Re: ph problems

["Phil Eaton" <peaton@hotmail.com>]

 -----snip-----
>The ph went down to about 6.5 and then 
>within twelve hours was back at 7.2.  I
>did not expect the bounce back in a buffered
>environment.  
>
>I then changed out about 1/3 of the water 
>and replaced it with R/O.  Then I put enough
>of the buffer mixture in to bring the tank
>up to the recommended concentration of the
>buffer.  The ph went down to 6.5 thing 
>bounced back to 7.2 overnight.  I don't
>want to experiment with this anymore because
>the ph bounce is hard on the fish.
>
>What could be causing this with water so
>soft?  If I had some bad rocks or gravel
>wouldn't that also drive up my carbonate
>hardness?  My rocks are sandstone, "rainbow"
>slate, petrified wood, and granite.  I put
>some sulfuric acid on them and observed no
>reaction.
>


I have almost identical conditions in my 55 with the same rocks and,  I 
don't have the RO filter.  Dallas water is between 7.2 and 7.6 depending 
on the time of year with a general hardness of "200" on my wimpy little 
test kit.

I used one of those "pillows" for a while but never had a reduction in 
general hardness by my test.  In fact, it almost seemed to me that the 
hardness went up a few points, thus I stopped using it.  Not sure why on 
that one.  Any suggestions welcomed!

When I added acidifier/buffer to the water, I had the same "bounce" 
problem.  This was before I found the apisto list, so I called David 
Soars after reading the articles on his web page. 
(Great guy, very helpful!)

http://geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/7918/index.html

He suggested that I use peat moss to help condition the water, as well 
as using oak leaves along the bottom of the tank.  I purchased a bag of 
peat moss from a local nursery, and put about 1/2 the bag in 6 nylon 
stocking pillows (home made) and placed them in the wet dry filter after 
the prefilter.  Within 24 hours, the PH dropped from 7.4 to 6.2 and has 
been stable ever since.  

I pulled the peat out about 2 months ago to see what would happen, and 
in that time the PH has only risen to 6.4 at the most, and stays stable 
even through water changes.  The oak leaves partially disintegrated and 
a portion ends up in the prefilter, but nothing more than regular 
maintenance is required to keep it clean.

I use "Amquel", "Novaqua" and "Waters of the World" in reccommended 
amounts to condition the water for a change.  

The blue rams, Borelli, Cruzi and Caucatoids have all spawned regularly 
since.  I recently set up 2 other tanks, one with D. Filimentosa, the 
other with P. Taenatus and Pulcher.  I'm anxious to see how the 
Filimentosa do... 

This is partly my 2 cents, and partly a request for explainations or 
advice.

Phil



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