PH problems at the breeding tank

[udi_hakim]

Hello,
I've started my borellii breeding tank lately.
Its a 100L well planted Hi-Tech tank with 100% R/O water, CO2, furtulizer...

My problem (i think) is the PH fall at morning (when i stops the air current to the water) and the PH rise at night (when i starts the ventilation of the water).

Theres (currently) 3 males in the tank, and for few days they are looking bad: lack of coloration (very white with some dark black marks) and some red mark near the base of their tail and they always hide in the plantation.

What should i do? change the ratio of R/O water? stop the CO2? or leave everything as is and they apistos will adopt?

Before i put them in the breeding tank they were at my quarentine (50% R/O) strip tank and was doing well, gr8 coloration and ate like hogs.

Thanks.

 

[tjudy]

What is the KH of the water (buffering capacity)? If it is very low (<2) then you might want to increase the KH. A KH of 4-6 would not be too high for A. borelli and it would stabilize the pH swing while still allowing the CO2 to be used.

 

[apistoireland]

I agree, A. borelli doesn't need extremely soft water. I bred them at 10 kh without any problems. However, your fish could also suffer from some kind of infection. Without pictures I can't tell. Any chance you could post a few?

 

[sherry]

on the planted tank forums, we've been discussing NOT adding kh to our tanks. The idea is that it isn't absolute ph that impacts fish, it is kh. Indeed ph swings due to co2 really don't impact the fish if you keep your kh stable. I stopped buffering, have left my kh at 1 (natural for nyc water) and let my ph go down to 5.8 with co2.. It swings higher at night (6.2) with co2 off and aeration ... and my fish have never been healthier. My cacs even surprised me by breeding for the first time, and I found 2 little miniature fish to prove it, without any intervention on my part. The plants are happy too. Tonina Belem growing like a weed.

 

[fishgeek]

i would image that the r/o mixed at 50% in which you state the fish is more likely to have a higher kH , as both ted and apistoireland have suggested would help

this too would be my first port of call, returning the water to something the fish were comfortable in

i would think, that prehaps your setup is over complicating things
it would be normal for a planted tank to have some diurnal swing in pH and i assume this is why the aeration turning on and off , you appear to suggest you have the opposite occuring in your tank prehaps the aeration is excessive or not needed


the red near the base of the fins may be a water quality issue or as suggested before bacterial issue's

andrew