Holy Soft Water: pH crash

[lipadj46]

So it has been rainy here, really rainy and does not look like it will let up any time soon. Normally our water is soft, GH=0-1, KH=1-2 and TDS is around 80 ppm or so (water from the hudson river). My fish have been acting funny the past few days and this morning I saw my BGK was shedding some slime, never saw that before. I normally never test pH but after my other tests were fine I checked really quick with the API test and it was yellow, normally it is green/blue (pH=6.8-7.0), so I used a pH strip and it looked somewhere around 4 or 5! I pulled out a pH meter and calibrated it and it was not giving a reliable reading in the tank or my tap, normally I see this in the lab with distilled water. Then I checked the GH and KH and they were reacting after one drop was added. Finally I dug up my TDS tester and calibrated that and wowsers, my TDS was 19 ppm out of the tap and 23 ppm in the tank! So I did a water change and added some baking soda to raise the KH to 3 and added a GH booster to raise the GH to 2, then I added some salt to get the TDS to around 120-130ppm.

pH is around 7.2 now and the fish are noticeably better. I've never had to add anything to my discus water in the past until now. I'm a bit stressed because I'm going away for 3 weeks at the end of the month to take a graduate physics course and my wife is taking care of the fish. I was planning on her doing weekly water changes (she won't do daily like I do) and feeding sparingly. I've often left my tank for a week at a time but never this long. I'm going to keep an eye on my water more closely now and figure out a plan for my wife when I'm gone (she's going to love that LOL!).

I'm guessing I need to get an all in one remineralizer, I'm guessing either Kent or the Seachem. Maybe I will just make my own. Glad I caught things in time!

[brewmaster15]

Don,
I just saw this, good thing you caught that before it really crashed. Instead of a remineralizer, I think what you could use is something to add KH.. The easiest and cheapest way to do that in a long term fashion is to add a small amount crushed coral to your filter... I run it in all my tanks here as I have no KH. Try a cup per 50 gals water in a nylon stocking and see how your pH does....if its too high cut it back. 1-2 cups here in a 75 gal keeps my ph in the low 7's on all my grow outs. Let me know if you need more info .

hth,
al

[lipadj46]

Thanks Al yes crushed coral might be the ticket. I'm setting up an internal moving bed filter that I could put the coral in there too. Its amazing how the fish have bounced back like nothing happened. I think it goes to show the importance of having a full array of water tests and to let your fish's behavior be a sign of problems with water quality.

[lipadj46]

Just got a bag of crushed coral hopefully this will solve my issues and be easier than adding baking soda every water change. Water is still 0 KH and GH.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Let us know your results Don as I see this as an interesting situation.

[lipadj46]

Let us know your results Don as I see this as an interesting situation.

Will do, I got the carib sea crushed coral with argonite as I found it for cheap. If this does not work I will probably roll my own remineralizer as I have access to pretty much any bicarbonate/carbonate and also have a bunch of MgSO4, CaSO4 and K2SO4. I also have plaster of paris which will raise KH and GH. Hopefully the coral will work though as I am going away for 3 weeks on the 20th and the wife is only going to do weekly water changes with 1 daily feeding of FDBWs.

[lipadj46]

OK so my tap measures:

pH = 7.1
KH = 0-1 degrees
GH = 0-1 degrees

I added 2 cups of Carib Sea Geo Marine Aragonite Formula Crushed Florida Coral and put it in a media bag inside my moving bed filter. After a complete water change and waiting about an hour here are my parameters:

pH = 7.3
KH = 2 degrees
GH = 0-1 degrees

I will update this thread for the next 4 days with parameters (if I can go that long without a water change LOL!). This is a dry run for when I leave my wife in charge for 3 weeks doing weekly water changes.

[troysdiiscus]

KH went up.......keep us updated, I would think it should continue over the next day or two...good luck...

[lipadj46]

So this morning:

pH=7.0
GH=1
KH=2

I added another cup making it 3 cups total. I also vacuumed up some poop and added back about 5 gallons, couldn't help myself.

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[lipadj46]

So day 3:
PH=7
GH=1-2
KH=2

So I think this should work fine for when I am away


sent from an undisclosed location using morse code