buffering ph by adding minerals

my tap water is ph 7 with a kh of 11 degrees
my tank water is also ph 7 with a maximum kh of 8 or 9 (it keeps
dropping see my other post called ph kh snails and clown loach)
i get falling kh and ultimately ph, so i want to add buffering
capacity to the water to maintain ph 7.0 if possible, but i am worried
that coral will buffer it up to 8 ish.....i just dont want to kill any
fish by experimenting.

chris

|| my tap water is ph 7 with a kh of 11 degrees
|| my tank water is also ph 7 with a maximum kh of 8 or 9 (it keeps
|| dropping see my other post called ph kh snails and clown loach)
|| i get falling kh and ultimately ph, so i want to add buffering
|| capacity to the water to maintain ph 7.0 if possible, but i am
|| worried that coral will buffer it up to 8 ish.....i just dont want
|| to kill any fish by experimenting.
||
|| chris

1. Most fish will adjust to whatever water you have... that being said...
let's move on..
2. pH doesn't harm fish unless it changes quickly or dramatically... pH
swings as they are called, is more dangerous than just keeping a different
pH than a fish starts out in...
3. Unless you're actively breeding, a pH between 6.5 and 7.5 isn't bad for
alot of fish...I've kept guppies in both extremes, you get females with a
lower pH and males with a higher pH...
4 for a planted tank, your pH and kH give you a CO2 level of 33ppm which
seems erroneous... are you injecting CO2 at all?

If you have a 7.0 tank, and 11kH I'd be happy with it... I'd just settle on
a weekly routine of doing a water change and adding a teaspoon of sodium
bicarbonate (*baking soda*) to it as a buffer... that will raise your pH to
7.4, but it ultimately won't drop as fast as before... giving you a certain
time frame to work with....

Peat can lower your pH, and soften it I believe.. then adding the baking
soda as the buffer can acheive your desired affect, it is a bit of trouble
though...

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"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
snip

3. Unless you're actively breeding, a pH between 6.5 and 7.5 isn't bad
for
alot of fish...I've kept guppies in both extremes, you get females with
a
lower pH and males with a higher pH...

I'd heard about Krib fry being influenced by pH, but not Guppies, however
I have Guppies in one of my tanks (8.4pH), and I noticed today that it's
currently an all-male population. I can't vouch for more males than
females being born (though it seems that way), but the females *have*
been much more short lived than the males. I think 8.4pH is outside
their limits. Perhaps I'll switch to other fry-generators like Mollys,
Swordtails or even Platys as they all seemed more tolerant of the high
pH.
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snip

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"chris nuttall" wrote in message
om...
my tap water is ph 7 with a kh of 11 degrees
my tank water is also ph 7 with a maximum kh of 8 or 9 (it keeps
dropping see my other post called ph kh snails and clown loach)
i get falling kh and ultimately ph, so i want to add buffering
capacity to the water to maintain ph 7.0 if possible, but i am worried
that coral will buffer it up to 8 ish.....i just dont want to kill any
fish by experimenting.

chris

Chris,

You should be OK with coral. Add a small amount, say a cup per 10 gallons
and test daily. If your KH is not satisfactory after a week (too low), add
more coral.

My tap water is very similar to yours, but my PH WAS falling below 6, even
with weekly water changes. I had 'old tank syndrome' sneak up on me. I added
about four cups of coral to my 55 gallon and my KH has stayed around 150 and
my PH is between 7 and 7.5. It's never been anywhere near 8, but I do weekly
water changes as I said.

what is 'old tank syndrome'?

chris

Thusly (chris nuttall) Spake Unto All:

what is 'old tank syndrome'?

Never heard of it in freshwater, but in sal****er it is an observation
that after several years of flawless operation aquaria tend to slowly
decline. "Restarting" the aquarium with fresh live rock and sand
brings it back on track. Ron Shimek has propsed that OTS is caused by
heavy metal build-up in the rockwork - at the pH's seen in marine
aquaria, the heavy metals found as contaminants in the salt mix
precipitate on limestone.

"chris nuttall" wrote in message
om...
what is 'old tank syndrome'?

chris

Basically, everything organic (uneaten food, fish waste, dead plant
matter etc) slowly gets broken down by bacteria releasing ammonia, and
acidifying the water (by first reducing your buffer and then reducing
your pH). Under normal conditions, this extra ammonia is consumed by
nitrifying bacteria and the acidifying effect is absorbed by your water's
buffer (also known as the karbonate hardness or kH). The buffer is
replenished by routine water changes.

In tanks which have been running a long time and/or haven't been properly
maintained, this dissolving organic matter (detritus or mulm) accumulates
in the gravel and its effects begin overtaking the aquarium system's
ability to cope with them. In hard-water tanks, this manifests itself as
very high and persistent nitrates (NO3). In all other tanks, OTS
manifests itself by extremely and persistently low pH.

You can detect the onset of OTS in most tanks by measuring to see if
there is a significant difference between your source water kH and your
tank water kH (usually measured in degrees or dkH, ie: under 2dkH =
danger, under 4dkH = caution - dependant on application). hth

http://www.2cah.com/netmax/basics/water/water.shtml#ots

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about the co2 level; i do not inject co2, there is an air pump running
(which should have the opposite effect i think). The ph and kh only
start at those values, they soon fall to much lower levels.
for 2 years there was no problem, its only recently started happening
(co-incidentally at the same time i started getting a lot of snails, i
wonder if they could be robbing the water of bicarbonates?)

i have tried bicardonate of soda, the ph and kh still fall, they just
start from a higher value, i tried evian too, with the same result.
i think i should get some coral, then as it dissolves there will be
more 'in reserve'

chris

Thusly (chris nuttall) Spake Unto All:

(which should have the opposite effect i think). The ph and kh only
start at those values, they soon fall to much lower levels.

Do you trust your kits, though? The reaction chemicals have a shelf
life of perhaps a year.

i have tried bicardonate of soda, the ph and kh still fall, they just
start from a higher value, i tried evian too, with the same result.

Evian is essentially bicarbonate dissolved in water with some salt
added, so it's the same thing. Adding bicarbonate in any form is a
temporary fix, as the tank will eventually equilibrate with the
atmosphere by releasing CO2, and the KH drops again.

I don't remember what pH/KH you want, but if pH 7.5 is acceptable to
you, just plonk in some limestone. Crushed coral, seashells, even
cuttlefish bone or eggshell will work too, and you can if you want put
them in a bag in your filter. But the easiest is just to decorate the
tank with limestone. Limestone will raise KH and pH and lock pH at
7.5.

i think i should get some coral, then as it dissolves there will be
more 'in reserve'

That will work yes.

chris

|| about the co2 level; i do not inject co2, there is an air pump
|| running (which should have the opposite effect i think). The ph and
|| kh only start at those values, they soon fall to much lower levels.
|| for 2 years there was no problem, its only recently started happening
|| (co-incidentally at the same time i started getting a lot of snails,
|| i wonder if they could be robbing the water of bicarbonates?)

Not likely...

|| i have tried bicardonate of soda, the ph and kh still fall, they just
|| start from a higher value, i tried evian too, with the same result.
|| i think i should get some coral, then as it dissolves there will be
|| more 'in reserve'
||
|| chris

I'm leaning towards a bad test kit... how old are they?

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| ==========================
| 2003 TRX450ES
| 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
| '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
| ==========================
| ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø
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| for any questions you may have....
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