# Controlling PH



## styderman (Jul 1, 2007)

Problem: PH is super low. 6.0. The tap is like 7.6. It's a 20L 110w tons of plants pressurized co2 1-2 bps 24/7 into magnum 350 intake pps pro. Plants grow great. My fish are fine, but my ottos that I got the other day died within like 48 hours. My drop checker is always yellow and when refilled my co2 tank which took todays the drop checker turned dark blue and ph was like 6.5. Getting my tank back I hooked up the co2, my drop checker turned yellow and ph droped to 6.0.

Is running my co2 24/7 making my ph low? My plants dont pearl a lot, but they do grow. Is my problem the PH? Is it bad to have ph that low? or is it something else? I'm getting some RCS shrimp later this week on thursday and don't want them to suffer the same fate. What can I do?

All help is appreciated.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

The drop checker will not tell you anything other than the tank water's pH unless you use a standard 4 dKH solution of distilled water in it. You can make this with grocery store distilled water and baking soda, but it isn't at all easy to hit the desired KH that way. Best is to buy some from http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/sale-trade/37080-kh-standards.html.

There is nothing wrong with keeping the pH of the tank at 6 or even 5.5, so that isn't a problem. You can kill off the fish and shrimp with excessive CO2 though.

Why do you have 110 watts of light for such a small tank? When everything goes well that makes a beautiful tank with lots of very good looking plants, but if everything doesn't go well you quickly have a tank full of all kinds of algae.


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## styderman (Jul 1, 2007)

I did have just one bulb in my fixture, but i saw that the growth of plants slowed significantly. I did have algae earlier but that was because my light was on to long. I finally figured that out after reading an writing on this forum. Thanks to everyone who helped. But I am mainly worried about the shrimp I am going to get later this week. My ottos died i suspect due to a drastic ph change from fish store water to my tank water. I dont want the RCS shrimp to die.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

To paraphrase Hoppy - 
Yes (Is running my co2 24/7 making my ph low?), 
No (My plants dont pearl a lot, but they do grow Is my problem the PH?), 
No (Is it bad to have ph that low?).

Adding - if your drop checker was filled w/ 4dKH and indicator, you were using too much CO2 (you should go for a green checker) - less CO2 will also mean less of a depression in pH. pH drops due to CO2 addition are not a bad thing, but, as Hoppy said, CO2 can get to harmful levels (for fish, inverts). Ease up on it a bit and don;t worry too much about your pH, especially if it's a bit low just because of CO2 addition.


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## styderman (Jul 1, 2007)

Thanks. From now on i'll try not to make my writing so confusing.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Did you acclimate your new fish to your tank water? I like breeding Tetras & SA fish, so I usually go the other way for acclimation. From 6.2 to the high 7's. Either way it's a big change in pH for the fish. I do a slow drip acclimation.


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