Maintaining PH and water hardness

[hugapug902]

My Ph keeps dropping and my water is not very hard. How can I impove my cichlids living enviroment. I know they need a higher PH and hard water. I already lost one electric yellow. HELP!!!!

[eklikewhoa]

Normally most can hanled the change... though it does cause problems long term.

Have you tried letting your source water sit over night and testing before and after?
Give us some more info on your setup and maintenance schedule.

THere are a lot of causes for dropping pH but without some more info on what you are working with it's hard to pinpoint the problem.



Welcome to the BoX!

[Fire_chair]

The fish can handle a steady lower PH better than they can handle a high, fluctuating PH. What's your normal PH?

[Zulaab]

Depending on where you water comes from, in Houston and surrounding area, some have high amount of buffering, which makes the water pH not change much over time. There are other places where there is almost no buffering and if there are elements added to the water which changes the water parameters, pH is quickly effected and you will need to add a buffer to the water You can buy Malawi and Tanganyika buffer which will bring the pH up to the correct levels and will not fall easy as ammonia is released by the fish into the water column.

[cichlid1409]

with soft water your ph will not stay up for long. there is a balance between ph and hardness that needs to be maintained. higher ph requires a higher kh to remain stable. a buffer would do the job.

[hugapug902]

I will try the buffer. My PH has stayed about the same the last few days. Since I removed the plants. My husband seemed to think that was the problem.