screwed up and stuck with high ph

[Brengun]

GH 7 is fine although I much prefer 4 to 6, I have had it up on 8 sometimes.
KH of 4 is most likely why your pH is up on 7.4 but thats ok too. Most plecos are adaptable to that and kH 4 should keep your pH pretty much stable and only drop a little bit throughout a week. Woods, and fish waste, rotting plants etc do pull it down over time.

TDS, did you take the water for testing at least 12 hours after you fed the fish? Food in the water will give unbelievably high readings.

 

[zeebo]

Hi Brenda, no, didn't know that, so will take it again after 12hrs and I will take my tap in also, do I need to let it set for 24 hrs first ? thanks, g

 

[zeebo]

me again, had my tap water TDS tested ,got 154 . Also , brought in my tank water again to re-test TDS in all 3 tanks to see if same/similar. 54g-647 /
30g-712 /20g-740 . Each tank has different things ,2 have slate and wood ,the 20g has no slate or wood. All 3 have rocks ,but each has a different kind of rock, the 54g also has granite caves. All 3 tanks have a completely different type of gravel. HTH.

 

[Brengun]

Do you have photos of the tanks?
I am wondering if its gravel or the caves leeching out high minerals somehow?
You do gravel vac portions of the gravel, yes?

 

[zeebo]

Hi Bren, yep ,photos are on photography site here , about 1/2 way down, 54g and 30g tank photos. Yes , I do gravel vac..

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Does sound like it is the gravel or rocks raising the TDS. I might try a much larger water change, then take a reading and this followed by readings over the next couple of days.

That should give you a good idea what is happening, if the levels rise steadily it would definitely point at the rocks or gravel.

cheers Darrel

 

[zeebo]

hi guys, and thanks for your interest...i got some pretty good advice(from a helpful member here ) --to set up a tank and start slowly adding things from my tank, just running an air hose and added Prime. Now I have added a rock and will test in another week. I kinda messed up by not letting the tank sit longer , so will have the water tested before i remove the rock and begin again. :wb: The fish store is still holding my 2 adult L's ,they have been since Feb, not sure how much longer they will hold them... would love to take one home,at least ,but can't till I figure this out. Ph has been holding steady at 7.4 in the 54g, but now with other factors ie; kh/gh and TDS , I can't pick him up yet ..hope they will continue to understand. This whole thing is killing me , but I am lucky to have the help I am getting (public thanks to Lorne ,too). Still getting diatomes ,so will do a good cleaning --3 more days of work ,till summer break ,amen , can spend time cleaning that nasty stuff off everything..never had it before ..jeezz, all this new stuff to contend with , aghrrr ! thanks again, will keep you updated.

 

[zeebo]

update : took'' test tank '' water in for TDS testing , got 211 , just gravel. Tap is 154. Not such a big rise here. Didnt measure how much I put in, just scooped it out of the 54g. not sure where this is leading, something else seems to be causing the high TDS so will continue to keep this thread going and will continue to test stuff from the tank. Thanks for all who are hanging in there with me .appreciate.

 

[zeebo]

well, just added another component from the 54g to the ''test tank'',which now has some gravel , a rock ,and just added a pc of slate. I purchased the slate at the lfs, when I removed it from the 54g , I noticed it was kinda soft, and i was able to scrape my finger on it and some black came off...almost like a very wet chalk borad ...?? Concerned , I felt the other slate and they are grey and hard, normal slate slabs. So what the heck did they sell me ?? I know i origionally did the vinegar test on it and boiled it ,as I do all rocks and slate that go in the tanks. I also have a smaller pc of same in the 30g which i plan to remove today. Anybody ever hear of slate turning this way ? TDS numbers will be interesting in 2 weeks. thanks , Georgie

 

[Lornek8]

Sounds like shale. Not too familiar with it but from little i've read i'm almost sure that's the problem.

 

[zeebo]

thanks Lorne, yeah, never seen slate do that before ,and have had these pcs in the tanks for quite a while. So will leave it in my ''test''tank for 2 weeks , then get the TDS reading, and will report them. Hope this is the problem ,as it seems easy enough to rectify. crossing fingers... thanks again

 

[zeebo]

googled shale and it looks exactly like the photos. did some reading on it,yikes, then looked up slate , and what i have left in the tanks does look like the light grey slate, so hoping ,with all Lorne's help and suggestions, the shale is the culprit ...waiting game now .. then if so, would assume lots of wc's to remove the high TDS numbers...fingers crossed. thanks,

 

[zeebo]

new kh/gh/ph readings - 54g kh3/gh13/ph6.4 ''test tank''(contains only gravel, shale, 1 rock and air stone ) kh6/gh10/ph8 . any clues here ? thanks

 

[zeebo]

just if anyone is still following how i am trying to figure out what is causing high Tds in my tanks , I have some new test numbers from my ''test tank''. ok, tank sat with new items, one at a time , 2 weeks each . The shale I removed from 54g to test tank got tds reading of 277, and the grey slate sat for 2 more weeks , added to previous mentioned stuff(gravel, a rock, shale I thought was slate, and now the real slate) The slate Tds reading brought it up to 305. My tap is 154, so nothing really concerning yet causing the rise. Still have a few more things to remove from 54g to be put in test tank ,today some smooth small river rocks-will leave in for 2 more weeks . Thanks for those following this thread and any input appreciated. Really,seems nothing yet i have tested is causing the high (over 700) tds in all 3 of my tanks.:dk: Will keep going till nothing left to test obviously.

 

[Brengun]

It does seem puzzling.

 

[zeebo]

hi to anyone following this thread. Well I am able to keep the ph at 6.8 in all 3 tanks after completely removing all the chiclid gravel I had put in the corners, and started again by slowly adding chiclid gravel till the ph stayed steady for over a month now,but still keeping an eye on it.

As for the TDS which came up during this thread, and my very high levels in all 3 tanks,

 

[zeebo]

Sorry, cont' (got a broken finger and typing is off ,musta hit something) Again. as for the high TDS in all 3 tanks , i began an experiment by removing 1 object at a time , leaving in ''test tank-no fish ,no heater, no filter, just 1 air stone. 2weeks,samplewater to be tested. It did rise slightly, however , It rose, actually skyrocketed to TDS -623 after adding resin caves. I purchased them at lfs, in reptile aisle , but tag said safe for aqiarium use also. To be sure at the time, I called the manufacture company and spoke with a rep, who agreed that the caves would be safe in the aquarium. This is untrue, could be the paint peeling off ,or something else within them but they were obviously the cause and I had them in all 3 tanks for long periods of time.
want to humbly thank Lornek for his patience,ideas,expertise and never-ending willingness to help me figure this out. Also ,thanks to everyone else who followed this thread and tried to solve the problem.

 

[Brengun]

Oohwah I have a couple of resin caves just for cover in frysavers when purging them for freight. I might toss them in a bucket and check them too.

PS I hope your finger mends. <3

 

[zeebo]

thanks Brenda, would be curious to see ur numbers after testing a few weeks.

Thanks, finger will be fine ,knuckle broke n but no surgery ,just a waiting game and camt go back to work till healed.

please post ur readings if u test the caves. thanks . Mine had been in the tanks about 5 yrs and you can see the paint missing inside .

 

[Brengun]

I usually only use them in a frysaver when purging fry for freighting so it would be just a 24 hour thing I guess. I did put one in the zeb tank as extra cover...
Nup tds and ph no different to what it usually is every week, TDS in the 180's after a week of no wc and PH 6.8 ish. The reptile cover has been in there several weeks so far.