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PH Problem

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  bradley22 
#1 ·
Hi Guys,

I have had this 2ft tank 60L for about 4 weeks now it has 2 fish one catfish and a small spiny eel it has gone through its cycle for about 2 weeks without any fish and the nitrite and ammonia levels are 0 but my PH seems to be going up and down like a yoyo it has gone up and down for about 4 days from 6.3 to 7.5 when i test the PH one day it could be 6.3 then after 24 hours it is 7.5 is this normal and how can i stabalise this to ensure happy fish :)


Cheers

Bradley
 
#2 ·
bradley22 said:
Hi Guys,

I have had this 2ft tank 60L for about 4 weeks now it has 2 fish one catfish and a small spiny eel it has gone through its cycle for about 2 weeks without any fish and the nitrite and ammonia levels are 0 but my PH seems to be going up and down like a yoyo it has gone up and down for about 4 days from 6.3 to 7.5 when i test the PH one day it could be 6.3 then after 24 hours it is 7.5 is this normal and how can i stabalise this to ensure happy fish :)


Cheers

Bradley
No that's not normal.
When you say the tank was cycled for 2 weeks without fish, did you feed the bacteria culture with anything? Can you give us a bit more details in how you went about it? have you got a nitrate reading?
 
#4 ·
The term cycle refers to the developing of a suitable ammonia culture which can convert fish waste from ammonia (which is excreted from fish and old food) to nitrite, and then nitrite to nitrate (which is the least toxic of the three). In order for bacteria to get started growing they need to have a supply of ammonia. In a new tank (with fish or just fish food) you will have an ammonia spike, and then some time later a nitrite spike, and then finally nitrate will show up and eventually ammonia will be zero and nitrite will be zero. So yes, do go out and get a test kit for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, test your water, and in the mean time do small water changes very frequently in your aquarium. This does not explain the pH spikes however. Is your test kit old?
Good luck
 
#5 ·
Hi Bradley

I received your pm but I thought I would check in here first and I see that Scottysgirl has already covered the cycling issue with you..So from this you will now understand that your tank was not cycled before you added the fish....As to the ph swings i have not come across this problem before but it may be caused by some build up of co2 and that would drop the ph
 
#7 ·
Test Kits i Used PH Problem

Hi Guys,

I am using I guess just a 20 dollar test kit for Ammonia, PH, Nitrite its nothing special at all i have had PH test kit for about 6 months and ammonia and nitrite about 2 months. I lost my spiny eel this morning i guess due to the spikes in the PH I was interested in the comment about CO2 how do i test for this or how would i get rid of CO2 out of the water. :) i did another test this morning the PH was 7 Ammoina and Nitrite was 0.

Cheers Brad
 
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