PH problem

Discussion in 'Community Tanks' started by Flipster, Feb 3, 2010.

  1. Flipster

    Flipster Malawi

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    Hi all
    I have a problem regarding my fish tank for some reason my PH is low standing at 6.0 I need to raise th PH above 7.5, the reason been that I have Malawi's in my tank and I understand they need a PH 7.0 I think it is. I've done weekly water changes 25% for the past 5 weeks and still there is no change in PH. Can someone perhaps tell me why is that and how can I raise the PH of the water safely and not kill the fish? any suggestions.
     
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  3. Zoom

    Zoom Retired Moderator

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    Hi Flipster...

    Welcom to TASA. I would suggest you introducing yourself in the new members section.

    As for your pH problem, I'm sure some people can assist you, but firstly, have you tested the pH of your tap water?
     
  4. neilh

    neilh

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    Where do you stay? Sounds like the Western Cape?

    You can use crushed coral, coral skeletons or beach sand to up your ph levels
     
  5. OP
    Flipster

    Flipster Malawi

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    Hi Zoom and neilh
    I have tested the water and I'm stting with a PH of 7.0 if not slightly more regarding the tap water. And no neilh on Guateng Pretoria
    By the way zoom thanks for the heads up on the new members section
     
  6. Vis

    Vis Gerhard

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    Hi Flipster and welcome.

    Do you have driftwood in you tank that might still be leaking tannins?
     
  7. neilh

    neilh

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    Do you have any driftwood in the tank?

    Have you tested GH and KH of your tap water
     
  8. Khalid

    Khalid Loricariidae

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    flipster - how are you testing the water?
     
  9. OP
    Flipster

    Flipster Malawi

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    I haven't tested the GH and KH of the tap water will do so, what should the readings be? I have no drift wood in my tank, well I don't know if it's driftwood but have two trunks of wood sitting at the bottom of the tank. I use a sera 5 in 1 test strip to test the water I hope that info helps. as for my tank I basically have 8 Malawi's, 3 parrots and 2 plecs in a 260L tank, as for the decorations there are a few fake plants, rocks and two pieces of wood but I don't think its driftwood.
     
  10. Khalid

    Khalid Loricariidae

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    Sera test strips are reliable.
    Must be the wood
    Test the tap water...
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2010
  11. KiazerG

    KiazerG Sailfin Molly

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    Flipster: Tannin or Tannic Acid (the stuff that makes red wine taste like an oak barrel) leech into your water and (as the "acid" part of the name suggest) cause your PH to drop.

    I clear sign of this is when your water takes on a slight orange tea colour. Thus if you've got this then you know its the wood. You could either remove it or try and counter it with shells or coral shards but I've never done this and would suggest doing some research so you avoid any Ph fluctuations.
     
  12. Zoom

    Zoom Retired Moderator

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    Flipster,

    Ok, let me try explain this as brief and as easy as possible.

    Fish can live in varying pH, as long as it is CONSTANT. Yes, Malawi prefer pH on the higher side. (I've never kept them, but I've read this here)

    The problem you are having is your tap water is pH 7. And is would appear that the wood is changing it to a lower pH. This poses a problem in that when you do a water change, your water is at 6.o, and you are putting in pH 7 water. This will put the fish into pH shock, and causes unnecessary stress.

    What you ideally want is your water that you putting in to be the same pH as the tank... and at the same time you are wanting a pH of 7.0 for your fish. So you could add shells or chorla shards to your tank to buffer the pH to 7.0 in the tank... and you will also be adding water of pH7.0 from your tap.

    Another point to take into consideration- the test strips are brilliant for quick testing... but please make sure that they are not expired. Test strips can expire, and then give you incorrect readings. So ensure they are not expired, and that they are kept in a completely air-tight containter. If they get moisture on them they can give you incorrect readings when you use them.

    That's my 2c.
     
  13. OP
    Flipster

    Flipster Malawi

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    Thats the thing my water is crystal clear I've never had a offish colour in my tank and for some reason the PH is very low. And that brings me to something else as well, I got my water tested a week ago the PH-6.0, DS(salt)-1600PPM which is ok, GH stopped at 16 drops so meaning my water is way to hard I think, N03 is 50 also to high and N02 is 0.25 Now according to all this info they all slightly or very high, which hard for me to understand because my water looks crystal clear. And I have been doing 25% water changes for the past 5 weeks to see if those figures reduce and so far nothing much.

    Thanks Zoom for ur input. I bought the strips a few weeks ago im sure they should be fine and not expired but I should have a look. and as for the shells how much shells should I be putting into my tank when I have 260L tank and what size shells or doesn't it matter?
     
  14. Khalid

    Khalid Loricariidae

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    "DS(salt)-1600PPM which is ok, GH stopped at 16 drops so meaning my water is way to hard I think, N03 is 50 also to high and N02 is 0.25 "

    :confused:
     
  15. neilh

    neilh

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    Just because water is crystal clear doesn't mean its good...

    What's the DS/salt reading? What's your KH? If thats as high as your GH, your ph shouldn't be dropping it should be increasing.

    How many fish do you have in your 260L? Weird that you are getting detectable Nitrite 5 weeks down the line
     
  16. OP
    Flipster

    Flipster Malawi

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    WEll the DS/Salt is 1600 PPM and according to my test strips my KH is between o and 6 what should that reading be? I know the Nitrite is very weird, I have 7 Malawi's, 3 parrots and 2 plecs in my tank.
     
  17. neilh

    neilh

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    What's the exact value of KH? What size filter are you running? How much water are you changing at each WC? Almost sounds like you're over feeding if you aren't keeping Nitrates down
     
  18. OP
    Flipster

    Flipster Malawi

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    Well if I take a good guess my KH is 3. I'm using a canister for my filter it's a pretty good canister, I'm not sure of the make and many litres of water it pumps per second will have to see when I get home. When I do WC I'm removing 60L of water and as for the feeding I give the fish less than 5ml of food once a day.
     
  19. Laure

    Laure Cyano Terminator

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    If your kH is around 3 and your tap is ph 7 then it is normal for an established tank to drop to around 6 ph a few months down the line. The amount of tannins released by the wood will never cause a ph drop of this size. If it did, your water will most probably be dark orange to brown.

    My tank runs at around 6.3ph and my tap is 7.5ph. After I matured the water to get rid of chlorine, the ph is around 7. I then add this water to the tank and a day later the ph is back at around 6.3. Adding water of ph7 to a tank of ph6.3 does not cause osmotic shock. Not in my experience. And I change 50% weekly. My fish are all very healthy and normally extra active after water change. People all over the world do water changes straight from the tap into the tank without killing their fish. They then add some dechlorinator and all is good. They don't even know the ph difference between their tap and tank water. People that purposely keep soft water fish in ph of around 5 to 6 are more careful, if their tap water ph is much higher. They probably prepare the water and carefully adjust the kh/ph.

    If you want your ph to be higher then you should add shells to the filter to increase your kh slowly over time. A sudden kh increase will definitely cause osmotic shock.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2010
  20. OP
    Flipster

    Flipster Malawi

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    Thanks Laure for ur intel and I totally agree I'm sure my tank has been like that for a while already not sure how long. I never actually test my water nor do I do regular water changes only recently have I started to do water changes weekly after I got my water tested and the person who helped me informed me to do water changes to pick up the PH and remove NO3, which I have been doing for the past 5 weeks and still there is no change. My fish look very healthy and I could say very active to, maybe it just because they are malawi's they are very strong fish, so they can perhaps handly these strange conditions of my water.
     

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