Bronsen Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Hi fellow forumers, I am wondering why my PH is always constantly dropping. Set up: 8x2x2 2x FX5's 2x 2200 lph internal filters Some lava rock, gravel, and some driftwood. Plenty of fish The water out of the tap is 7.1. I use a carbon filtering system for the water before entering the tank. The PH takes around one week to go from 7.0 to 6.0. If you leave it any longer, it will drop to 5.0..... Is this normal??? Is it just Brisbane water being too soft? Does anyone know why this is happening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Macropore, fluval noodles, and bio-balls used in the filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matmatmat Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 You could try buffering it with coral chunks, Texas holey rock or cal carb substrate.. But as to why it's dropping now I'm not much help sorry . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_M Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 It's not good for your fish to have the PH swinging around like that. Since its changing so much you may want to consider buffering with baking soda to keep it more stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Cheers. So has anyone got any advice on the 'best buffer' solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 I've been using a ph7 powder buffer, but it's costing a fortune..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 You want to up your kh by the sounds of it.Use coral or shell grit.Would be helpful to know your gh kh and exact stocking sp numbers and size.Also heavy stocked tanks will build up amonia quickly and drop ph.Dont asume for a min that your filtration is enough as all of them produce high flow but less contact wit media .It is better to have slower flow over more media to remove toxins better.But without all the info will be hard to solve. Need to know amonia nitrate nitrite gh kh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Cheers DD... will reply soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbeer Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Check your hardness. If your hardness is low, a small amount of acid can cause a large inbalance in pH. Driftwood will provide a small ammount of acid, in the tannins released. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 amonia = >0.1 nitrate = 0.05 nitrite = >0.1 gh = 80 kh = 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Fish-wise: 2x 5" Gold Sevs 2x 2' Plecos 2x 5" Cuckoo Cats 2x 5" Blue Acara 2x 5" Pearl Cichlid 2x 10" Oscars 1x 8" Upsidedown Cat 7x 5" - 8" Clown Loaches 1x 7" Jack Dempsey 8x 5" Silver Dollars 1x 2" Cory, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Would say that you have 2 things at work here,1 water is not hard enough and 2 tank is over stocked if you dont want to do 2 water changes a week.Tanins from timber and waste from fish with low hardness will make it swing but still think with that stocking list even if you bump up your hardnees you will still need to do 2 water changes a week to keep it stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Probably your best option if you want to keep all your fish. Wood produce tannins that lower PH, depending what type of wood, (amount of tannins) different woods effect water differently. The KH / GH probably will have an effect also. Simply replacing some media in the filters with coral chunks is a cheap and effective remedy / counter. I generally get large chunks and break them down with a hammer to the size I want. General would be 2 -3cm pieces. Coral is an excellent media as well as constant buffer. Since the majority of your fish are from acidic waters I would add coral to equal approximately 1/3 the weight of wood in the tank to keep the PH from dropping below 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Thanks for the help guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Funny the comments regarding being overstocked. General consensus was it was not when i queried this! http://www.qldaf.com/forums/general-aquarium-discussion-19/am-i-will-i-overstocked-75456/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 The only time you are over stocked is when you dont do the water changes to keep peramaters safe.Whith the right filtration I have keeped 1000 7cm angles in a 4x2x2 with a 30% water change every 4 days.Yes a lot of fish small body of water but large bio filter and reg water change=helthy happy fish and stable water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Which is what i thought too. Cheers. Currently my nitrates stay in safe levels for many weeks without a water change. I guess this may change down the track and best to keep an eye on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 I did find though that my macropore really needed a clean. It was no longer trapping the tannins. So maybe the tannins are the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozmo Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 I had a similar PH variance on my 8x3x2 Central American setup running 2 FX5. I dedicated one entire basket within one of the FX5 to coral chunks and this stabilized my PH at about 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickadee Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I added coral bones to one of the filter baskets and my PH is been good ever since.... had the same problem as u... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussie123 Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Which is what i thought too. Cheers. Currently my nitrates stay in safe levels for many weeks without a water change. I guess this may change down the track and best to keep an eye on it! Laziness is the cause of your problems. A 40% waterchange every week will solve your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Awesome. Thanks guys!!! Will see how it goes with the Macropore change, but looks like i may be in the market for some coral! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Aussie123... 40% water change is very risky and you should not recommend to anyone to do this weekly! It can cause stress in fish as well as remove all your fish / bio soup and effect the whole system drastically! DO NOT DO THIS! I would never change 40% in one hit escpesially weekly. Just change as required. If you have nitrates that are building up quickly I would sudgest to invest in larger mature anubias as they're pretty hard for the fish to destroy and do water changes twice a week if need be of 10 -15% cheers f4f Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronsen Posted November 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Thanks fish4fish3. I have no issues at all with ammonia, nitrites, nor nitrates, so have no need for large frequent water changes Only issue is the PH which i will invest in using some coral chunks as previously suggested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 just had to make a point about the large water changes and people shouldn't sudgest things that are likely to harm / damage the bio system and fish Go the coral it's your easiest solution. And change the chemical brothers avatar I keep going into epileptic fits and flash backs. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
