Ph dropped, don't know cause

StreetCypher

StreetCypher

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Apr 18, 2004
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I had one of those nights where you just have nothing to do.

So, remembering i added this stuff a few days ago that looked like crushed coral to my filters, but later determined to be lava rock, i decided to test my ph and make sure it hadn't sky rocketed up. To my surprise it was lower than the normal 6.5-6.6 ish range and was <6.0.

Any ideas as what could cause ph to just lower? I've changed about 30% of the water to bring it back up.

Its a 180g, 50% water changed every 7 -10 days, fair bioload, no live plants, a few chunks of driftwood if that info helps at all

and the ph out of the tap is 7.0
 
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Anything dead in the tank?

The driftwood might be the culprit. How long has it been in the tank?
 
My guess would be it's whatever you added to your filter...sounds like the only thing that had changed, right?
 
If tap is at 7.0, then Kh is all but non-existant. Bio-activity consumes Kh and produces acid. So It would not seem abnormal to me to see it drop to 6.0 and or fluctuate often.

Your 50% water changes have probably helped you immensely as good maintenance always will. But with a tank that large, and a heavy bio-load, it would not be uncommon to see the PH drop like that each week between water changes. Mine does if I let the Kh drop below 3 dKH. Even when I was not injecting CO2 I would get drops unless I supplemented Kh somehow.
Dave
 
My guess would be it's whatever you added to your filter...sounds like the only thing that had changed, right?
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Well, it shouldn't have changed anything because lava rock is inert. But it sounds logical though.
If tap is at 7.0, then Kh is all but non-existant. Bio-activity consumes Kh and produces acid. So It would not seem abnormal to me to see it drop to 6.0 and or fluctuate often.

Your 50% water changes have probably helped you immensely as good maintenance always will. But with a tank that large, and a heavy bio-load, it would not be uncommon to see the PH drop like that each week between water changes. Mine does if I let the Kh drop below 3 dKH. Even when I was not injecting CO2 I would get drops unless I supplemented Kh somehow.
Dave
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I was a little concerned because it was lower than normal. I knew that the ph was always a little lower than the tap, but this time the test tube was more of a yellow color than the normal light blue.

I guess bi weekly 30% changes would keep the ph more stable then, eh?
 
Where did you got the lava rock that you added to your filter? Maybe it had some additives you were unaware of. WHen you say later determined to be lava rock is what made me think that maybe it wasn't, or wasn't 100%. Just a thought. When that's the only thing that has changed, that's where I'd look first.
How long have you had the tank going all together? If not long, then it may be what Daveedka says.
And is the pH reading of your tap water recent? It could have changed if they've changed treatemnt recently.
 
nursie said:
Where did you got the lava rock that you added to your filter? Maybe it had some additives you were unaware of. WHen you say later determined to be lava rock is what made me think that maybe it wasn't, or wasn't 100%. Just a thought. When that's the only thing that has changed, that's where I'd look first.
How long have you had the tank going all together? If not long, then it may be what Daveedka says.
And is the pH reading of your tap water recent? It could have changed if they've changed treatemnt recently.
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I got the lava rock second hand, its color is white which threw me off because i thought it was all red. I'm 95.2% its lava rock, as you said, i'm not 100% its lava rock, but it was sold to me as lava rock.
The tank has been running for about 7 months. And the ph reading was done last night (from the tap).

Well, i haven't noticed any odd behaviour from my fish, but i'll keep an eye out.
 
I guess bi weekly 30% changes would keep the ph more stable then, eh?
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Additional water changes may or may not be the answer. As tanks mature, the bio-load changes, additionally fish grow and increase it. If your tap is devoid of Kh then water changes will increase Ph by removing acid, but they won't do anything to buffer the tank against rapid drops in Ph. Additional water changes will not hurt you at all, but how much they may help you will dep;end on several factors.

You already have what is normally considered good maintenence in place. A bit of crushed coral or aragonite would help stabilize things for you without a lot of gnashing of teeth or side effects.


BTW, it would be very rare to find a rock that didn't dissolve instantly, and lowered PH. Typically mineral additions either have no effect on PH or they increase it. Off the top of my head I can think of nothing that would lower it.
Just some food for thought.
Dave
 
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