Hi all,
I started a 37 gallon tank a few weeks ago. I used to have a tank years ago in NYC and really enjoyed it. I now live in Oakland, Ca and decided to try again. From the tap the kH is 1, my pH is really high. I remember my NYC days which had a nice kH and a pH close to neutral from the tap. Now my tank has cycled and I was using pH 7.0 (that seachem additive) because my lfs keeper suggested using it. Now forgive me but when I started this new tank I was very rusty and just followed my lfs advice. Well after cycling my pH plummeted to 6.0. My fish are ok but this is not acceptable. I decided to check my kH and sure enought it has no buffering capacity. So I got kH buffer. The next morning my pH was around 6.5 and kH was about a 7. This is a radical shift and hopefully my fish can handle the swing. I just wonder if anyone has advice on stabilizing my pH and kH. Is the buffer the way to go? My tap water seems to need some chemical love to be usable for a fish tank. Any ideas or advice is greatly appreciated.
-AD
I started a 37 gallon tank a few weeks ago. I used to have a tank years ago in NYC and really enjoyed it. I now live in Oakland, Ca and decided to try again. From the tap the kH is 1, my pH is really high. I remember my NYC days which had a nice kH and a pH close to neutral from the tap. Now my tank has cycled and I was using pH 7.0 (that seachem additive) because my lfs keeper suggested using it. Now forgive me but when I started this new tank I was very rusty and just followed my lfs advice. Well after cycling my pH plummeted to 6.0. My fish are ok but this is not acceptable. I decided to check my kH and sure enought it has no buffering capacity. So I got kH buffer. The next morning my pH was around 6.5 and kH was about a 7. This is a radical shift and hopefully my fish can handle the swing. I just wonder if anyone has advice on stabilizing my pH and kH. Is the buffer the way to go? My tap water seems to need some chemical love to be usable for a fish tank. Any ideas or advice is greatly appreciated.
-AD