Seiryu rock and PH

Im setting up a discus tank. Its currently un-cycyled / cycling. My tapwater is 7.8 PH, 250 tds , 80 ppm KH. So i want to try and keep my tank at 7.8. I plan to change 40% water at a time.
I picked up some seiryu rock at the pet shop. I didn't realize till i cleaned it with vinegar that it reacted. When it fizzed with vinegar I pulled it out of my tank. Which had been holding at 7.8 with one piece.
I added driftwood about the same time and my PH started slowly falling to 7.7 in 24 hours. I put the seiryu back in more this time as I have it all clean. The PH has stopped falling and is slowing moving back up

Does anyone know how high seiryu will push the PH ? If its only pushes to 7.8, it may actually help my PH be stable.
I also hate to toss it as I like the look. It has white streaks / specks I'm guessing are calcium carbonate.

With a KH that high, your PH should be stable without the rock. Does your PH fluctuate if you age it? That would be an issue if it does.

You can successful keep and raise discus in 7.8 PH. The last thing you wanna do is chase PH. How often do you plan on changing 40% water?

I plan to do 2-3 changes a week. My PH does seem pretty stable. The seiryu rock seems to hold it up slightly, that be may be more a placebo.
I don't have fish yet so I'm letting it run a few days with no water changes. So far the PH slides between 7.8 - 7.7 mostly close to 7.8 That may just be drift in my probe.
I did a lot of water change at first just to get my water change gear going and making sure everything is good before I get fish

I def do not want to chase PH. I am giving Duscus a try because I was tired of a reef tank. I want something that is KISS, just do a lot of water changes and all is good :-)
So far it looks like I can change water without worry of a big PH swing.

Clean water and stable PH is literally all you need. Keep us posted Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Makko

I plan to do 2-3 changes a week. My PH does seem pretty stable. The seiryu rock seems to hold it up slightly, that be may be more a placebo.
I don't have fish yet so I'm letting it run a few days with no water changes. So far the PH slides between 7.8 - 7.7 mostly close to 7.8 That may just be drift in my probe.
I did a lot of water change at first just to get my water change gear going and making sure everything is good before I get fish

I def do not want to chase PH. I am giving Duscus a try because I was tired of a reef tank. I want something that is KISS, just do a lot of water changes and all is good :-)
So far it looks like I can change water without worry of a big PH swing.

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At least you won't ever have breeding aggression.

You may want to switch to a rock type that is more inert. Granite or Manten. Check out this link:

https://buceplant.com/collections/aquascaping-rocks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Makko

Im setting up a discus tank. Its currently un-cycyled / cycling. My tapwater is 7.8 PH, 250 tds , 80 ppm KH. So i want to try and keep my tank at 7.8. I plan to change 40% water at a time.
I picked up some seiryu rock at the pet shop. I didn't realize till i cleaned it with vinegar that it reacted. When it fizzed with vinegar I pulled it out of my tank. Which had been holding at 7.8 with one piece.
I added driftwood about the same time and my PH started slowly falling to 7.7 in 24 hours. I put the seiryu back in more this time as I have it all clean. The PH has stopped falling and is slowing moving back up

Does anyone know how high seiryu will push the PH ? If its only pushes to 7.8, it may actually help my PH be stable.
I also hate to toss it as I like the look. It has white streaks / specks I'm guessing are calcium carbonate.

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The Seiryu stone should stop reacting fairly quickly, probably by the time your tank cycles.
I have quite a bit of it in my 50 gallon.

My PH hasn’t moved much at all. It is holding between 7.7 and 7.8. So the rock hasn’t pushed it up any higher if at all. I have been doing a fishless cycle when I add ammonia it drops for a bit but never much below 7.7.

I wonder why ammonia drops the pH? As converted to NO2 then N03, the pH should drop as these are both acidic, but ammonia is basic.

My cycle isnt complete. Ammonia measure zero, but I still have high nitrites. Im only using a 1/4 the dose recommended. So maybe it is the nitrites going up ?

It also may just be placebo. Im using an apex to measure im sure it drifts a bit. i dose a little ammonia each morning, so it could be just daily swings based on light. Its not much .05 total.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Makko

My cycle isnt complete. Ammonia measure zero, but I still have high nitrites. Im only using a 1/4 the dose recommended. So maybe it is the nitrites going up ?

It also may just be placebo. Im using an apex to measure im sure it drifts a bit. i dose a little ammonia each morning, so it could be just daily swings based on light. Its not much .05 total.

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Why are you only doing 1/4 ammonia doses?
Seems like this would slow your cycle down quite a bit.