I need help with my ph

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justin85

justin85

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Jun 30, 2012
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Just did a test of my water in my empty cycled tank and the ph has gone right down which is a bad thing for me as I am planning on keeping cichlids. All through my fishless cycle my ph was stable at 7.5, it has been cycled for over a week now and I have my fish coming next Tuesday so I have time to sort this issue out. Here's the results of my water tests:

Ph: 6
Ammonia: -
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: -
KH: 200
GH: 0

As you can see my ph has dropped also I didn't get a reading on my GH, I did 2 tests same results.

So the only thing I have added to the water in the last week (apart from ammonia) is Tropic Marin pro cichlid mineral which is ment to keep the PH high and I was guessing the GH.

Any help any advice would be much appreceated as I have 10 cichlids coming in 1 week.
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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by cichlids are you referring to African Cichlids?
 
justin85

justin85

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Mbuna - Pseudotropheus saulosi only.
 
Jag586

Jag586

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Whats your substrate? Crushed coral helps buffer, also I add baking soda, it bring my ph up to 7.6-7.8 np just add a teaspoon for every 5 gallons test and adjust, it works great for me good luck!

Sent from my LS670 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
RisiganL.

RisiganL.

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I would just throw in some pieces of coral or texas holey rock. That would bring the pH up fast.
 
Chrisinator

Chrisinator

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Some people mix crushed coral in their substrate (as suggested). In my tank, I added some crushed coral in a mesh bag and put it in a filter to prevent snail shell deterioration.
 
B

beepbeep

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Jul 5, 2012
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yeah experiment with crushed coral like the others said.
trial and error the optimum amount to put till the pH settles around the value you want.
 
justin85

justin85

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Thanks for your replys,

My substrate is fine Premium Silica Sand, I have a media bag of crushed coral in each filter already.

I did a large water change just now and when I was adding the water back in to the tank I was calculating the volume so it will be easier to add the bicarb/epson salt and TMC pro. So I left about 25L in the bottom of the tank and in the filters there is also 25L in total, so 50L left in the tank + filters, So I added 2 tsp of Bicarb and 2 tsp of Epson salt to start with. I have got 2x 25L water drums for my water changes so this makes it verry easy for me to add everything, so I then added 4x 25L drums and to each of them I added 1 tsp of each Bicarb and Epson salt. Does this sound about right ?

After the tank was full I added the TMC pro which following the instructions worked out as 7 1/2 spoons (it come with a spoon so im not 100% on the exact amount) And then topped up the ammonia to 4ppm.

I hope that i've done this right first time as it will save time and another water change!

I am going to do a test in a hour of all the paramiters and I will post the results
 
justin85

justin85

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PH: 8.4
Ammonia: 4
Nitrite: 0.8
Nitrate: 10
KH: 180
GH: 160

Nitrite reading ! yuck!
 
Last edited:
justin85

justin85

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Jun 30, 2012
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test results today look good to me:

[FONT=".Helvetica NeueUI"]PH: 8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
KH: 140
GH: 160
[/FONT]
 
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