Planted and pH

shawnhu

shawnhu

AC Members
Oct 31, 2008
699
0
16
New York City
Hi everyone.

I have a question regarding plants, and pH. I've been noticing pH changes in my relatively newly set-up tanks. Both tanks have plants, mostly water-sprite. Both tanks are cycled, with some fish in it(guppies). Tank#1 is a 10G with no substrate, no filter, and a large piece of malaysian drift wood. It has water-sprite, amazon sword, some java moss, and duckweed. That tank's pH seems to crash every 3 days or so. Inhabitants are 4 guppies and a couple of snails. Tank#2 is a 10G with regular gravel planted with water-sprite, some java moss, and Ludwiga. It's running a Whisper Junior, 6" total ceramic air stones, and 30 baby guppies. There's also a reddish cave made of 4 pieces of slate(rock). The water is currently greenish in Tank#2.

The pH of NYC water is 7 from the tap. I add nothing to the water.

Last I measured, the pH was off the charts(too low). My test kit measures up to(down to) 6.0 pH. My question is, is my pH really that low that it's not readable? What causes pH drops in planted aquariums? Are my fish in danger from these pH fluctuations?

Thanks,

Shawn
 
The pH drops won't bother the fish directly. I expect you've got near zero KH, so get a test kit and increase KH with sodium bicarb up to around 4-6 degrees. Problem solved.
 
Assuming that both tanks are crashing at the same right, you can rule out that your drift wood is leeching tannins and softening your water. Heed what Karl said. Your KH dictates your Ph. If you test your Ph and KH out of the tap you should have about 7.0 Ph (as you stated above) with a corresponding KH of about 7 or higher. If not, then your Kh should be adjusted to read 7. Using regular baking soda will elevate you KH to the desired level. You'll notice the Ph rise as well.
 
Thanks guys!

Will Sodium Bicarb be ok with Shrimp? Tank#1's driftwood is huge... about 1/3 of the tank. I'm looking to remove it in a week or so. Water out of that tank is brownish, and water out of Tank#2 is greenish.

Am I looking for Baking Soda with purely Sodium Bicarbinate in it, or are other ingredients ok too?

Shawn
 
Baking soda, pure sodium bicarb. Fine for shrimp. Do predissolve it and raise the KH gradually though; don't do anything until you have the KH test.
 
The single bigest mistake most people make is make dramatic changes. quick change in temp. or water change and chemistry. even with 30 to 50 percent water changes make temps simular
 
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