[Lucillia]

So I've developed some issues with my pH and Alkalinity after they changed around some piping in my house.

Currently I am going to be making my 40 gallon breeder into a ram cichlid tank.. I've found a lot of conflicting info on them but I am dead set on making them work. I know they like relatively low pH.. But I've only had one ram survive so far. The rest keep croaking.

My parameters are as following,

Nitrate - 15ppm
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Hardness - 75
Alkalinity - 0
pH - 6.0-6.2

I did have a crash in my established tanks from the pipe change and everything has finally returned to normal. I am currently cycling the 40, (these parameters are constant from my 10 gallon to my 20long). My 40 is testing mainly the same but it is still cycling.

From what I've read thus far I've seen that the German Blue's like low pH but my main concern is the alkalinity... I feel stupid asking but how does this effect everything in my tank? I know it is a buffer of sorts for acidic pH but I guess I don't completely understand it.

The 20 holds -
2 stiphodon gobies
1 female betta
1 Male (separated) betta
3 Corydora Habrosus
about 5 female guppies
1 Female German Blue Ram

The 10 holds
2 Male Betta's (separated)
3 Male Guppies
5-6 baby guppies about 2 months

The 40 right now just has a plethora of plants and 3 glowlight tetras. These have cycled my ten and my twenty, now my forty.

 

[lilnaugrim]

I'm in the same boat as you as far as GH and KH are concerned. If I'm understanding correctly, the more KH you have the more stable your parameters are such as pH and GH....I think. So the less KH, the less stable and the more your pH can drop. At night your pH can drop with your o2 levels in a planted tank. There's something about pH and o2 although I didn't pay close attention to that part in aquaculture class >.< But in the day fish use o2 and respire co2, plants use that co2 and make o2 (pearling). At night plants are not photosynthesizing so they no longer make o2 but fish are still breathing, this can cause a severe drop in o2 if you do not have enough aeration (more important in goldies and catfish aquaculture) and pH if you do not have enough KH if I'm reading and understanding correctly.

Anyone feel free to correct me if you know more!

 

[rsskylight04]

High alkalinity stabilizes ph as naugrim said, but if your tapwater is the same as your tank water, you can keep it stable by doing regularly sceduled water changes. If your tap ph is higher but then is dropping after the water is put in the tank, then that's a larger issue. Main danger is that water in the tank will drop in ph between water changes, then when you add new fresh water ph will rise. Not only is this instability harmfull to the fish, but it might also cause an ammonia/ ammonium swing that can kill fish fast.

Fish can adapt to a pretty wide range of ph as long as its stable. I would want some buffer to prevent ph crash between water changes.

 

[Lucillia]

I have to retest my tap again because I am not sure. My 40 seems to have a higher ph right now. Only about 6.4 compared to my 6.0 but still it's a difference. As far as I knew before the pipes my water was 7.2 my tanks always read 7.0. Then I had the crash and they've stayed at 6.0.

 

[rsskylight04]

Rams do need lower ph and softer water, you're right. I had rams, but my very hard water and high ph caused finrot and outbreaks of lymphocytosis. Also their colors became muted and it took a few days of resting on the bottom before they began to swim around .Definitely not good - I had to rehome them because I could see that they were not doing well.
If you do need a bit of buffer I would reccomend natural sources such as limestone decoration, coral sand, or sea shell over chemicals like baking soda.

 

[RSVBiffer]

You definitely need to raise your alkalinity, aim for around 4dKH (60-80ppm) as a minimum. You have no buffer at present against pH swings. Make any adjustment to the parameters over a period of time, avoid 'sudden changes'.