Dangerously low Kh & pH

[450rGuy48]

I logged on to post my numbers and get some feedback on what to do about KH myself, and it seems some have already been started. The only difference, is my KH is low.....like 0 most of the time. So here are my numbers:

5 in 1 test strips used (jungle I think)

Nitrate 30 (Yeah I know I need a water change)
Nitrite 0
Hardness 75
Alkalinity 0
pH 6.4
Ammonia 0

My tap tested:

Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 75
Alkalinty 0 maybe a little more (Just a slight color variance from 0)
ph 6.8

My tank is 55g Cichlid with some plants that are less than a month old. Plants were merely hanging on until I made a diy canopy with 3 watts p/gallon. Since then they are starting to grow well. Water has tested this way since I set it up about 3 months ago. I know my cichlids need a higher pH than this, but what do I do? I hate putting chemicals in the water, but here in the last two weeks I've noticed a few cichlids laying around and breathing hard. When I notice this, the water usually has a ph of 6.2 or less. So I've added 3 tsp of pH up (Directions call for 1/2 tsp per 10 gal). Within 1 hour all cichlids are back out roaming and act fine. I hate doing this, but when the fish are obviously stressed, I feel I have to do something. I've seen special "cichlid substrate", Eco-Complete I think, that helps maintain a higher pH, but will it also help the buffering capacity? Do I need to drop the $70 for this stuff? I really want to add DIY Co2 to my tank to help the plants, but without the buffering capacity I'm afraid of a major pH crash. My tank usually runs in the 6.4 to 6.8 pH range other than the recent drops which are easily noticed by the fish. To make a long story short, how can raise the alkalinty of the water? What can I do about the pH without adding the chemicals? I really would like to have driftwood in the tank vs. the artificial junk I've got now, but if it lowers pH, then I would just make a bad situation worse right?

I posted this in the noob section, but I'm not totally new to fishkeeping....just got out of it for a few years until my bro in law donated this 55 setup with fish and all. I glad I've gotten back into it, and I enjoy a lot more than before, but I've never had this many problems with Kh and pH before. Though I was on a different water system then.

BTW: Should the Kh should be higher than mine straight from the tap?


:help:

Thanks

 

[Watcher74]

Kh, coming from the tap, should be whatever your location's local Kh is.

But, yes, that is bad. I recommend adding Arm&Hammer Baking soda to the water that is about to be used for a partial water change. Do it gradually over a few months, until you have a Kh of, at least, 5(maybe higher with driftwood and CO2 injection).

I have a local tap water Kh of 22 dKh, so I'm on the other end of the spectrum. But my "Hardness" IE General Hardness, is 1/2 dGh.

 

[ashdavid]

If you want to increase the kh you need to increase the amount of bicarbonates or carbonates, This can be done very easily by adding crushed coral or marble ect. Ph crashes will only occur when the buffers have been used up, so naturaly if you only have a small amount these will be used up quickly by the acids produced by the wastes being broken down by bacteria. Adding Co2 complicates things because if you have crushed coral and if you add Co2 the carbonic acid produced can raise the kh even further creating an endless cycle for raising kh.

 

[ashdavid]

Btw I forgot to say why the kh will rise from the carbonic acid. The acid produced allows the crushed coral to disolve into the water column at a much faster rate , and if that happens then the kh will naturaly go up.