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When trying to maintain a steady ph level can cleaning the tank too often become a cause of low ph? I clean my 75 about once every 10 days. I have three small oscars in it with one pleco. The tank is always extremely clean. The filteration is two whisper 4's. There are four live plants in it as well. Can cleaning the tank and changing 20% water too often cause a low level of ph. Thanks,
jason

Actually that is probably more a matter of what ph your tap water is... there are lots of factors that can lead to water either raising or lowering in ph but if you have been keeping the tank as clean as you say then your tank water is probably pretty close to what some of your cured tap water runs... try leaving some tap water out in a non-reactive container(pyrex or other glass is good) and let it sit for about 48 hours then test its ph this should be pretty close to what your tank is reading... if it isnt then we would need to explore other options.

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Adam

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Originally posted by jason_912:
When trying to maintain a steady ph level can cleaning the tank too often become a cause of low ph? I clean my 75 about once every 10 days. I have three small oscars in it with one pleco. The tank is always extremely clean. The filteration is two whisper 4's. There are four live plants in it as well. Can cleaning the tank and changing 20% water too often cause a low level of ph. Thanks,
jason

Adam,
The tap water that I use has a ph level of about 7.1-7.2. I did in fact try testing the tap water the way that you suggested last week, left it out for 48 hours then tested, it came out 7.1-7.2. The water in my tank has a very low ph though. It now reads about 6.2 or maybe even lower. Should I keep changing the water, 15-20% each day for a week or so or add chemicals like ph up or any others. Thanks for the reply,
jason

What kind of aeration do you have in the tank... excess c02 in the water can lower ph fairly dramaticly. Other then that you could try adding some backing soda to the water to raise the hardness and in so doing the ph just dont start dumping it in, it can raise the ph rapidly but can take a little while to balanceso you wont notice the effects until a little while after you add it. I have never had to do this, but from what I know of working with buffers in my saltwater tank I would start with adding maybe 1/8 tsp per 5 gallons to start if you want to go that way, then test the water in 24 hrs if it is still low start slowly increasing that number everyother day or so until the proper ph is achieved.

Just a side note... so long as your fish arent stressed by the current ph I would say leave well enough alone... or like the old saying goes... dont try to fix what aint broke. Too much fiddling will kill your fish faster then a slightly lower ph will in most cases.

------------------
Adam

Come see my website!
Adam@cichlidfish.com
Got ?'s about HITH? Read this to learn more!