# PH is too low, help!



## popcorn (Feb 6, 2004)

Hi, I am having trouble with the ph in my fish tank. I have a 55 gallon tank with 5 small redbellys in it. The water test fines except for the ph which tests at 6.0. I have removed the drift wood and done water changes. I have added neutral regulator chemical that spikes the ph up to 7.0 but it only works for a few days and then we're right back where we started. I have tested our second fish tank and it is always a perfect 7.0. Our tapwater also tests at 7.0. Any ideas on why the piranha tank is having ph issues? What would cause the it to have such a low ph? I was thinking maybe driftwood, but again we have removed that and nothing has changed.


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

popcorn said:


> Hi, I am having trouble with the ph in my fish tank. I have a 55 gallon tank with 5 small redbellys in it. The water test fines except for the ph which tests at 6.0. I have removed the drift wood and done water changes. I have added neutral regulator chemical that spikes the ph up to 7.0 but it only works for a few days and then we're right back where we started. I have tested our second fish tank and it is always a perfect 7.0. Our tapwater also tests at 7.0. Any ideas on why the piranha tank is having ph issues? What would cause the it to have such a low ph? I was thinking maybe driftwood, but again we have removed that and nothing has changed.


What is your pH out of the tap?


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## shredder_fury (Aug 25, 2006)

doctorvtec said:


> Hi, I am having trouble with the ph in my fish tank. I have a 55 gallon tank with 5 small redbellys in it. The water test fines except for the ph which tests at 6.0. I have removed the drift wood and done water changes. I have added neutral regulator chemical that spikes the ph up to 7.0 but it only works for a few days and then we're right back where we started. I have tested our second fish tank and it is always a perfect 7.0. Our tapwater also tests at 7.0. Any ideas on why the piranha tank is having ph issues? What would cause the it to have such a low ph? I was thinking maybe driftwood, but again we have removed that and nothing has changed.


What is your pH out of the tap? [/quote] I think he said out of the tap 7.0


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Ok I see that. What is your substrate? Some gravels can cause some pH issues. How often do you change the water in the piranha tank?


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## popcorn (Feb 6, 2004)

doctorvtec said:


> Ok I see that. What is your substrate? Some gravels can cause some pH issues. How often do you change the water in the piranha tank?


The substrate is a river gravel. I'm not sure of the brand as weve had it for about 5 years. It's a natural looking gravel, medium size. We change about 25% of the water once a week. We are also having cloudy water issues in the P tank but the other tank is just fine. Could the low ph be causing the water to cloud. We are using 2 filters also. I haven't changed the carbon in either one in months, could this affect the ph? We are using a large canister filter (Penn Plax Cascade 1200) and also Penguin biowheel 330 on the back of the tank. Oh, and the tap tests at 7.0. Thanks for your feedback!


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## harrykaa (Jan 10, 2005)

A slightly acidic, like pH 6.0, water is on the contrary a bit clearer than basic water. This is due to the fact that many algae do not like low pH.
Carbon in the filter on the other hand may be the reason for water fouling. Anyway you should take that out. There is no reason to use carbon, unless you want to remove medicine or some poison from the water; only temporary use.

Harry


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

For a temporary fix add a tablespoon of Arm & Hammer Baking soda per day. Also either downsize your bio load or increase your water changes. If your kH is low below 89.5 ppm you need to add a buffer such as crushed coral or limestone.


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## Fishking320 (Jan 31, 2005)

my ph is contantly piss yellow...im assuming cause of my driftwood...i use PH up powder...i hear that regular baking soda has some other sh*t in it thats no good to use in fish tanks even though the PH up from the fish store is the same thing...Sodium Bicarbonate. But needless to say i dont believe that 6.0 is really too bad for Piranha. In fact most of what i read on here says 6.0-6.5 is perfect. Please correct me if im wrong.


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## luciferzone (Feb 14, 2006)

put some crushed coral in your filter it will bring it up to around 7 in about 10 days


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## popcorn (Feb 6, 2004)

luciferzone said:


> put some crushed coral in your filter it will bring it up to around 7 in about 10 days


Ok, I will do a water change today and I will dump the carbon from the bag in the canister filter. I will replace it with crushed coral. I have heard that P's like the ph nuetral. What happend is I had the P's in a smaller tank and transferred them to the 55 gallon which used to have an Oscar in it. As soon as I stuck the P's in there they started thrashing and weren't eating and almost seemed like they were trying to get out of the water (crashing up against the glass, like trying to escape) I checked the ph and it was about 6.0. I added ph nuetralizer and they seem to stop thrashing as long as I'm dumping that in there every few days. I'll try the coral. If that doesn't work after about a week, I will try the baking soda thing. Would you recommend one tablespoon a day for a 55 gallong tank? That seems like a small amont, it's not per gallon? Thanks for suggestions.........


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## Fishking320 (Jan 31, 2005)

popcorn said:


> put some crushed coral in your filter it will bring it up to around 7 in about 10 days


Ok, I will do a water change today and I will dump the carbon from the bag in the canister filter. I will replace it with crushed coral. I have heard that P's like the ph nuetral. What happend is I had the P's in a smaller tank and transferred them to the 55 gallon which used to have an Oscar in it. As soon as I stuck the P's in there they started thrashing and weren't eating and almost seemed like they were trying to get out of the water (crashing up against the glass, like trying to escape) I checked the ph and it was about 6.0. I added ph nuetralizer and they seem to stop thrashing as long as I'm dumping that in there every few days. I'll try the coral. If that doesn't work after about a week, I will try the baking soda thing. Would you recommend one tablespoon a day for a 55 gallong tank? That seems like a small amont, it's not per gallon? Thanks for suggestions.........
[/quote]

tablespoon a day is way tooo much for a 55 gal...i use 2 tablespoons dissolved in 2 cups of warm water for my 220 every 3-7 days depending on my PH readings but a tablespoon a day in a 55 will make it like 8.0 instantly...NOT GOOD!! Use like a teaspoon to start dissolved in a cup of warm water. take your PH changes in gradual incriments so as to not stress the fish.


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## popcorn (Feb 6, 2004)

Fishking320 said:


> put some crushed coral in your filter it will bring it up to around 7 in about 10 days


Ok, I will do a water change today and I will dump the carbon from the bag in the canister filter. I will replace it with crushed coral. I have heard that P's like the ph nuetral. What happend is I had the P's in a smaller tank and transferred them to the 55 gallon which used to have an Oscar in it. As soon as I stuck the P's in there they started thrashing and weren't eating and almost seemed like they were trying to get out of the water (crashing up against the glass, like trying to escape) I checked the ph and it was about 6.0. I added ph nuetralizer and they seem to stop thrashing as long as I'm dumping that in there every few days. I'll try the coral. If that doesn't work after about a week, I will try the baking soda thing. Would you recommend one tablespoon a day for a 55 gallong tank? That seems like a small amont, it's not per gallon? Thanks for suggestions.........
[/quote]

tablespoon a day is way tooo much for a 55 gal...i use 2 tablespoons dissolved in 2 cups of warm water for my 220 every 3-7 days depending on my PH readings but a tablespoon a day in a 55 will make it like 8.0 instantly...NOT GOOD!! Use like a teaspoon to start dissolved in a cup of warm water. take your PH changes in gradual incriments so as to not stress the fish.
[/quote]

Doh! I got to thinking about it after I asked, a tablespoon a day is a whole lot, and a tablespoon per gallon would be insane. I did a 50% water change and dumped the carbon from the canister filter and replaced it with crushed coral. Thanks for all the help!


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## harrykaa (Jan 10, 2005)

Fishking320 said:


> tablespoon a day is way tooo much for a 55 gal...i use 2 tablespoons dissolved in 2 cups of warm water for my 220 every 3-7 days depending on my PH readings but a tablespoon a day in a 55 will make it like 8.0 instantly...NOT GOOD!! Use like a teaspoon to start dissolved in a cup of warm water. take your PH changes in gradual incriments so as to not stress the fish.


It is always good to remember not to mesh with chemicals in aquarium if you do not exactly what you are doing. Sodium bicarbonate is a powerfull basic buffer capable of raising the pH up very soon. And thus causing breathing and skin problems to fishes and death of chlorophyll in plants.

You should only raise the KH by one degree per day. 1 even teaspoon will raise the KH of 30 gallons (115 litres) by one degree.

Harry


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

popcorn said:


> Ok, I will do a water change today and I will dump the carbon from the bag in the canister filter. I will replace it with crushed coral. I have heard that P's like the ph nuetral.


No, piranhas prefer a slightly acidic ph, the amazon basin water where they are from is soft and slightly acidic. A ph of 6 is fine, I always keep mine between 6 and 6.5. As long as your kh levels are sufficiently high as to prevent ph swings you're fine. Sodium bicarbonate (Baking soda) is a great way to maintain kh levels. Crushed coral works, but it also raises ph and imo is hard to keep in balance, and the most important thing is keeping a stable ph. a ph of 6 would not cloud the water or cause the fish stress, in fact they should like it better that way. if you're having water issues, check the other perameters--i would guess the issue lies there. get rid of the carbon completely, leave the ph at 6, add baking soda and check kh levels. add baking soda at each water change appropriately and you'll keep a stable ph of 6. don't worry about adding coral, and check your other water perams for other issues. but like harry said, be careful when adding baking soda, and make sure its not too much. better too little than too much. add a little, check kh an hour later, add more the next time w/o going over a 1 degree increase. soon you'll know exactly how much to add at water changes to keep the kh (and thus the ph) stable


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## nemo the piranha (Sep 29, 2006)

just buy some ph up but use it carefully so it dosent shock them.


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

don't use ph up, you don't _need_ to raise the ph, its fine. and if you did need to increase or decrease the ph ever, do so with crushed coral (up), or peat (down). adding ph up/down chemicals is never a good idea--as well as the fact that they are a temporary 'solution'--which is also bad, b/c more important than the level of your ph (as long as its within safe limits, around 6-8 +/-.5) is the _stability _of your ph. hence the importance of maintaining adequate kh.


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## popcorn (Feb 6, 2004)

nick007x said:


> don't use ph up, you don't _need_ to raise the ph, its fine. and if you did need to increase or decrease the ph ever, do so with crushed coral (up), or peat (down). adding ph up/down chemicals is never a good idea--as well as the fact that they are a temporary 'solution'--which is also bad, b/c more important than the level of your ph (as long as its within safe limits, around 6-8 +/-.5) is the _stability _of your ph. hence the importance of maintaining adequate kh.


I have learned my lesson on all the chemcials. I tried using a neutral regulator by seachem. What a joke. It was supposed to adjust the ph automatically to 7.0 but it didn't work, it only raised it slightly and the effect was very temporary. The P's did stop freaking out within hours of me putting the chemical in though. They are doing better since I've added the crushed coral to the filter. I really think the ph was stressing them. It didn't help that the first tank they were in was at 7.0 and then I dumped them into the larger tank with a ph of about 6.0. I think I really stressed them. Anyways, I am testing the water almost daily and keeping a very close eye on them. Like I said, thier wigging out has subsided and they are feeding with frenzy now and seem to be much happier and healthier. Thanks again to all for your suggestions. This site is so helpful!


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## nick007x (Sep 9, 2005)

absolutely...thats exactly what i was talking about, its the ph _fluctuations_ that cause stress. going directly from a ph of 7 to 6 would certainly do the trick (in the future gradually acclimate them if moving). it wasn't the fact the water was a ph of 6 (not directly), it was b/c they went directly in water with a ph of 6 out of water with a 7 ph. gradually acclimated, they'd be just fine at that level, but the rapid shift caused stress. p's can easily adjust to a wide range of ph's, as long as its kept stable and any change is gradual. your instincts though were right on target in thinking it was a ph issue--by raising it a bit (as you were able to see) you got it closer to what they were used to and therefore not quite as stressful.

you'll be fine now w/o worrying about doing anything to raise it. if i were you and your tap ph is 6 (perfect for a piranha), i would take the crushed coral out and as you do water changes, the ph will _gradually_ drop back down to 6 w/o stressing them out. also, since you're tap ph is 6, keeping the tank ph stable (most important thing) if the tank is at 6 is easy, its already done for you.


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