ph

[dhags]

Hi,my tank is cycled for about a week but ph is bouncing,what is the best way to stabilize ph in your tank.Never had this problem before in the past in my tank once cycled ph was stable. thanks Dan

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

What is your kH? That's the first place I'd look if I had a bouncing pH.

[dhags]

Where about should your kh be?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

It's hard to say where exactly it should be. Since my water KH is <1 right out of the tap. A few more details about the tank would be helpful. Any contents such as driftwood and the like. Also, what is the pH of your tap water and have you been doing water changes all week?

[lhforbes12]

Where about should your kh be?

You should have a KH of at least 3dKH for your pH to remain stable. Baking soda works wonderfully for this, but it will also raise your pH.

[dhags]

Thank-you very much for the info to both of you,also i do have drift wood in there and it is bb.I have done a couple water changes, luckly i have no discus in there.

[poconogal]

Thank-you very much for the info to both of you,also i do have drift wood in there and it is bb.I have done a couple water changes, luckly i have no discus in there.
I had to remove my driftwood because it dropped my KH and GH way down. KH was down to 0. Luckily my KH is 5 out of faucet, because I also happen to have very high PH, 8.8 after 24 hrs., so I use peat to reduce PH to 7.4, which reduces my KH to 3-4. (Yes, I have weird water!) You might want to try removing your driftwood and see what happens. I bought a beautiful piece of resin "driftwood." But as Larry says, it should be minimum of 3 for stability. :)

[BIGFOOT]

I dont see a need to pull the driftwood or peat out. I would just do more water changes to raise the kh back up. Beside that the peat is unnessary anyway.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

That may not necessarily work BIGFOOT. If the KH of the water is that low then the water changes are exactly what is causing the bouncing pH. Removing the driftwood will keep that KH from dropping when the water change is done. My guess is that the driftwood is lowering the KH of the water and in turn lowering the pH as well. The pH and kH of the tapwater is higher and so when the water change is done, both the pH and the KH are raised and then slowly lowered by the tannins in the driftwood. Removing the source of tannins will stabalize the water.

[poconogal]

That may not necessarily work BIGFOOT. If the KH of the water is that low then the water changes are exactly what is causing the bouncing pH. Removing the driftwood will keep that KH from dropping when the water change is done. My guess is that the driftwood is lowering the KH of the water and in turn lowering the pH as well. The pH and kH of the tapwater is higher and so when the water change is done, both the pH and the KH are raised and then slowly lowered by the tannins in the driftwood. Removing the source of tannins will stabalize the water.
That is precisely what happened to my KH and GH, which is why I took my driftwood out and suggested that dhags remove it and see what happens. My driftwood dropped KH to 0 and GH to 2. As far as the peat, it is necessary for MY tank, as I have 8.8 PH, so I need the peat to lower PH. Like I said in my previous post, I have weird water, high PH but soft.