high nitrates-low ph

I admit it, I haven't been good about water changes over the last 2 months, but I did change the charcoal and ammonia filters every month. I have a 40 gal tank, and started losing a few fish recently. I did a water test, and needless to say my ph was low(6.2), and my nitrate levels were very high. I did a 20% water change, added stress zyme, and bullseye 7.0( only at 1/2 strength-per pet store recomendation-said it would be too big of a ph jump all at once) Tested both levels 2 days later, and hardly any movement in levels. How often should I keep doing water changes, and should I add more bullseye and stress zyme? What about adding Nitra-zorb T filter pacs, and live plants - will it help? Please help!!!

Your problem is typical for a neglected tank.... all tanks will tend to go down in pH and up in Nitrates if not maintained properly.

Add 1 teaspoon of Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) per 20 gallons of water to gently raise the pH, and kH (The kH will indicate how stable the pH will be; keep it above 3). A kH of 3 to 5 is adequate for most freshwater fish that require a fairly neutral pH (7.0) Do NOT buy the garbage they sell in the store to raise the pH, its basically Sodium Bicarb and costs 5 times as much. Buy a nice size box of baking soda (NOT Baking Powder) at your local food store. Add as directed above into tank (Mix with a half gallon of aquarium water in a container or pail first, do not add baking soda directly into tank, always dissolve it first and pour it in. Re-check pH in a 6 hours, if still low (below 6.6) repeat dose. Also.... increasing aeration will help boost the pH as well....but dont overdo it.

Alsom to raise the General Hardness which Im sure you'll have to (Test it first), use Magnesium Sulfate (EMPSOM SALT). Do NOT buy the chemicals they sell at the aquarium store, they are the same, and cost 5 times the cost. Buy some Epsom salts, and mix 1 tablespoon per 20 gallons of aquarium water into a pail or container, and add to tank.


As far as the Nitrate problem....water changes..water changes...water changes. Do not overfeed, do frequent water chages (25% once a week is perfect), remove plant debris from any live plants. Do not overstock the tank with fish (1/2 inch of fish per useable gallon of water, a 55 gallon tank does NOT have 55 gallons of water, allow 15% volume for gravel, rocks, etc.)

You do not need to add stress zyme if your tank is cycled, and you are not having amonia or nitrite problems. If doing a major gravel wash you can sometimes add a bit, but thats about it, it cant hurt.

Live plants will always help with the Nitrate problem, but they have needs too, such as proper lighting intensity and duration, occassional plant food supplement, fish that Will NOT eat or dig them up (cichlids, etc) and a good supply of nitrates which you obviously have.

Remember, keep it natural, and stay away from aquarium store chemicals and quick fixes.

Best of luck to you...

Welcome to our two new members. LongIslandFishGuy has some good advice, to which I'll add a couple of opinions.

Many new fish keepers immediately think of chemical cures when problems arise. Messing with water chemistry and adding medications may help cover up a problem, but it doesn't provide a long term solution. The majority of aquarium problems are caused by over crowding, over feeding, and lack of maintenance. The most effective cure is a series of partial water changes (possibly every day for a week) followed by regular maintenance as discussed above. That works better than chemical "cures," and it avoids sudden changes in water parameters.

Alrighty,

I feel the need to expand on my original over-crowding precaution. The "Inches of fish per gallon of water" rule must not always be taken as something that is carved in stone. If you are using those types of rules, they normally apply to small and medium size fish. If you have large fish like Arrowanas, Pacus, Red-tailed cats, Oscars, or other fish that typically grow to more than 8", do not use the same rules as you would apply to small fish, since One 8" fish generates alot more waste than Eight 1" fish.
For example, if you were using a 1" of fish per gallon of water rule, you might place one hundred tiny 1" fish in a 100 gallon tank, but you wouldnt want to place ten 10" fish in it.
On fish over 8" you might want to use a more conservative rule like 1/4" of fish per gallon of water. That would mean if you had a 100 gallon tank, you could put two Oscars in it for example since they typically grow to about a foot long in captivity in a decent sized tank.

What I have found to be a good system over the years is the following:

Fish Under 1-1/2" - 1" per gal of water.
Fish between 1-1/2" and 3" - 3/4" per gallon.
Fish between 3" and 8" - 1/2" per gallon.
Fish Over 8" - 1/4" per gallon of water.

You'll hear varying opinions on stocking rules, but those are what has proven to work nicely over the years of fish keeping for me.

Take care,

Bob

Great information. Maybe you should also post it in the blog section.

Welcome to the Forum!! X2!!!

Nice to have you both aboard! And I second the suggestion to add to the blog!

Being a bit of a chemistry dork. I want to add a tiny bit of warning here about using baking soda. You will want to be careful when adding baking soda if you have very high levels of nitrites or nitrates. Baking soda is a buffer. Which means that it will withstand significant changes to pH up to a point. Chemical reactions reach something called an equilibrium when a change in pH happens. Every time your pH changes the water chemistry comes to a new equilibrium. The problem with adding baking soda to a tank that has too much nitrate or nitrite is that you are going to cause a chemical reaction in the desired direction of what you are expecting but this may be too much. So a tank that may be a little acidic because of the excess nitrates, will shoot drastically in the opposite direction into a very alkaline pH range because there is excess reactant on one side of the chemical equation.

If you have a high amount of nitrates or nitrites in your water (always test this first), I would suggest making a few water changes over a period of 2 weeks to try and lower this before adding any baking soda. It wouldn't work so well to try and raise your pH a little because your tank is acidic, only to have your water turn alkaline instead.

Another concern here is that you are adding a buffer. Baking soda being a buffer, as stated before, works UP TO A POINT. Once a buffer reaches its threshold, a small change in hydrogen ion concentration will result in a significant change in pH. The thresholds of a buffer are very difficult to determine and you typically won't know the change has happened until its too late. Essentially the warning here is that once you add the baking soda, be extremely careful trying to alter your pH with chemicals. Your tank is going to resist any pH changes once the baking soda is in there. You almost have to be happy with the pH that you end up with because changing it once the baking soda is in there is going to be hard. Furthermore, changing it with a product like pH UP or pH DOWN can be really tough. That buffer is now going to absorb any chemicals that you introduce, again UP TO A POINT. Adding a few drops of pH DOWN to a tank may do nothing, so you may be tempted to add more, then the buffer reaches its threshold and a very sharp and sudden change to pH may happen. A buffered tank may only drop a pH of 7.0 to 6.8 on the first 10 drops of pH DOWN, but the next 3 or 4 drops may break the threshold and drop it from 6.8 down to 5.8.

The question here should really be, why do you want to change the pH. Is it because the pH is really too high. Or is it that you are striving for an unobtainable goal of a perfectly neutral 7.0. If your pH is slightly high or low and your fish are doing fine, then don't worry about it. Don't kill yourself, and subsequently your fish, just in an attempt to get closer to 7.0 when your pets are doing well and stable in the pH they are in.

Welcome to our forum.

Thanks very much for the explanation of the way buffers work. My chemistry knowledge is a little rusty, but I understand that buffering should also be considered when using a carbon dioxide system or when using reverse osmosis or distilled water in an aquarium. One way to get sick fish is to change pH rapidly.