Tank PH issues

[meloizias]

Hiya everyone need some hlp urgent

i am having some big PH issues and i dont know why and my efforts to control it are not succeeding

6 of my tanks on the same rack keep hitting over 8PH sometimes peaking to 8.3 which is horrendous for my lil plecs

I am using treated tap water atm which is at 7PH and hardness of about 3degree GK and KH so pretty soft.

I am doing my water changes every day at about 10% change

my Nitrate, Ammonia and Nitrate levels are non existant though sometimes nitrate might be lucky to reach 5ppm

To try bring the PH down i been using easybalance which is quite acidic and after water change and small amount of treatement i get the water to about 7PH and the fish perk up but by the time i come to do water change next day...BANG 8PH again!

Please can someone help

 

[D-MAC]

If your ph is rising in the tank then it something in the tank thats making it rise, ie: gravel or rocks...Can you give a list of what's in the tank decor wise?

 

[macvsog23]

As mentioned by Mr D your find its in your tanks or in some thing your holding the water in?
I would also look at the Kh and the TDS first, you can have water with a very low Kh and this will make the PH unstable
I would go along the R/O & HMA mix route.
I did this over 5 years ago and its worked for me as you saw.

You can do the lot like mine for under £250 about the same as a breeding group of 6 fish would cost.

 

[D-MAC]

Sorry! I ment to say in my first post that Easy balance is not for lowering Ph but more for keeping it from dropping.
http://www.tetra.de/tetra/go/7B4FA824079E3BE3B2540904EC663F1D/?seite=6&group_id=302&group_2_id=12&lang_id=2

 

[meloizias]

MMm that the thing, i had pretty much no decor in it before bare bottom with one fake plant, sponge filter and powerhead plus slate caves from billyjimbo and some bog wood which should bring ph down but doesnt seem to.

I then added normal aquatic sand and with a littl bit of dorset gravel.

I know easy balance is not for bringing it down permanently but i been trying different methods, use some API PH Buffer 6.5 and this worked for for a day then would go back up again. Blackwater tonic also bought the ph down for a bit but then came back up again.

Mmm but that the thing it not like it completely devoid of minerals. the KH is about 50ppm aswell which is soft but not too soft. same with the KH.

but yeah i will be setting up RO system on my next pay day. but i just dont understand why it keeps spiking

 

[D-MAC]

What you can try is the jar test...Get 3 jars filled with treated water add your sand to 1 and gravel to the other and leave one with just water....Test them then test 24 hours later to see if you can locate the source.

 

[meloizias]

I will do that, but I was having this problem before I put the Sand and gravel in, was hoping sand would help buffer it. Any idea why the plain water from tap would fluctuate?

 

[D-MAC]

I will do that, but I was having this problem before I put the Sand and gravel in, was hoping sand would help buffer it. Any idea why the plain water from tap would fluctuate?

I don't know why, but wait until you do the tests... If none of these things raise the Ph, or the jar of water on its own doesn't rise you will need to look at other things in the aquarium until you find whats causing the spike...Whats holding the fake plant down? If its stone like, test that also

 

[meloizias]

Mmm that the thing i dont have any fake plants in 2 of them. like the only thing same in all of the tanks before the sand was the slate caves and obviously the treated tap water.

but the slate is safe aquarium slate. hopefully when i put ro water in it will be fine but it just perplexing me at the moment as i am trying eerything i know to keep the PH down

 

[meloizias]

well and bog would in all of them

 

[macvsog23]

I myself would avoid adding any thing water is not meant to be tampered with by addition. In MY Opinion The best way is to strip and add not Just add.
I spent around 20 years trying to understand water and why it worked the way it did.
I added , used resins, boiled and god knows what. Not a half pence of difference until I used R/O and HMA mix

 

[Joby]

I believed I had high PH issues for a while this year and even tried oak extract etc to bring it down as already had bogwood in my tanks. It was only some tanks affected though and all had similar set up so in the end I changed my Ph tester and bingo all tanks were the same 7.5 :whistle:

Try a new/different test kit first just in case

If you go the RO route let me know as I just got a fab 100 gpd unit for £69.99 delivered :thumbup:

 

[meloizias]

mmm well i am using 2 different PH testers, i using a tetra one which is a general 6-9 PH tester and then i have a more specific one for testing fine ph high and low ( 6-7 and 7.3-9) and it definately coming up at high PH. though just done water change about 10 mins ago and it wasnt too bad, i was on about 7.6 which is alot better than 8.3.

but got some almond leaves and alder cones being delivered next week from my good people at rare aquatics so we will see how that goes.

but i will definately be going for RO and HMA system on next pay day.
but that would be perfect where did you get your RO unit from as i can get a HMA from rare aquatics for the same price so it would be perfect to get two nicely priced units.

 

[Joby]

Got mine from Here

 

[D-MAC]

Its great that you are going to buy the R/O system and HMA but I would still do the tests I mentioned to rule out everything in the tank...That way you will know 100% that its something in the water and spending £70-100 will be the way to go.

 

[meloizias]

Will do. I just tested some water that been sitting in a plain bucket for a day and it has gone up from 7 to about 7.6

 

[Lornek8]

CO2 in the tap water acidifies it, as the CO2 dissapates the pH could reach an equilibrium. Could be your tap water is normally a bit higher pH than initially thought.

 

[meloizias]

Ah I hadn't thought of that and I have slot of current flow and movement so that would speed diffusion. Ro and hma it is.

 

[D-MAC]

CO2 in the tap water acidifies it, as the CO2 dissapates the pH could reach an equilibrium. Could be your tap water is normally a bit higher pH than initially thought.

:wb: I never thought about the co2 effect on water as its not an issue here...Thats why is good to get others input :thumbup: