Low PH in my 55g

Hi,
I have a 55 gallon tank containing two silver dollars around 4", two other silver dollars maybe 1" and an oscar around 4".

My Oscar is messy so I change 10% of the water every other day, and take out uneaten food after they have eaten. Despite this my nitrite level is 50mg/l, and nitrate levels are 50mg/l, my PH was also 5.0 but is now 7.0 due to me adding bicarb into the aquarium slowly over a few nights.

In the aquarium I have a big piece of bogwood throwing out tanins and four bunches of plants also three moss balls for my silver dollars to munch on.

Filtration is external JEBO 825 which gives out 1000 L/H, is there any reason why my tank could be so dirty as I clean the sand substrate constantly, water from the tap shows no nitrates and PH is 6.5 or just bellow. Thanks guys.

To remove the tannins in the water you could use carbon based filter media to remove it. Although slightly acidic water is actually beneficial to most species of freshwater fish, 5.0 is dangerously acidic. It is a good thing you added the bicarbonates in your aquarium and the key word was SLOWLY, so I applaud you. Also, is your tank still new? If so, your aquarium is still establishing the nitrogen cycle. There is a blog somewhere in the blog section.

if the tank is new fishycrackerz is right about the nitrogen cycle. if it is less than maybe 2 weeks old it has not been fully established yet. also i want to kno is ur oscar aggresive to the other fish?

Oscars tend to be very messy and do not play well with other fish. Excessive aquarium wastes do lower the pH, and the presence of nitrite or ammonia indicates that (1) the tank is not fully cycled or (2) the biological load has overwhelmed the beneficial bacteria. Two of the most common reasons for an imbalance in the biological load are over feeding and not enough partial water changes. It may be a good idea to house the Oscar in a different aquarium. You should also consider doing a 20 or 30 percent partial water change every day until the nitrite and ammonia go to zero. After that, weekly partial water changes should keep the tank in good shape.

Hi, my Oscar Pyro is an alblino Oscar, and gets on well with his tank mates in fact the little ones tend to chase him when he has food...Although I think he maybe a she. Shes well behaved and a loverly fish, one in a million.

My tank is about a year old, and was cycled before the fish were added I think for about 5 weeks, what I was thinking was if the PH has attacked the bio filtration could that cause the adverse effects im noticing? Thankyou, Lauren.

That is an interesting theory. I will have to research that. I think so too. The sudden ph change may have as well affected the bacteria.

It seems as though the sudden ph change will kill off large amounts of bacteria although some will remain. It may take a few days for the bacteria to restablish themselves. Wow that was quick research! All in a matter of three minutes!

Lol, thanks fishycrackerz. x

Are you using a carbon dioxide system. They can cause sudden changes in pH. In addition, if the aquarium has only distilled or reverse osmosis water, it will lack pH buffers. Fishycrackerz probably figured it out, but that's my two cents worth.