Please recomend PH.

S

Spitfire_xero

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Feb 23, 2005
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Hello everyone. I just purchased a Deluxe PH Testing Kit. The PH yesterday was 6.0 or less! I no. To low.So I added the recomended amount of PH UP(sodium hydroxide I am sure) and this morining the PH is about 6.4.

I no not to raise it to fast but what PH sould I stop at. I have one yellow lab, two Jewels, a lrg pleco,two clown loaches, a palmas eel, and a new african lacefin catfish.

The highest this kit can go is 7.6. Is that around where it needs to be or should it be lower/higher?

Thanks for all your help
~spit~
 
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What is the PH of your tap water after it sets out overnight?

I personally would not use or reccomend using the sodium Hydroxide, But I am rasonably sure (not 100%) that PH up is just baking soda at a higher price. Secondly a KH test will help you out a lot. As long as your Kh is 3 or so your tank should remain stable. Some folks would even say it doesn't need to be that high in a non-planted tank. a stable Ph is the real goal. getting the Ph in the tank to remain similar to the PH of your tap/change water will allow you to do maintenance without the worry of stressing your fish.
With a Ph that low I would guess there haven't been many water changes, or your tap water is extremely soft.
Either way, whatever your tap water Ph is after setting out overnight is what you should target. and do it with water changes. IF your tap water PH is that low, then You should add some carbonate to raise the Kh and thus the PH.
1. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is extremey fast at doing this. It takes about 1 tsp per 30 gallons to raise the KH 1 degree. However due to haw quickly it works, and the effect that changing Kh can have on fish I would not reccomend adding it to your tank, only to change water before it goes in the tank.

2. Calcium carbonate ( crushed coral, dolomite, Kalkwasser etc.) works much slower and is a great way to adjust/ stabilize Kh levels in the tank. bag a small quantity of coral and put it in your filter, and then monitor it every few days to see what effect it has. after a couple of weeks, adjust your quantities according to what you want to accomplish. This method is very slow, so it takes a couple of weeks to really get a good idea what the quantity you want is.

Either way I would never reccomend playing with your PH without a Kh test kit.

Also it could be helpful if we knew what size tank, how often you change how much water etc. You could have soft tap water, you could have OTS (Old tank syndrome) or there could be something else amiss.
dave
 
I am not sure what KH is. I have a PH tester though. I change a quarter of my water every week when I syphon the gravel. I have a 55gal tank.

My tap ph straight from the tap is 7.2 but after setting it over night it is 6.5.

I have a lot of driftwood in my tank. I think that may contribute to the lowering PH. I am not sure what is in the PH up. If I add 220 drops in my 55gal the PH goes up 0.2 degrees. It came with my electronic PH meter.

I am not sure of the hardness/softness of my water.

thank you
~spit~
 
Get a PH stabilizer (KH). Then use either baking soda or Seachem akaline buffer. A mesh small bag of crushed coral in the filter will keep the ph up. For a community tank a PH around 7.0 is good. Check up on ur fish online and see their PH preferences. Generally most fish dnt mind the PH being midrange.. around 7.0. The exceptions are wild-caught fish such as cardinals which need very acid water. Why is your water so acid? Is the tap water very acid? I fit is not the tap water, water changes will help keep the PH nuetral. Organics breaking down in the aquarium bring down PH. Also if u have driftwood, that makes it acid as well.
 
Oh, you do have driftwood, that is what is doing it. I use a lot of driftwood specifically to bring my PH down because I have an amazon-type setup. Instead of putting in over 200 drops of that stuff, use akaline buffer or baking soda! U can just use a 1/4 teaspoon.
 
I got backing powder. That probable won't work though.
 
I am not sure what KH is. I have a PH tester though. I change a quarter of my water every week when I syphon the gravel. I have a 55gal tank.
Click to expand...

Kh is carbonate hardness, it is essentially the amount of buffer your water has against Ph drops. any good ph up product is going to add carbonate to buffer your water.

My tap ph straight from the tap is 7.2 but after setting it over night it is 6.5.
Click to expand...
Is this sitting out in a shallow bowl or being addd to the tank and then retested in the morning. It is not narmal for Ph to drop when water is set out overnight. As a general rule the water in the pipes is high in co2, and thus the ph is lower. then the gas exchange takes place, and ph raises.

Even RO water doesn't usually test as low as 6.5. The tannic acid from driftwood will lower PH, but it shouldn't have a huge or continued effect.

If your water really does stabilize at 6.5, I would worry. You will need a KH test kit, and you should really add something to increase beffering capacity of your water. As far as fish there really isn't an ideal PH, almost any fish including wild caught fish will adjust to what you provide for them within reason. You will need to develope a system to create a stable environment though.
Dave
 
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