After using a "Correct pH" tablet in my fish tank it became very cloudy, what happend, and how can I fix it?

Question

The "Correct pH" tablets fizz in the water and make the water nuetral to 6.8-7.2 pH. My tank is a 2 gallon, and this is the first time using the pH tablets.

Answer 1

Your two gallon is a very small tank. Unfortunately if you are looking to keep a 6-7 ph, use distilled water. Not tap or bottled. The problem with adjusting your PH is the fact you will always have to do this. Normally even hard water will read around 7.4-7.7. What kind of fish are you planning on trying to keep? Most tropicals will also do ok in an 8. Neutral is 7 Anything below 7 is low just as anything above is high (not out of limits since a PH can be anywhere from 6.7 - 8. Depending on your fish. Flux's in the PH are more harmful to your fish than just about anything else.

Here is more on PH in yur tank:

This is going to sound dumb but what kind of gravel do you have? Believe it or not certain types of gravel will keep your ph from increasing or increase it too much.

The property of water to resist changes in pH is known as buffering capacity. You can determine the capacity of your buffering system by measuring total hardness. A reading of 4-6 dH or higher is usually adequate to keep the buffering system in place and maintain a stable pH. A reading under 4 dH means there isn't enough of a buffering system and the pH is likely to drop. For higher pH levels, you will probably want to aim for 6-12 dH. Many hobbyists choose to measure only Carbonate Hardness (KH), which is a measure of the calcium carbonates in your water. This test is also effective in maintaining a proper buffer system. When testing for Carbonate Hardness, a reading of 75-100 mg/L is adequate for most aquariums, while a reading of 100-200 mg/L would be desired for higher pH levels. For the purpose of freshwater aquariums, measuring either total hardness or carbonate hardness is necessary, but measuring both independently would not be needed.

You need to know that anywhere in your aquarium where detritus (a fancy term for dirt) accumulates is a source of Phosphate production. As detritus accumulates in your gravel bed and on your filter pads, the Phosphate levels in your aquarium rise. Free Phosphate ions may bond with calcareous buffering material, precipitating calcium from your aquarium, and reducing your aquariums ability to keep pH stable. This is why it is so very important to clean your filter pads regularly and vacuum the aquarium gravel with each water change. In addition, your tap water contains buffering ions. Doing regular partial water changes will help to replenish the buffers which have been lost. This is important in all aquariums, because fish respiration and organic wastes alone will cause a gradual drop in the ability of your aquarium to buffer against pH swings.

Now the question becomes what to do if the fish you want to keep have very special pH requirements. If your fish prefer a pH level which is reasonably close to the pH your aquarium water is naturally buffered to, then I do not recommend you make any changes at all. Unless you are keeping an extremely specialized fish your fish will be fine. On the other hand, if your fish have pH requirements which are far from the values in your tank, then you have work to do.

Let us consider methods of raising the pH of your tap water. There are many additives on the market today which claim to raise your pH. Most of the liquid products on the market today are a 50/50 success at best when used alone only to find the ph will soon return to the normal level of 6. You also need to use a product to increase the buffering ability of your aquarium. To maintain a stable pH in the upper levels of the pH scale for fishkeeping, I would recommend using a buffering substrate such as crushed coral. You can add crushed coral to your existing aquarium. You can place larger amounts of shells or chrushed coral beneath the substraight in the tank. I personally place the crushed coral in a mesh bag and place the bag in my filter. You will want about 1 kg of crushed coral per 40 liters of water to buffer the water to hold a pH around 7.6. This method does not allow for the use of large quantities of crushed coral, but can be effective if you only need to make small adjustments to your aquariums buffering ability. This is why ocean items such as shells and ocean sand should not be used in a fresh water aquarium. It does raise the PH level.

Be assured that attempting to control pH is the most frustrating experience for a fish hobbyist. I would guess that 50% of the problems encountered in new aquariums are a result of the aquarist attempting to change the pH level. Few fish keepers actually need to adjust their pH. For the majority of aquarists your tap water pH will be adequate. The dangers of adjusting the pH incorrectly far outweigh any benefit you may receive by moving your pH a few points on the scale.

Remember, when it comes to adjusting your pH, less is more! Stability is most important. Routine maintenance is the key to keeping your pH stable and your fish healthy!

Also, do not use baking soda in your tank. Over doing the ph plus adding additional salt is not going to do your tank any good. It will also revert back to 6 when the carbon filters pull the Soda out.
Hope this helps

Answer 2

Correct Ph

Answer 3

What was your pH befor the tablets? Chances are unless, it was below 6 or you're keeping a very sensitive species, it would have been okay without the tablets. If your water's slightly acidic, or something in the tank is producing acid, it will go back down anyway in a few days - even fish respitation and atmospheric CO2 will affect the pH.

What species are you trying/planning to keep, and how big's the tank?

Answer 4

You need to get a test kit for your tank. I never used the tablets when I owned an aquarium. After testing, I always used the PH up or PH down liquids and then tested again after a few minutes.

Answer 5

Its used up the oxygen in the water. Ph for fish can be from 5-9, for any species. So long as they are acclimated, they will thrive. Using chemicals to quickly lower or raise the ph can put a fish into shock and kill them. Don't use pointless ph chemicals anymore.

Answer 6

do a ph test from the water comeing out of your tap, is there anything you added that changes the ph level, did you where gloves if you need to put your hand in the tank or anything,

Answer 7

do a water change... it's a solve-all