Help with tank's pH!

**andee619** · 20th Mar 2012, 12:59

I would like to ask the cory keepers regarding their experience in using chemicals to correct pH ( increase pH) in their tanks. Any thoughts in using oyster shells or coral chips to stabilize pH? How about Seachem ph buffer?

Am using aged water + seachem prime in my tank. My pH reading is always <5 and KH is 0. I don't know whether my API test kits are giving incorrect reading or is it my tap water having problem. My nitrate is .5, nitrite and ammonia 0. Could the very low pH the cause for my Corys unexplained death?

By the way I stay in Central area.

Thanks

**tetrakid** · 20th Mar 2012, 13:53

Very sad to hear about your Cory. How many Corys do you keep? Can you show a picture of your tank setup eg taken with handphone ?

**Shadow** · 20th Mar 2012, 14:08

Singapore tap water ph is around 7. Some thing is affecting your ph. What soil did you use? How long is the setup?

**vannel** · 21st Mar 2012, 21:21

I would recommend checking your PH again with another test kit before worrying about it. Some test kits have been shelved for long periods of time and end up being quite inaccurate. I wouldnt mess with the PH of your tank using oyster shells or coral chips as Corydoras are usually fine in lower PH levels (although not as low as you currently have).

**andee619** · 22nd Mar 2012, 13:34

Originally Posted by tetrakid

Very sad to hear about your Cory. How many Corys do you keep? Can you show a picture of your tank setup eg taken with handphone ?

My tanks are a bit overstocked. Based on my last count at least 15 in my 1.5 ft tank planted with Anubias and Java Fern.

Originally Posted by Shadow

Singapore tap water ph is around 7. Some thing is affecting your ph. What soil did you use? How long is the setup?

My tanks are already 8 months old. 2 tanks with Sudo sand one running on cannister filter and the other tank is HOF. My other tank has GEX soil running on cannister filter. All tanks are planted with Anubias and java Fern.. Surprisingly the pH reading of the 3 tanks are close all less than 5.

Originally Posted by vannel

I would recommend checking your PH again with another test kit before worrying about it. Some test kits have been shelved for long periods of time and end up being quite inaccurate. I wouldnt mess with the PH of your tank using oyster shells or coral chips as Corydoras are usually fine in lower PH levels (although not as low as you currently have).

Ive been using API pH test kit. I checked the date and still not expired. Ive been getting light yellow which I presume is the lowest in the pH color chart ( even lighter than the color chart). Since I know Corys specially those that come from blackwater river are more tolerant to lower pH I didn't worry about my pH reading. I've never added any fish for the last 3 months and never touched the aquarium other than cleaning the filters, intake tube, and rainbar.

What puzzled me is the unexplained death in my tanks during the last 2 weeks. To date during this last 2 weeks I already lost the ff
Tank 1 : 2 similis, 1 metae, 1 paleatus, 1 sterbai.
Tank 2 : 1 sterbai, 2 aeneus
Tank 3 : 3 habrosus, 1 concolor, 1 melanotaenia

Last night I checked my water parameters and borrowed my friend's digital pH meter. The following are my test result:
Tank 1 : pH 4.19
Tank 2: pH : 4.5
Tank 3 : pH :4.76
Rest of the water parameters (NO2, NO3, NH3/NH4) are all within the acceptable limits.
Btw am also adding blackwater in my tank. Could it be the reason for the very low pH? I did 30% water change and clean the filters on all my tanks last night and omitted the black water. I will retest my water again tonight

Thank you so much for all the input.

**Shadow** · 22nd Mar 2012, 14:03

I suggest you get or borrow pH tester because it does not make sense especially for tank with Sudo sand

**vannel** · 22nd Mar 2012, 17:55

Originally Posted by andee619

Btw am also adding blackwater in my tank. Could it be the reason for the very low pH? I did 30% water change and clean the filters on all my tanks last night and omitted the black water. I will retest my water again tonight

That does sound like the root of the problem. Depending on how much blackwater extract you added into the tank, the PH will drop.

**stormhawk** · 23rd Mar 2012, 08:34

Anything below 5 is not a good sign for most fishes. That blackwater you are using may contain some form of concentrated acid, that is driving the pH down too low. May I ask, what brand are you using, and did you follow the dosage correctly?

**andee619** · 23rd Mar 2012, 17:39

Originally Posted by vannel

That does sound like the root of the problem. Depending on how much blackwater extract you added into the tank, the PH will drop.

Originally Posted by stormhawk

Anything below 5 is not a good sign for most fishes. That blackwater you are using may contain some form of concentrated acid, that is driving the pH down too low. May I ask, what brand are you using, and did you follow the dosage correctly?

Thanks for your replies. Im using tetra blackwater extract. In terms of dosaging Im following what is stated on the label. Iam using a syringe to dose my water. Base on the label, it says 5ml per 20L of water. I did water change last night without adding the blackwater extracts and ill try to measure the tanks pH again tonight. : )

**tetrakid** · 1st Apr 2012, 11:28

Hi Andee619,

Any update on your Cory tank? Has the problem been resolved.

**andee619** · 1st Apr 2012, 15:36

Am still observing my tank. After stopping black water extract high pH still persist on my tank with soil. The ones with sand pH slowly climbed up to 5 -5.8. For the last 1 wk 1 only had one death in my tank with soil (1 C aeneus). I also cleaned the filter even though its not yet due for routine maintenance. If pH still remains very low after 1 week I might tear down the tank and replace the soil with sand. I can not afford to lose my remaining Cory in the tank.

I didn't know that black water extract can drop the pH below 5. Am still wondering whether is it only my black water extract that caused the abnormal pH or there are other things? Thankfully the Cory death has stopped. Thanks for all the inputs. : )

**vannel** · 1st Apr 2012, 16:27

Glad to hear the Corydoras deaths have stopped. Blackwater does lower your PH and the more you use, the lower your PH will likely go. Stopping the dosage of blackwater should stabilise your PH as what you have noticed so far. If the sand you have is inate, then something else in the water is still causing the PH to be buffered lower than usual. Reading back on your previous posts, I realised you have Anubias and Java Ferns in your tank. These plants are usually tied on a piece of driftwood and if I should assume they are, then, the driftwood (once again depending on the amount of wood in your tank) will also leech tanins into the water. Tanins are essentially similar to the blackwater you have been previously using. Perhaps remove some of the driftwood and see if that makes any difference in your tank's PH.

Soil is usually an active substrate and will bring down your water's PH for quite a period of time, until its active compounds have been exhausted. Was there a reason for choosing the particular brand of soil for your tank?

**andee619** · 2nd Apr 2012, 02:04

Originally Posted by vannel

Glad to hear the Corydoras deaths have stopped. Blackwater does lower your PH and the more you use, the lower your PH will likely go. Stopping the dosage of blackwater should stabilise your PH as what you have noticed so far. If the sand you have is inate, then something else in the water is still causing the PH to be buffered lower than usual. Reading back on your previous posts, I realised you have Anubias and Java Ferns in your tank. These plants are usually tied on a piece of driftwood and if I should assume they are, then, the driftwood (once again depending on the amount of wood in your tank) will also leech tanins into the water. Tanins are essentially similar to the blackwater you have been previously using. Perhaps remove some of the driftwood and see if that makes any difference in your tank's PH.

Soil is usually an active substrate and will bring down your water's PH for quite a period of time, until its active compounds have been exhausted. Was there a reason for choosing the particular brand of soil for your tank?

Thanks for your reply. Its possible that the driftwood could have contributed to the drop in pH. Among my tanks unfortunately the one with the lowest pH is the one with the branched driftwood. The rest of the driftwoods are just small chunk enough to hold the plants.

My soil actually is from my previous shrimp tank. Am actually clueless when I started keeping shrimp. I went to the store picked up a bag of soil that says "safe for shrimps". Didn't realized that the choice of soil depends on the intended use. Learned my lesson the hard way : (