drip system

[glamit]

hey guys i just recently set up a drip system on my tank and need a little help. everything works fine on the mechanical end of things but after running it for a few days my ph sky rocketed killing 2 super reds. i used neutral regulater and got it back down tested the tap and calgary water was at a ph of 8.4. this would naturally bring the ph back up, the thing is a lot of guys here in alberta have drip systems why is my ph being affected.

[jvision]

By Super Reds, Im guessing you mean discus? A lot of people keep discus in local tap water, so unless you've been goofing around with the water a lot, I'm not sure if it was the pH that killed your fish. Are you dosing a dechlorinator properly - or at least making sure that your water is aged enough that there is no chlorine (lucky Calgary people, only have to deal with Cl2).

If you feel you really need to keep your pH low, invest in an RO unit.

[skynoch]

hey guys i just recently set up a drip system on my tank and need a little help. everything works fine on the mechanical end of things but after running it for a few days my ph sky rocketed killing 2 super reds. i used neutral regulater and got it back down tested the tap and calgary water was at a ph of 8.4. this would naturally bring the ph back up, the thing is a lot of guys here in alberta have drip systems why is my ph being affected.

Hey Glen not exactly understanding everything that happened but with a drip system your water should stay the exact same as the ph in Calgary's water. When you first start the system your ph will likely increase because your old tank water may have been broken down decreasing the hardness and allowing the ph to decrease. The worse thing you can do is add the neutral regulator into the water with the drip as all it will do is cause the ph to dip and then bounce back up to Calgary's ph. One thing you may have not looked at is with a drip system not all filters are created equal and it may not be the ph rise that killed the aros but maybe the filters are not sitting in the housing correctly or the filters life excectancy has run out allowing chlorine into your tank, get a chlorine test kit for pools and just check your drip to see if it tests positive for chlorine.

[skynoch]

One other thing I forgot to ask is what type of sand are you using or do you have any tile or deorations in your tank. Some types of sand will raise your ph or also some decorations can also.

[Evolution]

The nutralizer is just that, a nutralizer, then you need a stablizer, which is all practically useless in Calgary's hard water without first running the tap water through a RO system. Honestly, do not adjust the pH of the tap water or the tank, just use straight dechlorinated tap water, your fish will thrive.

Something you may want to understand is that when pH rises like what happened in your tank, the natural ammonium within the fishes body turns to ammonia and kills them.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Evolution

[hustler]

Im just getting used to mine..... My tap water is PH 8.2-8.4..... So i would assume my tank will be the same..... Took me a week to get my aro's acclimated from the 6.5-7 they are used to and into the new system that will always be at 8.2-4 due to all the new water added daily..... they still gassped a bit and flashed for a few days but all is well now....

Hope this helps atleast If this is what you are explaining?

[glamit]

hey guys thanks for the feedbacks, the cause was actually my sand, i use argonite sand and it buffers the ph, got rid of the sand and all is well now thanks

[skynoch]

hey guys thanks for the feedbacks, the cause was actually my sand, i use argonite sand and it buffers the ph, got rid of the sand and all is well now thanks

Glad you got it all figured out