pH troubles in a cycling tank

[Kellbot]

My tank has been cycling since a few days after Thanksgiving.

My pH is low, 6.8. Over the past few days I've been putting pinches of
baking in the water to raise the pH, and I've noticed that my Nitrites
are finally dropping. Now they're in the "not quite zero" range.

I have a bare bottom tank with some plants in cups of gravel and a
piece of driftwood for the centerpiece. I'm guessing that the bits of
dead plant are what's causing the low pH. I cleaned everything out as
well I could (there was quite a bit of buildup of plant matter on the
inner part of the filter intake, I discovered).

Baking soda is working fine for now, but are there long term solutions
for my low pH? It's about 7.2 coming out of the tap. Do you think being
more diligent about removing the plants my goldies rip up will help
significantly? I think I may phase in some nice looking fake ones.

I've read about dolomitic limestone, but I'm not sure I understand how
it is added to a tank.

[Bill Stock]

"Kellbot" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> My tank has been cycling since a few days after Thanksgiving.
>
> My pH is low, 6.8. Over the past few days I've been putting pinches of
> baking in the water to raise the pH, and I've noticed that my Nitrites
> are finally dropping. Now they're in the "not quite zero" range.
>
> I have a bare bottom tank with some plants in cups of gravel and a
> piece of driftwood for the centerpiece. I'm guessing that the bits of
> dead plant are what's causing the low pH. I cleaned everything out as
> well I could (there was quite a bit of buildup of plant matter on the
> inner part of the filter intake, I discovered).
>
> Baking soda is working fine for now, but are there long term solutions
> for my low pH? It's about 7.2 coming out of the tap. Do you think being
> more diligent about removing the plants my goldies rip up will help
> significantly? I think I may phase in some nice looking fake ones.
>
> I've read about dolomitic limestone, but I'm not sure I understand how
> it is added to a tank.
>

I prefer the crushed coral over the limestone, seems to leach a bit faster
and it's less messy than the lawn lime. This is the stuff
http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/rs/RSCS-00150.asp?L+scstore+bhpp2363ff0ca20c+1104630563

I put mine in the cannister filter, keeps my PH around 7.5.

[Cyril The Squirrel]

In article . com>,
says...
> My tank has been cycling since a few days after Thanksgiving.
>
> My pH is low, 6.8. Over the past few days I've been putting pinches of
> baking in the water to raise the pH, and I've noticed that my Nitrites
> are finally dropping. Now they're in the "not quite zero" range.
>
> I have a bare bottom tank with some plants in cups of gravel and a
> piece of driftwood for the centerpiece. I'm guessing that the bits of
> dead plant are what's causing the low pH. I cleaned everything out as
> well I could (there was quite a bit of buildup of plant matter on the
> inner part of the filter intake, I discovered).
>
> Baking soda is working fine for now, but are there long term solutions
> for my low pH? It's about 7.2 coming out of the tap. Do you think being
> more diligent about removing the plants my goldies rip up will help
> significantly? I think I may phase in some nice looking fake ones.
>
> I've read about dolomitic limestone, but I'm not sure I understand how
> it is added to a tank.
>
>
Try removing the driftwood and placing it in water away from the tank.

Check the PH of the water you are going to place the driftwood into
before doing so and check it a few days later.

I've had the same problem with driftwood although it might not be the
cause of your problem.

Do a search on google for "driftwood tannin ph", you'll see a few
articles which might help.

[Kay]

Yep the driftwood might no thelp the problem, and I would favor crushed
coral also. I use argamax sand though.

Kay

[[email protected]]

what is the hardness of your water out of the tap? are you using softened water?
a steady pH of 6.8 is fine as long as there is sufficient buffer (hardness) in the
water. if there is no buffer then anything will cause the pH to drop.
nitrites will cause a pH drop.
baking soda is not a long term solution, but dolomitic limestone is and is highly
recommended for GF. it is just added to the tank and sits down on the bottom almost
like sand and slowly dissolves as it is needed. it comes ground so that some is
instantly available and the rest dissolves slowly and the pH wont go over 8.4.
alternately, it can be put in the back of filters like a whisper filter. Marine
products like coral are not recommended for GF. Ingrid


"Kellbot" > wrote:
>My tank has been cycling since a few days after Thanksgiving.
>My pH is low, 6.8. Over the past few days I've been putting pinches of
>baking in the water to raise the pH, and I've noticed that my Nitrites
>are finally dropping. Now they're in the "not quite zero" range.
>
>I have a bare bottom tank with some plants in cups of gravel and a
>piece of driftwood for the centerpiece. I'm guessing that the bits of
>dead plant are what's causing the low pH. I cleaned everything out as
>well I could (there was quite a bit of buildup of plant matter on the
>inner part of the filter intake, I discovered).
>
>Baking soda is working fine for now, but are there long term solutions
>for my low pH? It's about 7.2 coming out of the tap. Do you think being
>more diligent about removing the plants my goldies rip up will help
>significantly? I think I may phase in some nice looking fake ones.
>
>I've read about dolomitic limestone, but I'm not sure I understand how
>it is added to a tank.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

[Tom L. La Bron]

Kellbot,

Your tank is taking too long to cycle. You need to raise your pH and figure
out where your KH (carbonate hardness). Your situation probably stems from
the driftwood. Remove it and see what happens. Put in a bucket of water
and test the water in the bucket.

I use crushed Oyster shells. You can get it at a feed store as chicken grit
or buy in a pet shop as grit for birds. My pH runs about 8.0, KH 80-120ppm
and my hardness is about 200-250ppm.

You may want to add a couple more airstones to your tanks and after the tank
is cycled you can shut one of them down. Air/Oxygen is critical for
cycling. My tanks and pond usually only take about 2 weeks to cycle at the
most, although one time my pond did take 4 weeks but that spring we had a
lot of rain.

Tom L.L.
---------------------------------------------------

"Kellbot" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> My tank has been cycling since a few days after Thanksgiving.
>
> My pH is low, 6.8. Over the past few days I've been putting pinches of
> baking in the water to raise the pH, and I've noticed that my Nitrites
> are finally dropping. Now they're in the "not quite zero" range.
>
> I have a bare bottom tank with some plants in cups of gravel and a
> piece of driftwood for the centerpiece. I'm guessing that the bits of
> dead plant are what's causing the low pH. I cleaned everything out as
> well I could (there was quite a bit of buildup of plant matter on the
> inner part of the filter intake, I discovered).
>
> Baking soda is working fine for now, but are there long term solutions
> for my low pH? It's about 7.2 coming out of the tap. Do you think being
> more diligent about removing the plants my goldies rip up will help
> significantly? I think I may phase in some nice looking fake ones.
>
> I've read about dolomitic limestone, but I'm not sure I understand how
> it is added to a tank.
>