Low Ph for A. Iniridae

[trev12]

hey just wanted some info on my apistos.
I have wild caught apisto iniridae and I am using R/O water with some KH Booster from Nutrafin.
the tds of the R/O is 0 . and the ph is about 7.0
I need to get around ph of 4.0 or less for these guys. the tank is 4.8 ph now and the female is no longer hiding and getting picked on by the male. actually she is ready to spawn and he is on the run ..
So the problem is the ph wants to keep going up through the night and its 5.0-5.5 in the morning. im using ph down wich is sulphuric acid. I get the ph to 4.6 ish in the morning and that's fine for the day till the next morning. the perameters are less than 1 degree of hardness and the tds is around 40
why would my ph go up through the night?
any help would be great.
thanks

trev

 

[gerald]

Trev - welcome, but please dont post the same question in two different threads. It gets confusing as some folks will repsond to one thread and some will respond to the other. Would be better if you delete this one.

 

[Mike Wise]

My only question is why do you want to drop the pH below 5? I reproduced A. iniridae repeatedly around pH 5.5.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I am using R/O water with some KH Booster from Nutrafin. the tds of the R/O is 0 . and the ph is about 7.0

So the problem is the ph wants to keep going up through the night and its 5.0-5.5 in the morning. im using ph down wich is sulphuric acid. I get the ph to 4.6 ish in the morning and that's fine for the day till the next morning. the perameters are less than 1 degree of hardness and the tds is around 40

pH isn't a very meaningful measurement in very soft water. If your water has a TDS of 40, you can leave the "pH down" out as well, and just add some Oak leaves or Indian Almond leaves, these will naturally lower the pH.

why would my ph go up through the night?

If you keep planted tanks? you would normally you would expect pH to go down, as the extra CO2 from respiration will tend to lower pH. The pH will rise during the day as the plants photosynthesise, depleting CO2 and adding oxygen. Assuming it is a real rise (bearing in mind that pH can't be stable in unbuffered water) you must have a source of carbonate that is going into solution? or you run an air stone at night?

Have a look at this thread <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/ok.12048/>

cheers Darrel