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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / July 2004Goldfish PH
I went to do my weekly water change and I thought the tank looked pretty clean. So I decided to test the water and save myself some work. Woh, the PH was in the basement (5.5-) and KH was non existent! The water out of the tap is 7.5 PH with a KH of 140. So what caused the drop? What's the preferred PH for these guys 7.5? I guess I'll have to find a suitable buffer to add to the gravel. I gather crushed coral is the preferred buffer. The Nitrates were also too high, somewhere around 80+, which is less of a surprise as I noticed an Algae increase last week. I'm currently disinfecting some new plants to solve this problem. I'll be doing another water change midweek to bring this down again. > I went to do my weekly water change and I thought the tank looked pretty > clean. So I decided to test the water and save myself some work. Woh, the PH [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > disinfecting some new plants to solve this problem. I'll be doing another > water change midweek to bring this down again. Bill, How often do you do maintenance to your tank such as changing some water and how much? Do you have gravel? If so do you vaccuum it? PH crash can be caused by rotting material such as plants, food or even dead fish. > I went to do my weekly water change and I thought the tank looked pretty > clean. So I decided to test the water and save myself some work. Woh, the PH [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > disinfecting some new plants to solve this problem. I'll be doing another > water change midweek to bring this down again. Bill, How often do you do maintenance to your tank such as changing some water and how much? Do you have gravel? If so do you vaccuum it? PH crash can be caused by rotting material such as plants, food or even dead fish. > > I went to do my weekly water change and I thought the tank looked pretty > > clean. So I decided to test the water and save myself some work. Woh, the PH [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > Do you have gravel? If so do you vaccuum it? PH crash can be caused by rotting > material such as plants, food or even dead fish. I do a 30%+ water change every week to 10 days. Powerfilter gets cleaned and reflossed every two weeks. Gravel gets Python'd every water change. Although there are some weeks the gravel still looks dirty after a change, this week it looked very good. The last of my Water Hyancinths went south when I reduced the light to keep the temps down. I suspect this is the source of the Nitrate rise. I will have some Hornwort in there soon to help with the Nitrates. Bill, When you say you clean the filter every 2 weeks. How do you clean it? > Bill, > > When you say you clean the filter every 2 weeks. How do you clean it? The filter as an AC500, with one large sponge, some filter floss (Walmart stuffing) and usually a bag of Activated carbon. I change the floss every two weeks, although it's never really that dirty. The carbon and the sponge get swished in a bucket of aquarium water. > > Bill, > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > I change the floss every two weeks, although it's never really that dirty. > The carbon and the sponge get swished in a bucket of aquarium water. Ok, if it ain't dirty don't clean it. Only clean the filter when the flow slows down. The high nitrates might have contributed to your problem. Aim for 7.5. Anything between 7 and 8.5 is generally ok. The main thing is to try to get PH stable rather than moving around. You could use some bicarbonate of soda to buffer things temporarily while you look for something more permenant. Tufa rock is another possibility. The cause of the crash is that your biobugs use carbonate while dealing with Ammonia and nitrite turning it into nitrate. Eventually the water becomes depleted of carbonates and you get a very rapid ph drop. Aside from buffering you should look at your water change regime and either change more water or more often. Nitrates builing up and PH crash is a sign to me of too little water changing. You may now have weakened your fish opening them up to various nasties. Keep an eye on them and be prepared to treat if something secondary pops up. Wouldn't hurt to have some medicated food on standby > I went to do my weekly water change and I thought the tank looked pretty > clean. So I decided to test the water and save myself some work. Woh, the PH [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > disinfecting some new plants to solve this problem. I'll be doing another > water change midweek to bring this down again. > The high nitrates might have contributed to your problem. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > while you look for something more permenant. Tufa rock is another > possibility. Any idea how much per day for a 55 gal? I don't want to shock the boys. > The cause of the crash is that your biobugs use carbonate while > dealing with Ammonia and nitrite turning it into nitrate. > > Eventually the water becomes depleted of carbonates and you get a very > rapid ph drop. Aside from buffering you should look at your water > change regime and either change more water or more often. I do a 35%+ change every week to 10 days. Power Filter cleaned and flossed avery two weeks. PreFilters cleaned every week as well. Gravel vacuumed every week. > Nitrates builing up and PH crash is a sign to me of too little water > changing. I think the demise of my Water Hyancinths brought this on. > You may now have weakened your fish opening them up to various > nasties. Keep an eye on them and be prepared to treat if something [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > disinfecting some new plants to solve this problem. I'll be doing another > > water change midweek to bring this down again. if you got gravel, that is the source of rotting organics that are acidic. dissolved CO2 wont drop pH past 6.5. you got adequate buffer, something is pushing the pH lower. no, coral is not recommended for Goldfish tanks. get organic dolomitic limestone. but in this case you need to do a complete cleaning of the gravel. see here for how to clean it out http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/care/care1.htm#GRAVEL http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/care/care1.htm#REMOVING Ingrid >I went to do my weekly water change and I thought the tank looked pretty >clean. So I decided to test the water and save myself some work. Woh, the PH [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >disinfecting some new plants to solve this problem. I'll be doing another >water change midweek to bring this down again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. > if you got gravel, that is the source of rotting organics that are acidic. dissolved > CO2 wont drop pH past 6.5. > you got adequate buffer, something is pushing the pH lower. > no, coral is not recommended for Goldfish tanks. get organic dolomitic limestone. > but in this case you need to do a complete cleaning of the gravel. see here for how > to clean it out I've been considering emptying the gravel to give it a thorough wash. I also wanted to inspect under the RUGF plates. I was considering using a media bag full of crushed coral/dolomite so the GF can't eat it. I'll have to use some baking soda for now to stabilze things. I hope I haven't lost all my good bacteria. > http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/care/care1.htm#GRAVEL > http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/care/care1.htm#REMOVING [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the > endorsements or recommendations I make. Bill, How deep is the gravel over your RUGF plates, it should be at least 2 inches in depth over the plates. Tom L.L. --------------------------------------- >>if you got gravel, that is the source of rotting organics that are acidic. > [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] >>compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the >>endorsements or recommendations I make. > Bill, > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Tom L.L. > --------------------------------------- Gravel is about 3" in the back and 2" in the front. Although it occaionsally looks like a moonscape, between my cleaning and the GF digging. yes. good bacteria die off when pH drops. sorry. Ingrid I'll have to use some baking soda for now to stabilze things. >I hope I haven't lost all my good bacteria. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. Ingrid, I wanted to ask you what you're using for dolomitic limestone? Got a brand name or a source? Is this just organic lawn lime? > yes. good bacteria die off when pH drops. sorry. Ingrid > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the > endorsements or recommendations I make. I bought mine from Jo Ann Burke. Now I bought the liquid calcium from her since walmart quit stocking the dolomitic limestone down in alabama. however, garden stores usually have dolomitic limestone and it is check by putting a handful into a gallon of water, mix and leave it over night, mix and check pH. the "right stuff" doesnt take the pH over 8. dolomite isnt the right stuff, slaked lime is deadly. Ingrid >I wanted to ask you what you're using for dolomitic limestone? Got a brand >name or a source? Is this just organic lawn lime? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. > I went to do my weekly water change and I thought the tank looked pretty > clean. So I decided to test the water and save myself some work. Woh, the PH [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > disinfecting some new plants to solve this problem. I'll be doing another > water change midweek to bring this down again. OK, I put 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda in the tank (55 G). The PH went from ~5.5 to ~6.5, it's really hard to tell with these test strips. The KH went from nothing to about 300! GF still seem OK, tried to eat the test strip before I could pull it out. I'd like to go to 7.5 eventually, how long should I wait before bumping up the PH again? I think I'll go with a 1/4 tsp this time. Once I get the numbers up I will add a permanent buffer. I think I'll pull half the gravel out and give it a wash. rule of thumb is up to 7.0 not big problem. above only 0.2 units per day. down to 7.0 likewise not big problem, below only 0.2 units per day. dont pull out the gravel with the fish in the tank. Ingrid >OK, I put 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda in the tank (55 G). The PH went from ~5.5 >to ~6.5, it's really hard to tell with these test strips. The KH went from [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >I think I'll pull half the gravel out and give it a wash. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. > rule of thumb is up to 7.0 not big problem. above only 0.2 units per day. > down to 7.0 likewise not big problem, below only 0.2 units per day. > dont pull out the gravel with the fish in the tank. > Ingrid I see. Problem is these damn test strips increment by .5 and even that's a challenge to read. Too late for the gravel. I netted half out and washed it in declorinated water, then did the other half. It really did not look very dirty. Mostly black water, which is the colour or the gravel and or activated carbon. I also did a small water change and Nitrates are around 40 now. PH somewhere between 6.5 - 7. I found the "natural" Dolomitic Limestone at the nursery down the road, so I'll add that once I bump the PH up a bit more. I think I'll test this stuff in a cup before I add a media bag to the tank. How fast will this stuff leach out anyway? If I put it in a tank at 7.5, will the PH jump to 8.2 very quickly? Thanks for the help. > >OK, I put 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda in the tank (55 G). The PH went from ~5.5 > >to ~6.5, it's really hard to tell with these test strips. The KH went from [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the > endorsements or recommendations I make. do some more big water changes and get the nitrates down below 20 ppm. definitely test everything out before using. Jo Ann would put the limestone into the tank at each water change cause she has pH 5.6 water or so. but you can just leave this in the tank ... in a bare bottom tank it sorta looks like beach sand. BTW, the right stuff looks a little off white with darker bits in it. the pH shouldnt jump up quickly and should NOT go higher than pH 8 or so. Ingrid >I also did a small water change and Nitrates are around 40 now. PH somewhere >between 6.5 - 7. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >leach out anyway? If I put it in a tank at 7.5, will the PH jump to 8.2 very >quickly? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. |
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