ph

[Keith Alberry]

We have had a cycled community tank running for a couple months now. we had
4 blue tetra's that were healthy yesterday(at least seemed to be) but today
there were 3 deaths. Tested the water and there is 0 amm, 0 nitrite, and
6.6 ph. Now I am pretty sure the PH has been neutral for quite some time.
What can cause the ph to go down like that? keep in mind nothing has
changed in a long time. We do weekly or bi-weekly water changes. de-clor
the water. Any idea's would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Keith & Char

[Iain Miller]

"Keith Alberry" > wrote in message
...
> We have had a cycled community tank running for a couple months now. we
had
> 4 blue tetra's that were healthy yesterday(at least seemed to be) but
today
> there were 3 deaths. Tested the water and there is 0 amm, 0 nitrite, and
> 6.6 ph. Now I am pretty sure the PH has been neutral for quite some time.
> What can cause the ph to go down like that? keep in mind nothing has
> changed in a long time. We do weekly or bi-weekly water changes. de-clor
> the water. Any idea's would be greatly appreciated.
>
> thanks,
> Keith & Char

Suggest you test your Kh....you may find it to be very low indeed. Ph is a
product of Kh at a constant level of CO2 so assuming that hasn't changed the
falll in Ph should correspond to a fall in Kh. Test the tank and your tap
water to see if there is a significant variance.

Things like bogwood in the tank will eat the Kh buffer over time. It also
decays naturally over time as well. Beware "old tank syndrome" - if you
raise the Kh too fast you can get a big release of Ammonia.

If you need to bring your Kh up a bit the just add some Bicarbonate of Soda
(baking Soda). Changing more water more frequently will also help depending
on what's coming out your tap.

HTH

rgds

I.