PH on a decline

[Cove Beach]

The story you are telling sounds much like what I went through about 2 months ago. Here is what I found in my case. Like you I thought probe first, checked it against API and found it was not broke. I also checked the other parameters of both the source water and the tank and only found the nitrates to be slightly elevated. I added crushed coral to my sump in a high flow area as suggested on the forum to buffer and slow the ph drop. I didn’t see any real improvement. Next I did a deep clean on the sump every day until I wasn’t seeing anything hardly to vacume up anymore. And lastly, and this seems to have put an end to the ph issue, I replaced and increased the Purigen in my reactor. The media was maybe a little over a year old and had been regenerated at least 10 times. My ph sank into the 5.50 range,it had me pretty freaked out. After doing that the ph steadily went back up to normal and has stabilized. I hope this helps.

[bluelagoon]

Mando it seems like somehow the carbonates in your system are being depleted. Your pH is already acidic and the nitrogen cycle is an acidifying process. Try adding some egg shells or coral sand or aragonite to replete your carbonates. This should stabilize you pH.

This is what's going on. It happens in my tanks. I have to add baking soda along with the food daily to keep the PH around 6.7. Like mentioned they are things similar to crushed coral that can be added to the filter.

[fljones3]

Purigen does seem to affect PH at some point. At least that's my experience also.

[Mando]

Should I put crushed coral in my canister filter? Where can I get crushed coral from?

[Cove Beach]

Most LFS that sell saltwater stuff will have it. You will find it under the name arragonite. Also if they have calcium reactor media, that’s another option. I would put it where it will see the most flow, if you are using a canister I would put it in the stage right before it exits back to the tank so it’s not collecting crud.

[Filip]

Your tap water KH is too low to start with Mando.
You can start ading baking soda straight in your aging barell and aim for at least 5 dg. KH on regular basis with every WC . Couple of tries and errors and you'll learn the exact dose of baking soda that gets you to +5KH .

[Cove Beach]

If you can’t find it locally, you can order it from BRS.

[Mando]

If you can’t find it locally, you can order it from BRS.

I will definitely give this a go! thank you for your help.

Your tap water KH is too low to start with Mando.
You can start ading baking soda straight in your aging barell and aim for at least 5 dg. KH on regular basis with every WC . Couple of tries and errors and you'll learn the exact dose of baking soda that gets you to +5KH .

I agree that it is very low even straight from tap. I wonder if I should go back to well water. What are your thoughts? When I came into the discus industry, I struggled with my first batch and I blamed it on my well water. However, I think it was mostly on my husbandry and a bunch of other mistakes I made. I'm sure my well water has the right amount of KH. I can test it after work.

Regardless, What would you suggest as a first dose of baking soda on a 55g drum?

[Filip]

I will definitely give this a go! thank you for your help.



I agree that it is very low even straight from tap. I wonder if I should go back to well water. What are your thoughts? When I came into the discus industry, I struggled with my first batch and I blamed it on my well water. However, I think it was mostly on my husbandry and a bunch of other mistakes I made. I'm sure my well water has the right amount of KH. I can test it after work.

Regardless, What would you suggest as a first dose of baking soda on a 55g drum?

I would stick with the current tap source and start adding baking soda to increase the KH .
I've never had to do this because my tap is rock hard and I can't tell the exact amount and water /soda ratio but I wouldn't hesitate to experiment in an aging barrel. Try with a teaspoon today and measure it tommorow again prior WC too se where it gets you . In a couple of tries you'll know the exact amount your tap and barrel needs to get above 5 Dgkh.

[dspeers]

Just curious, wouldn't it be worthwhile to determine what the Gh is before opting to correct with baking soda rather that partly or completely correcting with Ca carbonate. Not sure about fish but in humans with otherwise Ca poor diets, Ca in the water supply is an important source and lack of Ca causes a variety of adverse health outcomes. Although the target Gh should be in the medium soft-medium range (60-100) ppm, if the Gh like the Kh is also extremely low wouldn't you address?

[Mando]

Just curious, wouldn't it be worthwhile to determine what the Gh is before opting to correct with baking soda rather that partly or completely correcting with Ca carbonate. Not sure about fish but in humans with otherwise Ca poor diets, Ca in the water supply is an important source and lack of Ca causes a variety of adverse health outcomes. Although the target Gh should be in the medium soft-medium range (60-100) ppm, if the Gh like the Kh is also extremely low wouldn't you address?

I agree with you, Don. In the past, when I measured GH, it was extremely low as well. I completely forgot to check it again yesterday but I will get to it today.

[Second Hand Pat]

Accurately kH is what you want to measure since it is what buffers pH.
Pat

[RogueDiscus]

Agreeing with Pat and Don, I think, and checking my limited chemistry knowledge. I think calcium carbonate, magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride, potassium whatever, are all simple ionic compounds or "salts." The carbonate is what reacts with the ammonia on the way to creating nitrates, but the calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium are all necessary electrolyte (electrical carriers) chemicals in fish as well as humans.

[Mando]

So how would I address low GH and KH? They are both extremely low.

[RogueDiscus]

Sorry, I don't mean to muddy up this thread. You need carbonates, whatever the cause is, but if your GH is low, too, I think Don's got you on the right track with calcium carbonate forms.

Maybe I could start packaging my well water!