Question: PH levels are really low....

[jessikaye84]

Hello friends I have a ph sensor in my tank but it only lasts about 60 days so when it turned a funky color I just thought it was time to change it. Well it was but the new one is a very faint yellow and on my chart everything is a blueish green and usually is always at a healthy level. I put it in last night and my filter needed to be changed as well so I just did that tonight so ill see if it goes back to a normal color, If it doesnt, what is a good way to even it out? My water looks clean and the axies seem happy and eating really well so I am not too concerd yet but I dont want there to be a problem before I do anything.

 

[carsona246]

Whatever you do do not add baking soda or ph up. I had a huge problem with below the charts ph a while back, and I learned the hard way that it is best not to mess with ph. There are many reasons for low ph, has anything changed in your tank recently? Have you tested your ph with a drop test kit? Stable ph is far better than ideal ph, and if your animals seem fine I wouldn't mess with it. if your tap water is soft one thing I do to fix my soft water is add a small mesh bag of crushed coral to buffer my water, and it seems to do wonders for all my tanks. If you are concerned about it a bag of crushed coral shouldn't cause any problems, and will make your ph more stable, and raise it a bit, but will not cause ph swings like other products will.

 

[Jennewt]

Animal metabolic activity produces acid. Thus, pH in an animal aquarium will always tend to drop. This is especially true if you have soft water. Your best bet is to do more and/or larger water changes. If that doesn't bring it up, try adding a small amount of limestone or calci-sand to the tank.