KH & PH crashed

[mollyfish]

Hi All,

Need some help on KH & PH. I have a 2ft tank about 1 to 2 months old. My KH has been low most of the time ( avg 2, sometimes 1). I was told to increase the KH first thn PH will stable. However, everytime I bring up the KH, the following will drop.

Like yest nite i changed water, the KH was 5 (i was told my tank should be between 3 to 5). My PH was 7.5 - so I tried to bring down to 6.5. This morning I tested it again, KH went down to 3 but PH still remains @ 7.5. From what I can see, I suspect my KH will go down sooner or later.

Any idea how can I stablised my KH ? It seems to be dropping easily. And if KH still going down, I will have problem stablising my PH too.

I have a few plants - 2 on wood, 1 pce of rock inside the tank. Fishes are cardinal tetras, platy, molly, SAE.

Please help!!!

[budak]

presumably you are using baking soda or some KH-up product to raise the KH?

Any idea what in your tank could be the cause? ADA Soil? Peat in filter/substrate? Some piece of wood? Lots of organic matter?

[mollyfish]

Yes, I am using the KH+ powder ...hv not tried baking soda.

What is ADA soil ? Not too sure what is the name of the soil I am using but is those 2 in 1 soil - gravel + fertiliser (brown in colour, and slightly bigger then normal sand gravel). It was recommended by the shop person - supposed to be a better solution compared to buying a portion of gravel and a portion of fertiliser.

I have 2 pces of wood - 1 tied with Ruccia and 1 tied with nana.

Not sure what is peat in filter (still a new owner...) but my filter is one of those hang on filter - nothing added/removed since I bought it.

Thanks.