Problems with extremely low PH in a freshwater tank?

Question

A few months ago I started up a fishtank I have had since I was a kid. Its a 30 Gal Completed the cycling process. I have a HOT magnum marineland filter with a large BIO wheel. More than enough for my tank. I put a couple pieces of driftwood in the tank as well as tons of plants, over time. My tapwater is extremely stable with a PH of 7.0 The driftwood and decaying plant matter has dropped my PH off the test equipments range. Its below 6 and I dont have anything to test lower. I have added PH up daily for over a week and have done at least 25% water changes and VERY thorough cleanings every week. I know that a low PH is normal and everyone says stable is better than adding chems but I dont know if its stable! I cant even test its level I am extremely worried even though I have only lost a couple fish since starting the whole cycle months ago. I dont want to give up my driftwood but some of my fish prefer a 7.2 How can I safely get my PH closer to 7 without shocking the fish?

I do have a small piece of limestone. Had it for about a week. Still below the test range. Will add some shells too. I use a very good tap water conditioner and buying store bought water seems a little iffy due to the fact that most store bought adds minerals and such and is usually just their tap water with some filtration.

Boy, I love the soup Nazi and I love you lol. I was thinking I would add a larger piece of stone or 2 to go back towards 7 but at the same time I struggle with the hardness. With just the driftwood I of course had pure soft water. When I added the small piece of stone it of course jumped up to med soft. Im afraid if I add much more my water will then be too hard. What a difficult balance, lol. Thanks for the tip about the store bought water too. I didnt know that.

Answer 1

Keep the decor as is, and to NATURALLY, SAFELY, and GRADUALLY lower the pH, add some crushed coral, limestone, marble, or sea shells. You can either add the coral or shells to the filter, or straight to the bottom of the tank. You could use the limestone or marble to make caves, or free standing rock formation. All the above listed objects are calciferous and will slowly raise the pH to a stable level around 6.0-7.0 over time. Add a small amount of whatever you choose, wait a week, test the water, and repeat until you reach the desired pH.

Soop Nazi

EDIT: Stop using the chemical treatments you're using. They will be VERY stressful on the fish because of the rapid variations in pH.

EDIT 2: Store bought water (reverse osmosis water) is actually acidic (low pH), and would probably be on of the worst things you could do for your tank.

Answer 2

The first thing I'd do in your situation is to take a sample of your tank water to a local pet store and confirm your results. You don't want to do a lot of "adjusting" if it's only a matter of a test kit gone bad. You might also test/have tested your source water to see if it's drastically different than the pH in your tank.

If there's a difference, you may just have too much driftwood, and it's lowering the pH more than you'd like. If both are low, you may just live in an area with poor alkalinity/buffering capacity in your water.

If they also confirm a low pH, add some crushed coral or aragonite sand (the stuff for cichlids and marine aquaria) to your tank. You can put some in a mesh bag in your filter or mix a little in to your substrate, but you want the flow around it to be good. This will react with whatever is causing the acidity to help neutralize it, but the coral.aragonite will need to be monitored and replaced periodically. This will create a slow but more stable pH change, but expect the pH to decrease every time you do a water change.

Another thing you might try is the addition of powdered aragonite to your water (you could even add this in a bucket before the water changes so there's not as much fluctuation when you change the water). Once you experiment a little, you should be able to figure out approximately how much to add for every 5 gallons to bring the pH to close to the level in the tank.

Answer 3

Rainbow fish are the countless extra captivating fish, there are a number of diverse species and colours, they like a college of 6 each and each. some get rather enormous, be carefull to do the analyze. another great fish = Cherry barbs, Oddessa barbs, pearl gourami, zebra loaches, the different way up catfish, dwarf pleco. The brightest freshwater fish could be livebearers nevertheless, Im no good with plant life, Marimo moss balls are great and require little or no care. backside feeders like to conceal in them

Answer 4

Never heard of PH being to low.But I have heard adding PH up can really throw things out of whack.Maybe the fish loss was do to the cycling process and not the PH level.Ive always heard stable is better also.Try fishlore.com,they have a whole section there on PH.

Answer 5

I use to be worried about PH
The Best thing to do is watch your fish
and your water clarity.

Quit worrying about your PH
Use Store Bought water in your Tank

Your fish will get use to the water.
and things will be ok.