Issues with low Ph

Hi
i just joined so i hope im in the right section!

I cleaned my tank last week and when i tested the water (before the change) the Ph was very low, after the change it was still low..
a couple days ago i took the advise of someone from the fish store i go to
and added crushed coral to the tank. (i never knew this helped)

she said it would take about 24 hrs to bring the Ph up, but its been a few days and it still hasnt gone up at all.

now aside from low Ph, i have a cloudy tank :mad2:. and yes i rinsed the coral first

Today i did a small water change (about 10 gallons)
and still.. no change. not sure what i can do now,
maybe a bigger water change?

any help would be great

tank is 55 gal, fake plants, 12 small fish.
filter is a fluval 305 and its been set up for a few years.
nitrite and nitrate is 0
The filtered tap water i use has a Ph of about 7.3
and the Ph in the tank now isnt even matching 6.2

i have Mardel live meters. and the water was tested at the store.

i dont know what the hardiness level was.

Im still messing with this low ph level, i tried everything, so this weekend i went back to the LFS to see what they say.. the woman there thinks its gotta be my drift wood since ive had it many years.. she says when it starts to break down it gives off an acid.

she said 1- get new drift wood
or 2 - scrub it off good and see if that changes anything.

i would like to keep this one since it is pretty large, so i would rather try option 2
my question is, before i move 30 something plants out of the way and make a watery mess.. has anyone had any luck with just cleaning it?


thanks.

i dont know the hardness levels exactly but i do have hard water, i can tell that just by looking at the deposits on my shower head that i have to soak off once in a while.
thats typical here on city water.

the test kit is top on my shopping list though so i can get a more exact number.

I did do another water change with jugs of spring water and left it to cycle over night.. i'll see what happens in the morning.

the only other things i can do now is change out all the filter media and/or scrub the drift wood... if that doesnt work, i just might give in and sell my tank lol


do the mineral deposits in hard water make a low ph?
if so, do i add a water softner to the tank??

is that a heavy type of rock? i dont want to overload the stand lol