Issues with low Ph

[Coler]

substrate is just white gravel i bought at a pet store a while back, and now the crushed coral is ontop and somewhat mixed in.

Ok so if the white gravel is losing its colour, and becoming transparent this is a problem. Who knows what toxins it is releasing into your tank, one thing you do know is that the paint/colour agent is dissolving. It sounds like it is not aquarium safe.

my tap water ph is high 7's, my filtered tap water is in the 7's but a little lower
is that what you mean?

Nope. I'm saying I don't trust your test kit. You need to get a good liquid drop test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and Ph. If you use this, I am predicting that it is likely that your Ph from tap and tank will read higher.

 

[Paperfish]

for the heck of it, here is my tank.

 

[Paperfish]

ok i get what your saying.

 

[Coler]

very nice

just noticing that no one asked how often you're changing water; Ph will also sink in a tank which is getting insufficient water changes.

edit : also, you can put some crushed coral in a baggie of some kind which allows water through but keeps the coral in into your filter, replacing some of whatever media you currently use and it will tend to have the effect of further increasing Ph.

 

[Paperfish]

i do have a few cups of coral in a stocking type bag in the canister... i never knew what it was i jsut always washed it along with everything else.. hubby must have had it in there from the start... b/c i never heard of such a thing.

recently b/c of travel and my crapped out back i havent been keeping up with good water changes since December, i mostly added 2inches of water a month that evaporated and kept up on the filter cleaning, and made small changes here and there.. everything was doing just "ok" since then.

but ive done a few water changes since this problem sprung up.
ive got a python siphon on order so i dont have to break my back with buckets anymore. ive had to carry a few gallons out at a time and make 100 trips
i cant wait for that sucker to get here :grinyes:

 

[Coler]

recently b/c of travel and my crapped out back i havent been keeping up with good water changes since December, i mostly added 2inches of water a month that evaporated and kept up on the filter cleaning, and made small changes here and there.. everything was doing just "ok" since then.

Sorry about your back. This lack of maintenance is most likely your biggest issue though; as Nitrates rise, Ph sinks and no matter what you add you will not get it up again. Basically your tank is beginning to suffer from 'old tank syndrome'.

Get the python, do 25% changes weekly or your fish are not long for this world.

When you get the test kits, measure nitrates; if over 80 ppm do 10% changes daily until they are at 40 ppm, then go to the 25% weekly minimum change. If you do one huge change, bringing nitrates right down in one go, you may shock your fish.

edit : if your LFS tested your nitrates recently, and said the levels were 'good', I would take all advice from that source with a grain of salt.

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

Agreed-sounds like old tank syndrome.
And welcome to AC . You didn't sound offensive to me.