ph issue

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


Poetic_Irony2267
 
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:42 pm

ph issue

by Poetic_Irony2267

seems to be the big topic. just wanted to say that since i added the three bigger discus the ph level in my tank has gone up, have kept my feeding the same as before, and changed my filter media, the problem i think is with a plant having rotting roots some where, i really don't want to have to pull all of my plants out and check the roots for signs of rot, i regularly clip any leaves that show any signs of rot. i try to take meticulous care of all of the plants, i did a ten % water change with r/o water and am going to do another 10% in the morning with r/o water hopefully this will bring it down, have yet to ask my partner if he's been feeding the fish while i am at work checked my params ammo 0, nitrites 0, a bit of a jump in nitrates, from 5ppm to 15ppm. a ten point jump is something that prompted me to check my ph again, ph currently at around 7.0, bought some ph down and am adding that to the tank a little bit at a time so that i can gradually bring the ph down to the 6.5 i was previously at. i think i may go through the tank with a kabob stick and see if it easily pushes into the root system right near where the leaves grow out of the substrate. any suggestions or ideas would be great.
Thanks in advance.
Brandon


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

Brandon i haven't done research on this... but when i was having rot issues with my wood it made the water much more acidic, not alkaline... do you think it could still be the rotting leaves or another factor?


Poetic_Irony2267
 
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:42 pm

by Poetic_Irony2267

am almost wondering if it is the little piece of bog wood i have in there, the big piece of wood has been cured for quite some time and kept in a planted discus tank before i took it. so i don't think it's the big piece, also am not sure if the wood would cause the nitrates to go raise in just about a weeks time... thanks for the advice though, i will take out the little piece of bog wood and see if that is what's causing the problem as far as ph, nitrates being high almost lends me to think that my partner has been feeding while i am away... if this is the case it could also be the problem with the ph. as any rotting food can cause nitrates to go up and the ph to raise, although i would think that my ammo and nitrite levels would raise as well. that's i guess why i am confused. lol rot usually causes a rise in everything. just bought a new super high quality test kit. was special ordered for me from the lfs. so i know the test kit isn't off.
thank you for the speedy response.
Brandon


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

Yeah my wood has always lowered my ph... so don't take the wood out just yet, test the other factors first, cuz the wood is a pain to reintroduce, with you having to water log and cure and such. Oh, by the way, i just emailed you something


Poetic_Irony2267
 
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:42 pm

by Poetic_Irony2267

hey just replied to the email, thank you very much for that. am going to cut the food way back for a couple of days and do small water changes with r/o water, i think 5 gal a day for the next three days will be enough to do it.
Thanks again,
Brandon


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I sometimes go on www.plantgeek.com When I have questions about co2 boosted tanks. I wonder if the plants are missing some key ingredient? Co2 boosted tanks cause the plants to use up nutrients much faster than tanks with out co2. Maybe some of the plants are dying because there is a certain missing nutrient. These plantgeek people are always tweaking all the different nutrients in their tanks. It could be that, other than the high temp you use for the diskus, you may need to add something to the tank.

Also, I've heard that there is a product called R/O Right, which should add the trace elements R/O water is devoid of.


miami754
 
Posts: 373
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am

by miami754

Haven't you been manipulating the CO2 in your tank the last couple of days since you introduced the new discus? I wonder if this is the problem as CO2 concentration can have a huge impact on pH. Decreased CO2 concentration would cause your pH to raise.

Also, like Spongebob said, the wood would lower your pH, not raise it so you can keep it in there. It is probably helping you.

Are you able to really vacuum the substrate with all the plants you have? I have never had a really, really heavily planted tank so I'm not sure how hard it is. It could be that there are areas you are not hitting and you have some buildups of waste.

I wouldn't use that pH down stuff. It is not a real solution and will only work for a very limited time. A better solution would be your r/o decision or filtering over peat moss. Both of these would be more natural methods. You could also try and increase the CO2 concentration in your tank.

Oh, and plantgeeks i an excellent site for planted aquariums like Peter said. I used to go there alot when I had plants in my tank.


Poetic_Irony2267
 
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:42 pm

by Poetic_Irony2267

ok after some mass investigation of my tank i found what i believe to be the culprit, there is this unnamed bunch of plants that i believe is related to the cobamba family of plants, i am using it as background in the tank, however due to the step down to the front of the tank i found that i couldn't see the bottom six inches of this, well i pull my mother swords out and was able to look across the back of the tank, this plant or atleast the bottom six inches of it was brown and dead and rotting in the tank, about fifteen inches total i had to cut from the plant and discard due to it being dead, what a pain, the top of the plant and what i can see looked healthy as all get out, just a pointer to those keeping live plants, keep all your plants where you can see the whole thing this will allow you to in advance see any issues and act immediately with out having to go through the painstaking processes that i have had to go through, keep searching when you have an issue it sometimes is not always right in front of your face, it may be hiding behind a leaf somewhere. thank you all for your help and caring, my tank is now settled back in at 6.6 and maintaining steady, lots of r/o mixtures and water changes has allowed me to bring the ph down quite considerably over the last 32 hours, thankfully all of my fish have survived this ordeal and now are starting to act normal and happy again.

Brandon
learn from your mistakes, and learn from others as this will make your life much easier in the end


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

very good to hear Brandon, and definitely didn't know that plant rot could raise ph... i will note this for when i make a planted tank... i figured plants were like wood, guess not. Glad things are settling for you, especially so you can enjoy the tank over the weekend. Keep us updated, so we confirm that this was the issue.


Poetic_Irony2267
 
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:42 pm

by Poetic_Irony2267

lol my tank looks a bit bare again, out of worry i took out anything that didn't look like it was growing right if i could tug it and it pulled up with ease it came out and is now in a quarantine tank with my older metal halide bulbs ultra dose of heavy liquid ferts i try to do things 100 % natural but sometimes things need a boost. so i have separated about 25 of the larger plants, also another note for planted tank owners and future planted tank enthusiasts when buying potted plants, remove the plant from the pot as carefully as possible and peel away the foam that is in the pot, as much as you can. i am finding that all my potted plants were struggling with root growth as the pots inhibit the roots from being able to spread naturally, also when you get larger root balls, the roots start to strangle each other out and the roots will die off very fast. this is a major issue as rot causes waste and waste causes ph spikes
please head this and take this into consideration when purchasing plants. also consider your water current, you need to have enough current around the base of your plants to move water and waste freely. because i have two diff co2 water pumps aiming through the base of the jungle that i have, it keeps stuff from building up at the bases and causing food and other (poop) to get caught up and causing those unseen issues. even after almost completely rearranging my tank the clarity of my water is phenomenal, you would think that it would turn gray or white in coloration however there are not many particles to be found. once i removed the culprit plant everything else seemed to be better than normal.


hahahahaha even when you are doing everything right if something can go wrong it will, don't get discouraged, just make sure you act appropriately and not too rashly. take time to sit back and consider all options carefully and move forward from there. many lessons to be learned here with this experiment in playing (god) not being god but if you think about we are all striving to recreate what (god is suppose to have created in the world) if ou believe or don't it's the cold fact, that for our enjoyment and curiosity we are trying to create what is already existing in nature. in doing so we have to consider all things and if we are to do this in a perfect sane and natural way we must consider what nature is comprised of.

Just a few rambling thoughts that i had today while pondering the issue at hand. (also after work over a few vodka cranberries) woooooops have to work at 8 in the am LMFAO
hope all can take something away from this.
Brandon

Will update regularly over the next few days regarding the stability of the tank.

ph issue

14 posts • Page 1 of 2

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