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a customer came in to my work asking questions about her water. she said she had a low ph (5.8) and that her nitrates are in the dangerous area. i told her to do a water change and gravel vac. she already did that and that she added (proper ph) . even after a water change, a good gravel vac, and putting in water conditioner the test read the same. she also tested her tap water which the ph was at(8.4)! but the tank water still tested at 5.8. how is this possible?

I'd have to know what the nitrates are...

Unbuffered tap water will seek its own pH as the mineral content of the new water begins to dissolve/deplete. Small water changes will have very little affect on tank pH, depending on the tank size.

A GH and KH test will reveal the mineral content right from the tap. Proper pH is sometimes rather useless when subjected to the rapid shifting of unbuffered water.

A partial crushed coral substrate, or at least the addition of same, will slowly raise the pH over time as the mineral begins to leach.

--garyroland.

she did a 50% water change to her 20usg and used one of our buffer products.

she also uses the Mardel 5-n-1 test strips and the nitrates were off the chart.

BeastKeeper...

I would venture a guess that either the customer has been somewhat lackadaisical with her tank maintenance schedule lately _or_ she is experiencing Old Tank Syndrome. Either way the water quality is unacceptable for the fish.

If you are unsure what Old Tank Syndrome is, here..

[link=http://www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html]http://www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html" style="COLOR: #880000[/link]

You need to ask her a few questions and figure out if Old Tank Syndrome is what she is dealing with. If it is, then she needs to learn about it and move on from there.

It will take more than a 50% water change to bring it back. That's a good start but she is going to have to perform multiple partial water changes over the next few weeks to get the water quality where it needs to be. AND.. if this was Old Tank Syndrome, she is going to have to closely monitor her tank. It can sneak back up on you very easilly.