Help on water parameters.

[Seven]

Hi all,

I just started a CRS tank from scratch. Cycling has been done till now almost 1 month.

Setup:
2ft tank
2x 24W light
Ehiem 2026
HC-130A
Air pump
ADA new amazonia

Plants
3x Mini Fissiden on wire mesh
2x Mini pelia on coconut husk
1x Mini Pelia on small lava rock
1x weeping moss on big pebble stone
3/4 surface of frogbits

Tank water parameter:
pH: 5.45
Temp: 23-24
GH:4
KH: 1-2
NO2: 0
NO3: 25
Ammonia: 0.5
TDS 340

My TDS meter has been calibrated with 200ppm calibration solution.
I have been trying to up my pH with water changes but no use.
Can someone advise how come my TDS and pH are out of control?

[Seven]

My tap water in Serangoon
pH: 6.97
GH:4
KH:2
NO2:0
NO3: 10
TDS: 140

[huizhong]

this is tough as ADA always gives problems of low ph and ammonia leaks even after u cycle for 1 month.
1) you may want to reduce the amount of soil in your tank
2) mix with other types of soil which buffer ph higher. my advance help soil gives around ph6.5. i heard benibachi golden soil buffer at ph7.2
3) keep doing large water change. yes you need to keep doing large wc initially for a few times.
4) your gH is 4, should be ok i guess. i heard some tds meter uses different formula to measure tds. so readings may be different.

maybe u want to list the brands of meters you are using so other bros can confirm readings with you.
beside calibrating your tds meter, you also need to calibrate your ph meter with ph 4&7 solution.

[avex30]

Use complete distill water

[Seven]

I did 20% WC every 2 days.
Did managed to bring initial 5.0 pH to 5.45.
Now i am throwing in 4 pieces of coral chips to bring up the pH.

[Seven]

I have tried WC with LIFE distill water from NTUC.
Dumped 6 x1.5litres into my tank but it doesn't change the pH at all.

[silane]

Distilled water will not increase pH, at best the pH stay or it drops.

Do a few large water change with decholrinated tap water, as much as possible, this will bring up pH, then tune TDS/GH if necessary. frankly, I wont care about TDS if it is not too far off and GH is in.

[huizhong]

20% too little. Do 90% instead with declorinated water.

[Navanod]

IMHO, your immediate priorities should be:

1. Eliminate the ammonia
2. Reduce the TDS to below 200.
3. Buffer the pH to at least 5.6 or higher

As Silane pointed out, do a few waterchange with tap water. This will reduce the ammonia and TDS while temporarily increasing the pH.
Mid term wise, you can only continue to cycle till the ammonia stop leeching from the soil.

To manage the pH, drop a few pieces of coral chips into an area with water flow. Wait a day and check your pH. It's a bit of a trial and error and I managed to get the number of coral chips (about 6 small pieces) just nice to keep the pH at 5.8-6.0 after about a week.
Note that it'll be much easier to do this with a digital pH meter.
Note also that this will increase KH and GH, so check weekly and remove the chips if it gets too high.

I'm surprised your tap water's TDS is so high. Queenstown is about 75.
As Silane mentioned, don't be too bothered by TDS, but do try to keep it at a constant, not leave it to keep rising