Water Parameters (KH & PH issues)

Good afternoon

I have a 260l tank with some Angels and German Blue Rams. I have a large Piece of Driftwood in there and am really battling to get the water Conditions in order. My GH was very low over the weekend and so I used Seachem Replenish for 2 days. I had the water tested again today and the GH is good but almost a little too high for the Rams. The problem I have still got though is that the KH and PH remain low. PH sitting at a around 5. 3 different PH tests show the same. The store recommended Seachem Alkaline Buffer but I wanted to check if there wasn’t an alternative? I have Daro PH up which is basically Baking Soda. but have heard mixed reviews about using it.

Any help would be appreciated. I really don’t want to shock my fish anymore.

All other checks are “0” or close to.

TIA

 

Wow that's a really low pH. For changing water parameters I would advise going a natural route like crushed coral as this would give you a more gradual increase. I've heard of people using egg shells too but I have no experience with it

 

Yeah I recall we chatted about this and you couldn't find crushed coral? @Featherfin
Not sure where in WC you are, but give a few LFS a call - RBM Aquatics, Sams, Aquatic Warehouse, Pet World, etc. Someone will have crushed coral, most will have Alkaline buffer. Baking soda will raise KH/ pH, but more suddenly and for a shorter duration. Not advisable for planted tanks either.
The driftwood is likely leeching tannins, acidifying the water and lowering pH. Rising nitrates will do that too, so until you get hold of buffering media, upping water changes and feeding a bit less should help?

 

Thanks. I have ordered a bag of Crushed Coral from my small little LFS which I can get on Friday. Petworld didn’t have either. In the meantime I will do the water changes and let them fast a little. Thanks again.

 

Thank You. I am going to get hold of the Crushed Coral.

 

Yup, definitely the driftwood causing the problems. Tannins have tannic acid, which can and will drop your pH and kH quite quickly. Up the water changes, but maybe do smaller ones more regularly. Big changes in kH will probably end up shocking the fish and stressing them out, making them more likely to get some illness.

 

Depending on whether you in the northern suburbs... went a nursery on bottelary rd and they had 2 bags on their shelf.

 

Not that side. Thanks though. I ordered some.

 

It's not only the driftwood, it is our water out of the tap, in winter its even softer. I have explained how to correct this many many times.

 

Thanks. What % daily do you think on a 260l?

Thanks. I am very new to this forum. I haven’t read all the posts so have not seen your tips.

 

Go pick up white mussel shells, you crush them and put inside your filter. If you are running a canister add about half a basket full and work from there. Weekly 20-50% water changes will be fine for livestock that's not sensitive to pollutants. You will still see the pH go down but it will do it slower and will settle depending on how much surface area of the shells are exposed to water. My system is set to hold at a pH of around 6, on my planted tanks its set to hold at around 6.8.

 

I'd probably go for a 20-30% change every 2nd day, that should slowly bring the parameters more in line with your tap water. Seeing as CT has soft water already, the crushed coral and mussel shells should do the trick

 

Great. Thank you. I just did a small change about 10% because I was pressed for time this morning. I will do another one on Thursday about 25% and then get the Coral on Friday.

 

Thanks. My Canister Filter is not in operation at the moment and I only have a submersible Internal corner filter. Should I replace the Carbon with the Coral?

 

Take out the carbon yes, we use it to take out meds and impurities. Running it in a recirculating fashion will pull necessary minerals out of the water, it's fine for a one pass refill on your hose though. Carbon just becomes glorified bio media after two weeks or so. Replace it with the coral and then monitor your results. It doesn't happen immediately so give it a few days or even a week or two to see what's going on with your water parameter stability. If it's not buffering enough add some more. The reason I like the shells better is because you know where you stand with them as they have a very pure form of Bicarbs. Coral might contain silicates, and that grows algae, siesa haha.

 

You can also put the shells in a net and let it hang or lay in the tank. I've seen Northern Aquatics do that in all their tanks.

 

Did you see they also use it as substrate in some of the bigger tanks, good idea for fish that prefers harder water, I don't like the look though. Looks like a stretch of ocean floor that has been stripped by abalone pouches, hate seeing that when I go diving.

 

Ja, don’t think I would do it either.

 

Thank you. Good idea.