b) aquarium KH
(c) tapwater pH
(d) your water changing régime.

Because I think these may be linked.

[RTR]

I'll second Faramir's questions, but with the addition of "after aging exposed to the room air or strong aeration >30 -60 minutes" to the tap water pH question. Freshly drawn tap is commonly distorted by dissolved gases, so tests contribute little data of value.

[thalassic park]

Hi,
if your are a little inexperienced with aquaria, then I would suggest to obtain a pH > than 7.0 and < than 8.0. This is far easier pH to manage.
Constant changes in pH can lead to stress for your fish.
Add a teaspoon of Rock Salt & about the same of Sodium Bicarbonate about once every 3 months for the 1st year. Have your water tested for general and carbonate hardness at your lfs. 150 ppm could suit your requirements.
Keep water changes between 10% & 20%, and only once a week.
It takes about 1 year of consistant water quality before the tank becomes acclimated. i.e to get past 'new tank syndrome'.
The bio-filter will be far more efficient at the higher pH range suggested.
The tank will stablize and become easier to manage, when the pH is consistant. If the water your using is low then add a bit salt and bicarb'. If the pH of the water your using is above pH8 and below pH 9.0, continue with the regime, eventually the pH will slowly decrease with bio activity. i.e respiration. If it is above 9.0 then you could possibly add RO water to decrease the pH.
Some will say african rift lake fish are a harder spp. to look after because of a high pH. Untrue the Amazonian spp. seem to be harder to maintain simply because of dramatic changes in WQ when the pH is 6.0 - 7.1.
pH <7.0 NH4 is formed not good for your bio-filter
pH>7.0 NH3 is formed providing food for the chemotrophs in the bio-filter.
I can add more but you probably dislike me by now.
thankyou

[JP457]

I am not realy new to aquaria and understand about softwater fish but 6.0 is still too low for me. I have 8 neons 2 blue gouramis 4 corys and 3 rainbows (leftover from another tank that was taken down). I believe that my pH is low because I have a lot of snails and they are pulling calcium carbonate out of the water to make their shells. The tank has been up for around 6 months and I havent had any problems yet. I just wanted to raise the pH up to around 6.6 - 6.8. I know that prety much all my fish like a low pH but 6.0 is too low in my opinion.

[JP457]

tapwater pH ranges from 6.0 - 6.4 same water as yours NJDevil fan

[thalassic park]

believe that my pH is low because I have a lot of snails and they are pulling calcium carbonate out of the water to make their shells.

Yes but when they expire the shells can disintegrate back into dissolved minerals. The most likely reason for the pH fall is the constant respiration of the biota of the tank (CO2 + H2O --> H2CO3, carbonic acid). The low pH can affect the efficiency of your bio-filter.

I would consider pH 7.1 - 7.5 as being easier to manage.
your corys probably won't like any addition of salts. Although the rainbow fish will welcome the addition of salts.

[JP457]

dbl post

[JP457]

I'm not sure but I think that snails can live for several years and as far as I can tell, none of them have died yet so none of the calcium has returned to the water yet. I just wanted to know how much the addition of some shells would affect my pH. I added some shells and pieces of coral last night and this afternoon, the pH has already risen to 6.3. I just wasnt sure how much farther up that alone would get it to go.

[thalassic park]

sorry

it won't be dramatic.
better to add sodium bicarbonate.
Thats what will raise and buffer the pH.
use a measure i.e a ten litre bucket. measure the pH
measure out a bit of bicarb. stir it around check pH several times over several hours when its a stable reading. try some maths to

gain a ratio.

bucket V : tank V
50g : x
or similar, better check a maths book.

[carpguy]

The snails will recycle themselves but adding shells won't do the trick?

I use crushed coral in my filter to boost KH. 5 tblspns in a mesh bag raises my 30g about 3 deg (from just about 0 to just about 3 dKH). I think the coral has this advantage over baking soda: it dissolves slowly over time. Think of it as time release bicarb. The baking soda will raise the KH all at once, but new acids will start to erode the buffer again, requiring redosing after the next pH crisis -- it tends to be less stable and higher maintenance. The coral will take a week or two to move the KH up to a balance point that will then be steady and stable for a much longer period. Check out the Skeptical Aquarist (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com) for more details.

And I always thought that bioacidification came from the free H+ 's left lying around after NH3/4 >> NO2? (anyone… anyone…)

[JSchmidt]

Raising pH is easy enough, but I'm not really sure why you'd want to do so, at least not much higher than what you get from the tap. Your fish will do fine in your tap water and its pH in the low 6 range. Your fish will be just as comfortable in 6.4 water as 6.8, so why modify the water? The only thing I can think of would be to keep the pH and KH stable.

The greatest reason for keeping pH (and KH) from dropping too low is that you can experience a pH crash as all the buffer is used up. (I also think that bioacidification is a greater threat to KH depletion and pH crash than are the snails.) If you can keep just enough buffer to maintain your 6.4 pH, you wouldn't have to worry about stressing your fish every time you change the water. A tablespoon or two of crushed coral or some crushed shells, in a filter bag placed in your filter, should do the trick.


HTH,
Jim