so my tank has (supposedly) been cycling. Could I have killed off all my bacteria with a 5.5 - 6.0 ph?
Ph 6.0!
- Thread starter guppygal
- Start date
guppygal said:
Guppygal, what's your KH? If it's below 3 there is a good chance that your PH will crash again.
If the KH is low and causing a PH crash/cycle stall, I would use baking soda rather than coral for right now in order to get the PH up ASAP so that the cycle can get back on track. The crushed coral is a good idea for the long-term, especially if your KH is naturally low, but this seems to me like an emergency situation that demands a quick solution...
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debaric said:
No, your pH would have to drop further than that and become very acidic in order to kill the bacteria. Do you have any indication that your cycling process has stalled?
Update
Last night before bed I put in 1/16th tsp of baking soda in the 5g tank ... this morning the tank's ph is 6.6.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
17 Days of a re-cycling of the tank
Use Prime (but changing back to stress coat)
How long will the baking soda help stabilize things?
Last night before bed I put in 1/16th tsp of baking soda in the 5g tank ... this morning the tank's ph is 6.6.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
17 Days of a re-cycling of the tank
Use Prime (but changing back to stress coat)
How long will the baking soda help stabilize things?
phanmc said:
Not not really, but i used biospira and a lot of old filter media and I am at 2 weeks into cycle with .50 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrate.
guppygal said:
So it looks like the baking soda is working-- what's your KH now? The baking soda should help to stabilize things as long as it's in your water. Therefore, you'll need to add it to your change water so that the carbonate is constantly being replaced in the tank when you do your water changes.
I think it would be a good idea to do a massive water change to raise the PH as well as adding the soda.
Baking soda is volatile. It will quickly vanish in form of CO2 if you don't stabilize it somehow. The result is a pH roller coaster. Baking soda works best with CO2 injection and in combination with a smaller amount of some non-volatile buffer, like phosphates. The latter will invite algae, though.guppygal said:
But baking soda increases KH , which is a PH stabilizer. Maintaining a KH of 3 or more with carbonate should give the water very good buffering capacity. Buffering capacity prevents PH from rapid swings...
If you simply use enough baking soda in your water changes to keep the KH above 3 (although you can safely go much higher), you'll be able to maintain the KH indefinitely (or until the cycle is over).
If your source/tap water has a very low KH and you find your PH is always unstable, the crushed coral would probably be the best long-term solution, but as Phan mentioned, it takes quite some time to dissolve and affect the water parameters...
If you simply use enough baking soda in your water changes to keep the KH above 3 (although you can safely go much higher), you'll be able to maintain the KH indefinitely (or until the cycle is over).
If your source/tap water has a very low KH and you find your PH is always unstable, the crushed coral would probably be the best long-term solution, but as Phan mentioned, it takes quite some time to dissolve and affect the water parameters...
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guppygal said:
it is not uncommon for municipal water sources to do things to the warer from time to time.
they will increase Chlorination, add chloramine, buffers etc..they are trying to keep the water in check.. some places use surface water(reservoirs) other use ground water/well water. all of them have guidelines they need to maintain.
like us they have to deal with nitrites, nitrates and other pollutants that may enrter the water source.
