hP issues

[Joe V]

I have a 55 gallon and a 10 gallon.  On Sunday I did a water change to both tanks.  I tested my tap water and gives me a reading of 8.4 hP.  I used Fritz Complete to treat the tap water before adding the new water into the tanks.  Maybe 30 mins after adding the water I tested the pH again and got a reading of 7.6 in both thanks.  This morning I tested both tanks for pH level.  The 10 gallon is the same (7.6) but the 55 gallon is at 6.8.  I find it odd the drop so I did some more testing.

 Ammonia  0.25 ppm
Nitrite         0
Nitrate       5.0 ppm

Should I be worried about the hP dropping like that?    

[BlackLabelCarling]

Do you have any pH buffering substrates/botanicals in your tanks? 

[Joe V]

On 9/29/2020 at 3:28 PM, BlackLabelCarling said:

Do you have any pH buffering substrates/botanicals in your tanks? 

No I haven't added anything to the tanks.  The 10g is holding at 7.6 pH and the 55g dropped to 6.4 pH.  

[BlackLabelCarling]

@Joe V well that is about the limit on my knowledge of why the pH would be so different, but I am interested to find out! 

[NoobieFish]

On 9/29/2020 at 8:59 AM, Joe V said:

I have a 55 gallon and a 10 gallon.  On Sunday I did a water change to both tanks.  I tested my tap water and gives me a reading of 8.4 hP.  I used Fritz Complete to treat the tap water before adding the new water into the tanks.  Maybe 30 mins after adding the water I tested the pH again and got a reading of 7.6 in both thanks.  This morning I tested both tanks for pH level.  The 10 gallon is the same (7.6) but the 55 gallon is at 6.8.  I find it odd the drop so I did some more testing.

 Ammonia  0.25 ppm
Nitrite         0
Nitrate       5.0 ppm

How long have the tanks been established, whats in them in terms of decor and livestock and do you know the hardness of your tap water?  Its possible that your water is quite soft but has a high pH. Once it hits your tank, the lack of hardness will cause the pH to drop especially if you have lots of sources of natural acids like driftwood and fish waste. 

[Joe V]

From test strips this morning I got 30 GH on both tanks.  The 55g has one small plant attached to a small driftwood.  The rest of the decor is plastic/fake.  I do have alot of fish in there.  Total of 23 currently.

I didn't have time to do the liquid test but I did do the strips.

55g

GH 30
KH   0
PH  6.5
NO2  .5
NO3  40

 

This tanks has been running for about 10 months and 2 months at current set up.  

I will have to test the tap water for GH.

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Joe V

[NoobieFish]

9 hours ago, Joe V said:

From test strips this morning I got 30 GH on both tanks.  The 55g has one small plant attached to a small driftwood.  The rest of the decor is plastic/fake.  I do have alot of fish in there.  Total of 23 currently.

I didn't have time to do the liquid test but I did do the strips.

55g

GH 30
KH   0
PH  6.5
NO2  .5
NO3  40

 

This tanks has been running for about 10 months and 2 months at current set up.  

I will have to test the tap water for GH.

 

Yes you have 0 KH so very little buffering capacity. My guess is that the organic acids from the fish waste etc is lowering the pH once you add the tapwater. You can try adding some crushed coral to your filter to add a bit of KH. 

[Paul]

14 hours ago, Joe V said:

From test strips this morning I got 30 GH on both tanks.  The 55g has one small plant attached to a small driftwood.  The rest of the decor is plastic/fake.  I do have alot of fish in there.  Total of 23 currently.

I didn't have time to do the liquid test but I did do the strips.

55g

GH 30
KH   0
PH  6.5
NO2  .5
NO3  40

 

This tanks has been running for about 10 months and 2 months at current set up.  

I will have to test the tap water for GH.

 

Put more live plants in there and if you have a hob or canister filter throw some crushed coral in a filter bag and drop it in the filter to add some buffering. The plants will actually help stabilize your parameters.

Edited October 3, 2020 by Paul