Old tank syndrome

[Ben Ellison]

Do you all combat old tank with water changes only or with things like cuddle fish bone or other additives? I have  tanks that are heavily planted and seem to need lots of water changes to combat low pH. Nitrates are all super low so I'm only doing the changes to keep water hardness up. Just curious what you guys all are doing.

[Colu]

I just do  weekly water changes to provent old tank syndrome

[Levi_Aquatics]

Water changes should do the trick. 

[Guppysnail]

 I have rock hard water. I water change. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 2/14/2022 at 6:51 AM, Ben Ellison said:

Do you all combat old tank with water changes only or with things like cuddle fish bone or other additives? I have  tanks that are heavily planted and seem to need lots of water changes to combat low pH. Nitrates are all super low so I'm only doing the changes to keep water hardness up. Just curious what you guys all are doing.

If nitrates are low, I suspect you don't have "old tank syndrome".

Nitrification slowly works down KH and is a normal process.

[Ben Ellison]

The tank is heavily planted but lightly stocked and nitrates stay around 5. Yesterday when I checked pH it had dropped to 6.5. My tap water typically runs more like 7.6. so the only thing I can think of causing the lowered pH is decaying plant matter. But other than the ph there isn't a need for water changes nearly as frequently as I need to do them to keep the pH up

[Mmiller2001]

On 2/14/2022 at 2:30 PM, Ben Ellison said:

The tank is heavily planted but lightly stocked and nitrates stay around 5. Yesterday when I checked pH it had dropped to 6.5. My tap water typically runs more like 7.6. so the only thing I can think of causing the lowered pH is decaying plant matter. But other than the ph there isn't a need for water changes nearly as frequently as I need to do them to keep the pH up

Your pH is tied to KH. Other factors influence pH of course, but maintaining a stable KH will maintain a stable pH. Not that pH is that important first of all.

If the tank is heavily planted, I would test your KH and monitor it. I would use potassium carbonate to replace it. Testing the KH of your water source would be beneficial too. This will give you a number you can work with when doing water changes.

Old tank syndrome is very different.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Mmiller2001

[CT_]

The easy answer is crushed coral or similar (wonder shell, cuddle bone, etc) and more ferts.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think the question is what is your goal for the tank? and what is the stocking like? do the livestock like a low pH or do they need a more middle of the road or higher pH?

How old is the tank - old tank syndrome takes time to develop? Heavily planted can mean different things to different people - can you tell us a little bit about the planting, substrate, hardscape and filtration? Are you adding botanicals? A picture could be helpful so we can have an understanding of what we're working with here. 

If your goal is a beautiful planted tank then the pH won't be too much of an issue - you will see lots of professional aquascapes with caridina shrimps that require ph between 5-6.5. With the CO2 supplementation pro aquascapers use the pH falls so it is a matter of the other elements they put as well as the rate at which they diffuse CO2 that determines where the pH lands. Some plants do prefer a higher ph, kh and gh so there is something there that you'll potentially need to dial in but usually there are ways. 

 @Mmiller2001is absolutely right about the relationship between kh and ph.  If you follow any of the above recommendations you'd stabilize the pH and kick up the kh. The question is how far we need to push it and that will really depend on what's in the tank plant and stock wise. 

[Torrey]

On 2/14/2022 at 6:51 AM, Ben Ellison said:

Do you all combat old tank with water changes only or with things like cuddle fish bone or other additives? I have  tanks that are heavily planted and seem to need lots of water changes to combat low pH. Nitrates are all super low so I'm only doing the changes to keep water hardness up. Just curious what you guys all are doing.

 

On 2/14/2022 at 2:42 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Your pH is tied to KH. Other factors influence pH of course, but maintaining a stable KH will maintain a stable pH. Not that pH is that important first of all.

If the tank is heavily planted, I would test your KH and monitor it. I would use potassium carbonate to replace it. Testing the KH of your water source would be beneficial too. This will give you a number you can work with when doing water changes.

Old tank syndrome is very different.

 

On 2/14/2022 at 5:31 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I think the question is what is your goal for the tank? and what is the stocking like? do the livestock like a low pH or do they need a more middle of the road or higher pH?

How old is the tank - old tank syndrome takes time to develop? Heavily planted can mean different things to different people - can you tell us a little bit about the planting, substrate, hardscape and filtration? Are you adding botanicals? A picture could be helpful so we can have an understanding of what we're working with here. 

If your goal is a beautiful planted tank then the pH won't be too much of an issue - you will see lots of professional aquascapes with caridina shrimps that require ph between 5-6.5. With the CO2 supplementation pro aquascapers use the pH falls so it is a matter of the other elements they put as well as the rate at which they diffuse CO2 that determines where the pH lands. Some plants do prefer a higher ph, kh and gh so there is something there that you'll potentially need to dial in but usually there are ways. 

 @Mmiller2001is absolutely right about the relationship between kh and ph.  If you follow any of the above recommendations you'd stabilize the pH and kick up the kh. The question is how far we need to push it and that will really depend on what's in the tank plant and stock wise. 

These are the answers, and I would add only my turtle pond and my grow out tank have any nitrates.

Because the rest of my tanks look like this:

Below the waterline...

And

 

Above the waterline.

My pH is still 7.8, tap water is 8.2, and I have liquid rock due to my water supply slowly draining an underground lake in high calcium rock. As in, people who drink the filtered tap water develop kidney stones. 

Identify what your kH is, and MMiller2001 can help you with the best water additives to address the lack of pH stability. 

I use phytoremediation to remove calcium from the water in the summer, and even that isn't enough to drop the pH more than 0.2 points.