flactuating pH

[elmj]

my tank is 45 litres plus. has 2 albino corys, 5 neons tetras, 4 lampeyes and one ram.

lately my ammonia readings have been 0.6 and my pH 5. i started to do 50% water change every 2 days. let say i change the water in the morning then test the water 3 hrs later, it would show close to 0 ammonia and pH of 6. and that very night, the ammonia would go back to 0.6 and the pH to 6. and the next day, the ammonia would be 1.2 and the pH would be 5 again. then i would change the water again and the whole process would repeat itself.

after a week of this, the ammonia is now 0 but the pH is still flactuating. could anyone help me stablize it? thanks!

 

[ChilDawg]

First, I'd get rid of the Ram. It is probably excreting the most ammonia and causing the pH to drift downward the most. In a tank that's ~12 gallons, the Ram might be a little much, and with all the other fish, I'd consider it to be too much.

There might be too much bioload with those killifish as well...if the Ram's dispatch doesn't work, the killies would be my next choice to go.

 

[wetmanNY]

A few tablespoons of crushed coral in the filter will raise your alkalinity ("KH" or carbonate hardness) enough to stabilize your pH.

You need to resolve some basic issues:

What is the source of the ammonia in your system? You don't have too many fish, though your 45 liter tank is fully stocked. You don't seem to have decaying plants. You must be overfeeding. Unless there is another source of protein breaking down, somewhere.

You aren't doing large enough water changes often enough. Water changes will ameliorate your problems, but they aren't the whole answer.

The filter media are another source of pollution. Flush out the filter more often.

At your low pH, nitrification is strongly suppressed. As the pH rises, ammonia will begin to be oxidized to nitrate once again.

 

[elmj]

erm my lampeye was lampeye TETRAS. the kind with blue eyes? the small ones?. is it even called lampeye tetras? i know its a type of tetra. but my lfs calls it lampeye tetra. that's why i said lampeye. sorry if i called it wrongly. and my ram is a bolivia ram. recommanded by the lfs for my community tank.

my tank is overcrowded? i was thinking more of undercrowded! 45 litres is about 15 gallon the last time i checked.

thanks for the help and fast replies

hope what i just said helps further!

 

[ChilDawg]

Sorry about the lampeye mess...I was thinking of the killies but there are lampeye tetras.

Regardless, 45L ~ 12 gallons...

So the stocking levels aren't as bad as I'd thought b/c the lampeyes are the tetras and not the killies.

Apologies,

Matthew

 

[elmj]

its okay. in fact i should be the one apologizing about the lampeye mass. forgot that there are such things as lampeye killies in fact! so sorry.

so am i still over stocked? could i still add fish later on when my tank stablizes? would really loved to add one or two more cory. and on 2nd check my tank is 54litres. close to 14 plus gallons?

anyway thats besides the point. really wonder what could be causing mh pH to flactuate like that. really hope you could shed some light on this problem. thanks!

p.s wetmanNY: the only source of ammonia in my tank could only be my fishes. nothing else. i take out all decaying plants. i doubt i overfeed. in fact i was thinking if i was underfeeding because i only feed once or twice a day very minute amounts that they gobble up in less then half a minute. how would you clasify large water changes? i thought doing too large a water change could affect the fishes too so i didn't dare to. how large a water change would you recommand? i wash my filter twice a month or whenever i see that it has become slightly dirty. that is why i can't find out the source of my problem either. i can't figure out what is causing my pH to dip! thansk for your help! hopefully with this more proved info you could help me solve my problem! thanks

 

[KateA.]

When I first looked at this post I thought it said "flatulating" pH! I've been around teenagers too much today!

It sounds like you are doing everything correct. But somewhere you are getting something to cause the ammonia to rise. You need to assume that you might be overfeeding, maybe cut back to one feeding a day. You should also assume it could be some amount of decaying plants and keep a closer check on that. It could also be from a tank that is maxed out in fish capacity- you don't say what sorts of filtration you have or how big the cories and ram are. About all that's left is from the tap water itself, if that's what you use. Maybe test that to rule it out. Stir up the gravel and see if a bunch of stuff floats out- that could be an indication of overfeeding/overpopulation and a sign that you need to gravel siphon a bit. That crud can draw down pH as it acidifies. If this were my tank, I would be doing about 1/3 water change every few days, instead of 50% a week, and gravel siphoning. Also test the water you are using to see what the pH of it is to start with. A 50% water change should raise the pH more than it is I would think. I always had trouble with small tanks and finally gave up and got a 55 gallon.

 

[elmj]

kateA.: thanks for the help! my cories are about 2.5cm excluding the tail. the ram is about 1.5cm in diameter and the tetras, both lampeyes and neons are about 1.5 cm in length. i did a throught check on the plants and the gravel. also ever since the day that a bubble in the gravel killed most of my fish population, i've been very careful, religiously vacumming/stiring up the gravel every 2 days. when i said i did 50% water changes, it was once every 2 days too.i also got plants that are suppose to suck up more nitrates like the marimo ball, the water spirit(sp?) and some others.

i also did a check on the water. the ammonia level in my tap water is 0 and the pH is 7.

i wish i could get a bigger tank but alas i have violent objections in all directions from my family. so i really wish i could, but this is the biggest tank i could get without the anger from the family.

thanks for all the help. hopefully this additional info will help!

p.s i forgot to mention my filter. it is an OTTO pf400n filter.
http://www.ottoaquarium.com/start.htm
look under internal filters, PF 400N. and there it is. my internal filter.