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My room mate has a 20 gallon aquarium, which has never had any problems until a month ago: Her pH dropped below 6.0 and will not rise. Her alkalinity is at zero, the water is average hardness, but no matter what is added to the tank the pH refuses to rise. We have tried standard pH up products, and have used half a bottle of alkalinity buffer product once we tested the alkalinity and found it was low. I have even added some sea shells from my salt water tank, but the pH and alkalinity refuse to budge. Any ideas?

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i can't believe the shells didnt make it rise, they got mine up to 8 or 8.2 overnight! I would suggest maybe getting a new test kit and confirm its not the tester?

Have used a few different testers. I'm stumped.

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Don't worry about it. 6.0 is close enough to neutral for most fish... Especially if they are used to water from your area.

Water does lower in pH if you leave it out/in your tank. Carbon dioxide from the air will make acid in contact with water (don't remember why, but I heard this in a college chem class so it must be true). That'll lower the pH. Have you tried baking soda? It may be a lot cheaper at least than commercial buffers. It will harden the water as well.

It's wierd that the buffers didn't work though because they're made to HOLD the pH at a certain level, not just alter it. Is there activated carbon in the tank/filter that might be adsorbing the buffer?

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While my roomie does have tetras, she still wants to keep her pH a little higher than 6.0 (I've already had this conversation with her). Whatever pH she wants, it still stumps me that it refuses to move AT ALL. The seashells have been in it for three days now, and the alkalinity is still zero and the pH is still below 6.0 (it is a bromothymol blue test, so I can't tell how much below 6.0 it is). I would at least like to get the pH ON THE SCALE since it's pretty hard to monitor your pH when it's below the scale of the test!

Anyways. Yes, there is carbon in the filter, but it is not new carbon, and the buffer (Seachem's neutral 7.0 liquid) does not say anything about being affected by carbon. I considered baking soda, but that often will make your pH crash after it rises, it isn't a very permanent solution (at least in my experience) Maybe I'm wrong?

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try coral, its much more soluable than regular shells, and since its porus it should leave more surface area to disolve as well. Just make sure you won't hurt any bottom feeders doing it. If thats a problem and you REALY want the job done, i'de say take an old filter, throw a pile of filter floss in, and mix powdered coral into a SEPERATE bucket of water, than start the filter up on it. Use water clarifyer the next day to clump and remove any remaining particles, and change the filter floss. wait another 24 hours and then throw it in the tank if it tests in the range you'de like. Personaly i'de avoid changing the pH more than .2 a week, so its perfect for water changes. I know that using this method would definitley raise the pH, but I'de say double check it with someone more compitent than me before doing it. Question though, does she have any driftwood or related mater in the tank? Also, how often does she usualy do water changes?

There is no organic matter in the tank except for a handful of tetras, a few glassfish, a snail, and a female betta. No driftwood, no plants. I have no coral to put into her tank... Would a handful of aragonite, or a chunk of tufa stone work well? ie could I put some aragonite in a bag in her filter?

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How old is the carbon in your filter? Perhaps if it has been in the tank for a while it is now releasing trapped chemicals which are lowering the PH. Have you recently added anything else to the tank, e.g. a new ornament?

I use baking soda in my african tank to raise the pH. I've never had a problem with unstable pH in that tank. Can you test the water for KH? If you dont have a tester can you take a sample of water to a lfs to be tested?
If you test a sample of water from one of your tanks does it show the correct pH result using those testers you have tried on hers? Maybe the testers are bad?

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

SEACHEM regulator, i've bought it at petco and at bob's here in memphis. its a little expensive but it stabilizes the tank either way up or down.. it's FABULOUS FABULOUS! lol

me

Okay. The breakdown: The pH first went wonky when Kristen (my roomie) added new gravel. She happened to change her filter and water at the same time. She (obviously) had major deaths occur; it was after the ammonia started to fall that the pH dropped. I have the same gravel in one of my tanks, and the pH is normal (7.2) so I know that it is a)not the gravel causing the drop, and b)not faulty testers. The only new ornament that was added was one that used to be in one of my old tanks, so the ornament is not the cause.
KH is 0ppm, GH is aprox. 100ppm
Kristen is good at changing her carbon every three to four weeks.
The only other culprit I can think of is the bag of Hagen's Green-X but I don't really see how that could be affecting it... But it's the only other new thing added to the tank.
Over half a bottle of Seachem's "7.0 Liquid Neutral Regulator" has gone into that tank, with no affect.
I'm thinking perhaps the cycle affected things, though that was over a month ago, and the tank still refuses to go back to normal...?

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The problem is that the KH is 0. KH is directly linked to the pH. With a zero reading for KH the waters pH is very unstable. There are lots of pH buffer out on the market or you could try the baking soda. Add it slowly as you dont want to shock the fish with a sudden rise in pH.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

I know the kh is bad... Like I said I have been adding stuff. I guess I will dig out the baking soda then... Thanks...

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Did you try doing a waterchange? Changing the water with a pH of say 8-9 will bring it up...

What you are reporting seems to be almost an impossibility. Usually people have problems bringing down pH when their hardness is too high.

How often are you doing water changes? Sometimes if you don't do water changes often enough, your kH and pH will crash. Plain old baking soda should bring the pH and kH up. Try crushed coral. I'd put in about 1/4 pound per gallon.

You're sure your test kit isn't too old? I saw that you said you tried a bunch of different methods. Take a sample to your lfs.

I WORK AT THE LFS!!!!!!!!!!!
Gah!!! The water gets changed every two weeks. GAh!!!!!!!! Okay, will try baking soda.

I'm so adjective, I verb nouns!