PH problem

jd254

ok.. I jsut tested my PH level in my fish tank and it's yellow. That means it's either 6 or below cuz yellow is as light as it gets on the chart. I'm assuming this is not good for my painted glass fish. They've been living in that condition for a while, a few month (since my last water change). so.. my question, how do i raise the ph level safely with all the fish inside? will adding aquairum salt do anything?

musho3210

hmm, i think if you add rocks to your tank the ph will rise slowly but safely. Do not add any ph raising chemicals because these do more harm then good.

Lupin

Either you get some limestone or rocks containing calcium deposits or get some crushed oyster shells and place them in your filter.

jd254

lol where do i get this?

jones57742

jd254:

The previous posts "had her nailed".

I have just been through this situation and from your "yellow" comment I believe that you have a TetraTest Laborett.

I have Ph Up and Ph Down in my garage but they are there only for dire emergencies (which I have not had with respect to Ph).
The reason that I do not use these products is that their use will cause stress to your fish due to "instantaneous" changes in Ph.

Your profile does not indicated if you reside in the United States.
If you do these "holey rocks" (previously referenced) will (or can) be available at your local PetCo.

These "holey rocks" typically come from limestone quarries in West and Central Texas and are principally Calcium Carbonate.
Calcium Carbonate will "neutralize" the acid in your tank water via the creation of Calcium Chloride, Carbon Dioxide and Water.

Although not published in the fish keeping literature egg shells are 95% Calcium Carbonate and could be used to "neutralize" the acid in your tank.

TR

jd254

egg shells? that's genius! I also found some sea shells I found at the beach that I used for decorations for my turtle tank. I just threw them on top of my eclipse filter pad. Should I use the egg shells still or will these shells be good enuff to stablize my PH back to normal, or atleast nuetral.

Lupin

Try to monitor the pH and see if the pH did increase. If it did not, probably the shells are insufficient so adding the shells should do the job.:)

bettababy

I am wondering if we know why the pH crashed? Did you also test nitrates? How you fix it will partly be dependent on what caused it. Have you tested the pH in your tap water? What kind of difference is there from the two? How often do you do water exchanges?

Be very careful not to bring the pH level back up too quickly, as this will shock the fish and can easily kill them. You can go to your LFS and buy a bag of crushed coral, put some into a media bag, and put this into your filter, but watch that your pH doesn't go too high over time. If there is something specific causing this problem and the tap water tests higher than the tank water, then simple SMALL water changes, about 5% each day, will also raise your pH, and won't cost anything or cause any hassle.

I strongly urge you to find out what caused this, as pH fluctuations can be very deadly to the animals, and are usually preventable.

If you post the other test results, we can help you to sort it out.

jones57742

The outer layer of seas shells is not calcium carbonate (it is conchin) and hence the sea shells will not increase the Ph.

If you have access to small mollusk, clam or oyster shells you can "crush them up" and substitute them for the egg shells but the calcium carbonate of the inner layers of these shells exist in a conchin glass or matrix and will not be as effective as egg shells.

Once again the use of egg shells is not published in the fish keeping literature for use in increasing Ph but "I do not see" any reason why they would not function for this purpose.

TR

Derek-M

Just before you do anything to the tank get your reading confirmed at your lfs..Just make sure they have a calibrated ph meter because at lot of test kits are giving false readings... I myself have hade no end of bother with test kits giving out very low readings particularly the dip strips. I have now invested in a Sera electronic meter