Is PH Too Low?

[Jennifer V]

Hi All! 

I just checked my pH in my very heavily planted 5g ramshorn and bladder snail tank and I was shocked at how low it is -- 6.4. Do I need to take action or just monitor it for a bit? Admittedly, I don't check pH very often. It's always so consistent -- 7.6 --  in my other tank that I didn't worry about it. 

Ammonia: .25 

Nitrite: 0

Nitrates: 20 

Weekly ~30 percent water change

Feed shrimp food a few times a week. 

Wonder shell added.

I have had some ramshorn die off recently. 

Tap pH is 8.2

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Jennifer V
More info

[Scapexghost]

How often do you change water? When bacteria break down ammonia hydrogen molecules are released as a byproduct and the water is acidified. I would recommend small water changes to slowly increase the the pH back above 7. 

[Patrick_G]

I’ve had problems with snails in my acidic water. I’m attempting to fix it by adding crushed coral, and I’m definitely seeing some improvement. Aquarium Coop recommends one pound per ten gallons. I put it in a mesh filter sock. 

[Jennifer V]

On 10/8/2021 at 2:53 PM, Scapexghost said:

How often do you change water? When bacteria break down ammonia hydrogen molecules are released as a byproduct and the water is acidified. I would recommend small water changes to slowly increase the the pH back above 7. 

I change the water once a week. Should I increase that to more frequent changes or bigger changes once a week? 

On 10/8/2021 at 2:53 PM, Patrick_G said:

I’ve had problems with snails in my acidic water. I’m attempting to fix it by adding crushed coral, and I’m definitely seeing some improvement. Aquarium Coop recommends one pound per ten gallons. I put it in a mesh filter sock. 

Does it matter that I have wonder shell in the tank? I suppose the answer is no since it's still so low. 

[Fish Folk]

On 10/8/2021 at 4:32 PM, Jennifer V said:

Hi All! 

I just checked my pH in my very heavily planted 5g ramshorn and bladder snail tank and I was shocked at how low it is -- 6.4. Do I need to take action or just monitor it for a bit? Admittedly, I don't check pH very often. It's always so consistent -- 7.6 --  in my other tank that I didn't worry about it. 

Ammonia: .25 

Nitrite: 0

Nitrates: 20 

Weekly ~30 percent water change

Feed shrimp food a few times a week. 

Wonder shell added.

I have had some ramshorn die off recently. 

 

 

 

Several thoughts… first off, draw about 1/2 gal. tap / source water, and put a lightly bubbling air-stone in for 48 hrs. Then test. Make sure your pH baseline reading is accurate. Once source water “rests” in an aquarium, it may change. Secondly, recognize that a tank that small is highly susceptible to chemical alterations due to its low water volume. Be careful about doing changes that are too major or too abrupt. Finally, a 1/2 cup of crushed coral can raise KH, and may slow down pH drift by adding _some_ buffer.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Fish Folk

[Patrick_G]

On 10/8/2021 at 1:58 PM, Fish Folk said:

Several thoughts… first off, draw about 1/2 gal. tap / source water, and put a lightly bubbling air-stone in for 48 hrs. Then test. Make sure your pH baseline reading is accurate.

Can you explain the chemical reaction happening with this? 

[Fish Folk]

On 10/8/2021 at 5:06 PM, Patrick_G said:

Can you explain the chemical reaction happening with this? 

(Armchair chemistry here) Basically, water from city or well has gas and chemicals that “resting” (especially with aeration) can help dispel. The amount of buffer is what makes pH changes precipitous. If the source water is soft enough, once a water change is performed, the natural gas-off +  with humic acid buildup from decomposition lowers pH.

[Patrick_G]

On 10/8/2021 at 1:55 PM, Jennifer V said:

I change the water once a week. Should I increase that to more frequent changes or bigger changes once a week? 

Does it matter that I have wonder shell in the tank? I suppose the answer is no since it's still so low. 

I’m not sure about the wonder shell. I think it’s supposed to help buffer the PH but maybe someone else will know. 

On 10/8/2021 at 2:24 PM, Fish Folk said:

(Armchair chemistry here) Basically, water from city or well has gas and chemicals that “resting” (especially with aeration) can help dispel. The amount of buffer is what makes pH changes precipitous. If the source water is soft enough, once a water change is performed, the natural gas-off +  with humic acid buildup from decomposition lowers pH.

Ok, I think it’s getting through to my brain. It’s not a complicated as I thought. Thanks FF! 

[Scapexghost]

On 10/8/2021 at 2:55 PM, Jennifer V said:

I change the water once a week. Should I increase that to more frequent changes or bigger changes once a week? 

Does it matter that I have wonder shell in the tank? I suppose the answer is no since it's still so low. 

Acidification by nitrification is very slow process so if you are changing water weekly it isn't the cause. I have to ask if you recently added driftwood or started injected co2. Elsewise it's likely an issue with your water source.

[Jennifer V]

On 10/8/2021 at 4:42 PM, Scapexghost said:

Acidification by nitrification is very slow process so if you are changing water weekly it isn't the cause. I have to ask if you recently added driftwood or started injected co2. Elsewise it's likely an issue with your water source.

I haven't started CO2 our added any driftwood. After doing some online research -- and Google is always right😆 -- could there be an issue like my tank is too "dirty" and decomposition is causing a pH drop? 

[Scapexghost]

On 10/8/2021 at 7:15 PM, Jennifer V said:

I haven't started CO2 our added any driftwood. After doing some online research -- and Google is always right😆 -- could there be an issue like my tank is too "dirty" and decomposition is causing a pH drop? 

Thats possible but unlikely considering the weekly water changes 

[Biotope Biologist]

Wondershell is calcium carbonate with some trace elements thrown in. So it's fairly similar to crushed coral in that it will raise gH and kH.

 

Decomposition and plant respiration can lower your pH. However I wouldn't consider decomposition an issue or that it means your tank is "dirty." It is a natural part of an aquariums balance.

 

If you could get your hands on some kH and gH test results that'd be great. One for tap and one from your aquarium. 

[Jennifer V]

On 10/9/2021 at 1:10 AM, Biotope Biologist said:

 

 

If you could get your hands on some kH and gH test results that'd be great. One for tap and one from your aquarium. 

I tested the water in the tank and tap. Here are the results:

Tap:

Kh = 4 drops or 50 ppm, Gh = 6 drops or 100 ppm 

Tank:

Kh = 1 drop, Gh is literally off the chart

What does this mean? 

Should I remove the Wondershell in the tank since the tank water has such high Gh? 

I'm guessing my pH is so low because I have very low buffer. 

I bought crushed coral but I'm thinking it's a bad idea to add that? 

Should I just get hardy fish that will do fine in 6.4 Ph rather than cherry shrimp? What should I do to get the tank ready for new inhabitants? I'm also consistently getting .25 ammonia despite weekly water changes at ~50 percent now. Does that have anything to do with these numbers?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Jennifer V

[Brandon p]

The magic shell should help not hurt it. Large amounted die of that. Does the tank get a lot of natural lightwhat are the level of the salts. Salts and most snails don’t go well. Where you looking for a Challenge, 5 g is harder than a larger size.. how big were the snails that died off. Snails are funny sometimes a pest and you can’t get rid of the and other times you can’t raise to save your life. Is there anything else in the tank beside plants and snails.

[Jennifer V]

On 11/8/2021 at 4:28 AM, Brandon p said:

The magic shell should help not hurt it. Large amounted die of that. Does the tank get a lot of natural lightwhat are the level of the salts. Salts and most snails don’t go well. Where you looking for a Challenge, 5 g is harder than a larger size.. how big were the snails that died off. Snails are funny sometimes a pest and you can’t get rid of the and other times you can’t raise to save your life. Is there anything else in the tank beside plants and snails.

The tank doesn't get any natural light. We do leave the lights on for quite awhile though. How do I test for salt in the water? I just want to be able to add more life to the tank. I was hoping to add cherry shrimp but it feels like the tank is a mess right now. It's been set up since March and I feel like I keep finding things wrong with it. The snails that died off were various sizes. Mostly ramshorn. The bladder snail population is doing better. I have more egg sacs in there than I can count. I also suddenly have a lot of microorganisms in the tank that I didn't have for quite awhile. I thought that was a good sign. I only have plants and snails in there now. I plants are growing like crazy so at least I have that. 

[Brandon p]

Refractometer Measures salt in water. I don’t have one after I got rid of my puffers. 

Are you on city water or well.

I have a 55 gall that has abou 300-400 mystery snails several plastic containers full of bladder snails, ramshorns,and my new scourge Malaysian Snails. I never had a problem with them but after moving some fish that are not Supposed to eat snails once the fish were removed Snails exploded my large angel fish will eat the small Malaysian Snails right off the glass. Good, I feed there just a little extra flake, the pleco food rounds and green beans. Fresh blanched if I have time, if not can green beans rinsed out.  My ramshorn love the beans  but it took a few times. I take out any food that is still there by the evening.. sorry about the pinging it is still early here

1. The first is just about ready for sale from my 55g Mystery snail tank there’s also some ramshorn.

2. Bottom of the 55g referenced above

3. Is a grow out angelfish tank. There’s some big Malaysian Snails in there

4. Is my shrimp tank. I put 12 ghost shrimp in 3 years ago with the brain in the tank asvweel. There is about  40 shrimp in there now from small enough to hard to see to be . It also has lots of ramshorn and bladder snails . I’ll be following closely