pH not on testing chart, few questions

[Alkylhalide]

So I upgraded my tank as some will know, and obviously the amount of crushed coral in my 50gallons would not be enough, but I dont know what happened, last time I checked the ph it was 6.4 which is low but I was going to start bringing it up slowly with crushed coral, I tested tonight and the pH doesnt read on thechart, it is under 6, so now I am scared that this is to acidic for my axies. My tap water has a ph that doesnt read on the chart either this is why i initially added crushed coral as a filter media in my filter.

I know I need to bring the ph up very slowly in the tank, by testing and adding deligently, i did this originally as well. But I am concerned for two reasons, how low the ph is right now and also because it isnt reading on the chart I dont know how fast the ph is going up.

Any tips on if this is safe to do with my axies, i am only adding a tiny bit of crushed coral every 24hours and its a 110gallon tank so I assume the ph wont rise to quickly, but I dont know for sure until I can see it when i test the water.

 

[bugdozer]

Do you have any sort of water softener unit in your pipework? These can lower pH to quite acidic levels.

 

[auntiejude]

Although using coral with change the pH in the tank I think it's worth investigating why you have a low pH in the first place.
It may be worth contacting your water supplier (I don't know how it works in Canada) and asking them about water quality.
And it may be worth getting a less sensitive test for pH - maybe a something that reads pH of 5-9 rather than the narrow range aquarium tests.

 

[Alkylhalide]

I will have to figure out if we are on city or well water.. I am not 100% sure as it is a mini home park and i know it use to be on well water. When i first got my axies the water was about 7.2-7.4 and one spring the water must of got treated and the ph plumeted. I will see if I cant get any information on what happened.

 

[Sweetie]

It really would be nice if local water authorities actually recognised that some of their customers keep aquatic pets whose well-being is dependent on water quality so may appreciate being advised when changes are made to domestic water supplies. Our axolotls (or whatever) should not become the equivalent of canaries in a bloody coal mine!

 

[Alkylhalide]

It really would be nice if local water authorities actually recognised that some of their customers keep aquatic pets whose well-being is dependent on water quality so may appreciate being advised when changes are made to domestic water supplies. Our axolotls (or whatever) should not become the equivalent of canaries in a bloody coal mine!

Absolutely! It drove me nuts, but I was under the impression that we were on city water as they changed it. If this is the case why would they do something to make our water so acidic?? I dont even want to drink the water anymore it doesnt seem safe. Soon I might as well drink sulphuric acid as my water source. I mean its under 6 for sure but I need to get a more sensitive ph test to find out for sure. I also will need to get ahold of the mini home park owner to find out if its city or well water and go from there to get any information.

 

[layna]

I just added a good couple of fist fulls to my tank when i first put bird grit in, the i monitered it and added little bits, it wont raise it too high to fast so you will have plenty of oppertunity to remove/add more

 

[leu]

pm sent