Hello,
I'm new to these forums and I've been keeping fish for over 10 years and I haven't had as much difficulty as I am having with a 5 gallon tank that I've had set up for a month now.
My water out of the tap is 7.8 for ph, 2 GH, 2 KH. When I add this water into my tank, the water is at 7.8 for about 12 hours, then down to 6.8 by the next 12 hours, to barely 6.0 by the second day. Tank's current ph: 6.0, barely, test reads yellow but it's not as vivid as the chart, 2 for GH, 2 for KH. I am believing that the GH/KH are the culprit. I typically don't like adding in special powders, rocks, etc as I've read it can cause a horrible yo-yo effect of ph crash, which won't be good for the tank's inhabitants.
Currently in the tank are 4 phoenix rasboras. I am also wanting to add shrimp to the tank, but with the ph being barely 6, it's not high to sustain them. I am at a loss of what to do to get this PH up and keep it up. I'm wanting to keep the PH between 6.5-7.0 and not have to worry about it dropping and thus causing deaths.
There is no driftwood in the tank. Gravel is flourite red on the bottom with regular black aquarium plastic gravel on top. Tank is planted, but plants are not doing well, I suspect PH is affecting them too.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
I'm new to these forums and I've been keeping fish for over 10 years and I haven't had as much difficulty as I am having with a 5 gallon tank that I've had set up for a month now.
My water out of the tap is 7.8 for ph, 2 GH, 2 KH. When I add this water into my tank, the water is at 7.8 for about 12 hours, then down to 6.8 by the next 12 hours, to barely 6.0 by the second day. Tank's current ph: 6.0, barely, test reads yellow but it's not as vivid as the chart, 2 for GH, 2 for KH. I am believing that the GH/KH are the culprit. I typically don't like adding in special powders, rocks, etc as I've read it can cause a horrible yo-yo effect of ph crash, which won't be good for the tank's inhabitants.
Currently in the tank are 4 phoenix rasboras. I am also wanting to add shrimp to the tank, but with the ph being barely 6, it's not high to sustain them. I am at a loss of what to do to get this PH up and keep it up. I'm wanting to keep the PH between 6.5-7.0 and not have to worry about it dropping and thus causing deaths.
There is no driftwood in the tank. Gravel is flourite red on the bottom with regular black aquarium plastic gravel on top. Tank is planted, but plants are not doing well, I suspect PH is affecting them too.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.