Proper pH made my Water Cloudy, Why?

[peachbimbo]

Hello,

i am preparing my 10 gallon tank for a Betta fish and i was told by the manager at Petsmart to use Proper pH 7 to get it down from being a high pH. i used it and within a few hours my water became cloudy with dust-like particles floating around when that wasn’t there before. i now regret adding the proper pH and should have just bought the pH down instead of the powder.

i did a 50% water change and wiped down the walls from this milky residue. It hasn’t gone away completely but i’m curious what i should do and what’s going on. i just wanna fix this before i get my fish.

 

[FJB]

So what is the pH of your tap water? (after allowing to degas for at least 1 hour)?
It is very possible that you may be better off doing nothing to your tap water, even if not ‘perfect’, than trying to chase pH with products that are dangerous to your fish, your pocket, and your sanity. Pet stores would love you to buy a myriad products for this and that, that you don’t need.

 

[peachbimbo]

i’ve been using the master API test kit and it says 7.4 as of now. i just don’t know what to do with all the fogginess.

 

[peachbimbo]

i’ve been using the master API test kit and it says 7.4 as of now. i just don’t know what to do with all the fogginess.

it was at 8.0 before

 

[scalareson]

In all likelihood, the Proper Ph material is probably mostly non-reactive bulk materials (as well as common sodium thiosulfate), "proprietary phosphates" per the MSDS on the product page. These materials provide fuel for bacteria in the water column, which then explode in activity and number and cloud your water. I would do 2 50% water changes several hours apart and then avoid stuff like this in the future. Most common freshwater aquarium fish can tolerate a wide range of Ph (including 8.0) and it is almost always more harmful than not to try and alter tank Ph permanently.