Avoiding Ph Crash

[gymmom]

Hi everyone! I'm needing a bit of advice. I age my water in a 55 gallon food grade barrel with a heater, 2 airstones and a pump. My water out of the tap is off the charts on the high range ph test (over 8.8) After aging 24 hours it drops to 7.6 and after 48 hours to 7.2. I do not like to go more than 48 hours without a water change and prefer it if I could do one daily. The water in my tank is 6.8 but will continue to drop if not changed every 48 hours. My KH is 1-2 and GH is 8-10. I have juveniles and feel like they are growing quite slowly in these conditions. What is the safest and least expensive additive to stabalize my ph and most importantly KH to avoid a PH crash and fluctuations??? TIA for your help!

Brandi

[RogueDiscus]

Maybe Dan (DJW) will see this and chime in, but I think a little baking soda is sometimes recommended.

[DJW]

It seems unusual that the pH would continue dropping like that after 24 hours of ageing with vigorous circulation and aeration. My pH swings up not down but its done after 12 hours. Much better to change water daily... the only thing I can suggest is increasing the air. It looks like you have city water with hydroxide being added, so you are trying to bring CO2 into the water rather than getting it out as would be the case with typical well water.

I would be tempted to go ahead and change it daily with 24 hours of ageing. That last bit of pH swing isn't a big deal and with daily changes the tank pH might stay higher and be closer to the pH in the barrel.

With daily WCs you wouldn't need to add buffer unless the tank is really crowded with fish.

[gymmom]

I'm more worried about when I need to go on vacation for 3 or 4 days.....I keep on top of water changes otherwise I will never trust anyone else but myself to do them haha. I just want stability...doesn't everyone lol

[DJW]

ok, I thought you wanted it to age faster. Your buffer is fairly low, so a handful of crushed coral in the filter should do the trick. If you aren't feeding while you are gone the effect bioload has on pH is much less. I don't trust coral when the bioload is high (heavily stocked w/fish) but otherwise it should work.

A more predictable method is to add baking soda before you leave. For a 4 day trip getting the KH up to 4 or 5 should be safe for an average stocking level. No feeding. One teaspoon in 50 gallons increases KH by one degree. I don't like to add baking soda all at once if its more than 1/2 KH, it dissolves right away and makes the pH shoot up and then slide back down some, so I add some every 4 hours until it gets where I want it.

[gymmom]

Thank you SO MUCH Dan!!!!