cycling new tank in surrey bc

T

travistiale

New Member
Hi can anyone tell me what their readings for pH, kh, and gh were straight from the tap in surrey? Also im currently cycling a brand new tank using the fishless cycle. I had a pH reading of about 6.6 straight from tap.. im adding ammonia daily and i took a pH reading 7 days into the cycle and its below 6. is this normal? should i do a partial water change to try to get it up a bit or since it is a fishless cycle should i just wait it out and hope that the pH stabilizes after the cycle is complete? can i add coral chips to help raise kh and pH? Im just worried because a low pH wouldnt be good for the beneficial bacteria? anyone out there with experience cycling aquariums please chime in..... need advice on what to do!!!
 
travistiale said:
Hi can anyone tell me what their readings for pH, kh, and gh were straight from the tap in surrey? Also im currently cycling a brand new tank using the fishless cycle. I had a pH reading of about 6.6 straight from tap.. im adding ammonia daily and i took a pH reading 7 days into the cycle and its below 6. is this normal? should i do a partial water change to try to get it up a bit or since it is a fishless cycle should i just wait it out and hope that the pH stabilizes after the cycle is complete? can i add coral chips to help raise kh and pH? Im just worried because a low pH wouldnt be good for the beneficial bacteria? anyone out there with experience cycling aquariums please chime in..... need advice on what to do!!!
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What are you planning to put in the tank? (ie cichlid or arowana??)
 
planning on putting arowana and stingray in the tank. so all the arowana keepers out there in the vancouver area how do u deal with the low kh values such that it doesnt affect pH
 
Since your doing a fishless cycle you cold use chemicals to buffer the tank or even a hunk of newer cement would work. I would use the chemicals for a fishless cycle.
 
so when the tank is all cycled and ready for fish... do you guys add a buffer to the tank to avoid ph crashes? pH6.6 kh is practically 0 so do u guys buffer and allow the ph to rise a bit and do water changes? do you buffer the water that u use for waterchanges? if i add a buffer ph will be around 7.2 and the tap water ph is 6.6 so do i buffer all of the water so when i do a water change it there is not ph difference... pretty new so help me out please
 
You can also do waterchanges during a fishless cycle to keep the ph up but you will have to adjust the amount of ammonia you put in to account for this.
Once your tank is fully cycled just do a group of small waterchanges over time to start upping the ph never incresing by 0.3 per day and remember to keep adding ammonia during this period and adjusting the amount to the amount of water you take out.
If you have been buffering your water the whole time during the fishless cycle it will be the same as your tap water and all you will need to do is do a big waterchange and then start to add fish. Be carefull when adding fish as the amount of ammonia you have been adding over time may only represent the same bioload as a small fish so adding to big a fish will put you back into a mini cycle.
 
Buffering refers to adding coral, sea shells, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or other commercial products to increase the Ph of your aquarium water.
 
A ph drop is normal during a cycle.

Dont mess with it. Worry about getting the tank properly cycled, then if the PH continues to constantly swing around, you can look into it.
 
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