# pH: substrate for hard water moved to soft tap water area



## Irida (Dec 16, 2011)

Substrate:

4 months old, DIY
Contents: soil, peat, Hobby Dohse Vulcanit, inert 1-3 mm river gravel.

DIY CO2, both flipper & cigarette filter, internal JBL i80 corner filter.

CSM + B (Fe 0.2 ppm weekly) and K2SO4 10 ppm weekly (I have 3 hygrophila species in the tank), KH2PO4 added weekly 1-2 ppm for the anubia and microsorium. So, minimum doses added according to API tests and depending on the tank's uptake.

Substrate was supposed to lower the pH due to extremely hard water (GH over 25, KH 16). 
The pH was 7.5 (my old tap water had 8 KH).

Now both me and my aquarium, with both untouched plants as well as the substrate, have moved to a soft water area.

Now the system is trying to restore it's balance (both bacterial and chemical), the water is cloudy, pH is 6.5-6.8 with the use od Seachem Equilibrium and sodium bicarbonate, a bit of fuzz algae and green spot algae appeared.

Nitrites: 0, nitrates: 5-10, ammonia: 0.

This pH swing after moving to a different location is pretty much bugging me. 
Should I leave the system alone without the use of buffers ald let it un-shock by itself (maybe just add some bicarbonate stones to the substrate..?) 
or should I make tiny pH swings with every weekly water change..?

I see that some of my crypts have a tough time adapting through these 2.5 weeks (wendtii green, brown, legroi, aponogetifolia, wiliisii, parva- all melted.. Mi Oya and balansae are struggling..). 
All other plants seem to like new soft water (KH 2 tap water - after buffering it's 6 in the aquarium) and their old quite acidic substrate (Didiplis diandra, ludwigia ovalis, repens arcuata x repens, Pogostemon helferi, glosso, Echinodorus cordifolius Marble Queen is even flowering...)
All of the fish are ok - angels still have a vigorous appetite, cory's are chasing each other, x-ray tetras have never had redder tails...

Look at this cloudy water.. Awful. 









The aquarium is blurry for 4 days now - I have been aerating the water a lot but with no progress.. I've even suspected it's green water but after dosing Tetra's AlgoRem there was no change at all (AlgoRem was supposed to bind free floating particles and make the job easier for the filter). I've even tried filter wool and diatom filter, cleaned the filter material and changed over 50% water with vacuuming for the last four days and every time added bacteria, the water circulation is at max so it's a storm now in the aquarium - nothing helped.. 
Could the water be blurry for so long due to adding sodium bicarbonate? 
I'm really out of ideas now.. 
Please help.


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## Reef2plants (Jan 24, 2011)

If I were in your position, I would just let the tank do its thing. As long as things are stable it will be ok. Just watch for ammonia. Try and relax. Cloudy water like that will clear, maybe throw in some floating plants as a safety net.


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## Irida (Dec 16, 2011)

Reef2plants said:


> If I were in your position, I would just let the tank do its thing. As long as things are stable it will be ok. Just watch for ammonia. Try and relax. Cloudy water like that will clear, maybe throw in some floating plants as a safety net.


Thanks for your advice. While I was waiting for a reply I saw the water finally clearing up.  I must have some duckweed in the tank for the angels to nibble on. 

Edit:










I'm giving up on dosing through the water column untill I see some deficiencies and reducing WCs.


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