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Thread: Very low PH level

  1. #1
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    Very low PH level

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    Hi!
    The PH level in my 2 feet tanks is extremely low at 5.
    Is it caused by excessive nitrate or Co2, is changing 20% of water daily helps?
    I'm using DIY CO2 for the tank.
    Thanks in advance for the help!
    The past is HISTORY... the future is MYSTERY

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    What pH testkit r you using? Maybe b'cos of inaccurate readings from your testkit. If your pH is accurate, can add baking soda to rise your kH and pH. But be careful about your CO2 level.

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    Hi CT!
    Thanks for suggestion! Besides baking soda, can I just add some sea shell in the tank to rise the KH?
    The past is HISTORY... the future is MYSTERY

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    What are you using for substrate? Any peat or ADA aquasoil? You have to inject quite a large amount of CO2 to your 2ft tank to bring it down to pH5 if nothing else in the tank is lowering pH along with it. Inaccurate reading due to a faulty testkit is possible.
    ThEoDoRe

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    Hi theodore!
    Thanks for the infos! I'll get another test kit to verify the PH level again... My subtrate is from JBL plus 2mm gravel. Don't have peace of mind till this problem is solved!
    The past is HISTORY... the future is MYSTERY

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    If you r sure that your pH is at 5. Maybe you can slow down the injection of CO2 from your DIY CO2 by reducing the amt of baking powder(I am not wrong).

    To rise pH, you can rise your kH either by baking soda or coral chips.

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    you can slow down diy co2 generation by reducing the amount of yeast.
    any idea what is your kh?
    thomas liew

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    On 9/8/2003 11:18:13 PM

    Hi theodore!
    Thanks for the infos! I'll get another test kit to verify the PH level again... My subtrate is from JBL plus 2mm gravel. Don't have peace of mind till this problem is solved!
    ----------------
    You can verify the pH test kit on tap water. It should measure 7.0.
    If you want to put seashells in the tank, better use a mesh bag. Or put them in the filter. It will be easier to remove in future.
    I suspect your kH is near 0, that's why the pH becomes so low. Try some baking soda first. There's a topic in the Aquatic FAQ discussing this.
    koah fong
    Juggler's tanks

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    On 9/9/2003 4:39:38 AM

    You can verify the pH test kit on tap water. It should measure 7.0.
    If you want to put seashells in the tank, better use a mesh bag. Or put them in the filter. It will be easier to remove in future.
    I suspect your kH is near 0, that's why the pH becomes so low. Try some baking soda first. There's a topic in the Aquatic FAQ discussing this.
    ----------------
    pH of tap water varies quite a lot from time to time and location to location. It can range 7.0 to 9.0. At my home, it is around 8.0.

    BC

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    [:] The way I see it are:

    1. Feeding
    If you feed too much, try reducing it. Do not feed excessive.

    2. Yeast
    Try guaging how much yeast and how much CO2 injected by looking at your bubble counter. Get one if you dun have it. Some control can be done to it.

    3. Meanwhile, do a water change of 50%, measure the PH every 2 hrs to see how fast the PH goes from whatever to 5.

    4. Fertilizers
    If you have any root Fertilizers, try removing them to see if the condition improves.

    5. Lighting
    If you get BGA (Blue Green Algae), time to switch off your lights for 2 days or so with plenty of water change. Use Nutrafin Aqua Plus to treat the water. This is a "if" scenario.

    Well, thats about cover most of the stuffs liao. If you want further advise, I think the rest would be more helpful than me.

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    Your carbonate hardness is probably less than 1 or too little to buffer the acid added (in your case is DIY CO2).
    Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger

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    Ya dude, he is using DIY alright, read his first posting.

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    What is wrong???? Yah I know it is DIY CO2. The problem here is due to a pH crash from a lack of buffer while adding an acid in the form of carbon dioxide.
    Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger

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    ----------------
    On 9/9/2003 12:31:19 PM

    [:] The way I see it are:

    1. Feeding
    If you feed too much, try reducing it. Do not feed excessive.

    2. Yeast
    Try guaging how much yeast and how much CO2 injected by looking at your bubble counter. Get one if you dun have it. Some control can be done to it.

    3. Meanwhile, do a water change of 50%, measure the PH every 2 hrs to see how fast the PH goes from whatever to 5.

    4. Fertilizers
    If you have any root Fertilizers, try removing them to see if the condition improves.

    5. Lighting
    If you get BGA (Blue Green Algae), time to switch off your lights for 2 days or so with plenty of water change. Use Nutrafin Aqua Plus to treat the water. This is a "if" scenario.

    Well, thats about cover most of the stuffs liao. If you want further advise, I think the rest would be more helpful than me.
    ----------------
    Err... I think most of the things you mention is not related to "Very low pH level".

    I think the solution is simply raise the KH.

    BC

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    [:0] not related? how abt ammonia built-up for Fertilizers and Feeding? Yeast to reduce Co2, Lighting for algae, measurement - just for knowledge thingy.

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    On 9/9/2003 12:57:38 PM

    [:0] not related? how abt ammonia built-up for Fertilizers and Feeding? Yeast to reduce Co2, Lighting for algae, measurement - just for knowledge thingy.
    ----------------
    Now we are trying to solve the low pH problem.

    BTW, ammonia in ppm is not significant to alter the pH.

    BC

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    Well, I dunno about others, it does help for me after tackling these areas to keep the PH around 6.0 to 6.8, if not, the first sign I get is the buddies having a funny backache...hee hee. sensitive fish.

    For one thing, my LuoHan tank is not a planted tank, the attribute to PH 5-6 is only feeding. Thats according to personal observation.

    For my experimental tank, got rid of BGA, hairy algae, improve water quality and water gets more stablised.

    BC, I used to look at KH, but found out that it din help much. I search past articles and found a few where u told people about ammonia built-up so I decided to give a shot, thats how I draw my current conclusion.

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    Errr... I think you remembered wrongly or what you read was wrong. Excessive nitrate can lower your pH, but not ammonia/ammonium. By the time ammonia/ammonum gets high enough to do that, your fishes will be dead.

    So, excessive feeding and failure to clean up leftover food quickly enough can result in excessive N in your tank which starts first as ammonia/ammonium but end up as nitrates.
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    [:0] sorrie. Thanks for correcting me. [:] I din have chemistry background. So is the N relevant to this topic?

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    ----------------
    On 9/9/2003 1:08:47 PM

    Well, I dunno about others, it does help for me after tackling these areas to keep the PH around 6.0 to 6.8, if not, the first sign I get is the buddies having a funny backache...hee hee. sensitive fish.

    For one thing, my LuoHan tank is not a planted tank, the attribute to PH 5-6 is only feeding. Thats according to personal observation.

    For my experimental tank, got rid of BGA, hairy algae, improve water quality and water gets more stablised.

    BC, I used to look at KH, but found out that it din help much. I search past articles and found a few where u told people about ammonia built-up so I decided to give a shot, thats how I draw my current conclusion.
    ----------------
    I think you badly need to get your facts right...[]

    1. KH is directly related to pH.
    2. Ammonia should not build up in a fully cycled tank
    3. If there is so much ammonia to change the pH, your fishes should die first before you see any significant pH swing.

    BC[] []

    ps: please be careful if you quote someone saying "u told people about ammonia built-up"

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