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Concerned about water parameters

ollyUK said:
WEll my PH meter came today. Quick test without calibrating shows 5.3! Soo I suspect this could be killing my Hatchets off. Incidentally, lost another one last night so down to two now. So gonna try the buffering shown in James' planted tank but will take it real slow, mostly concerned for sudden realisation of ammonia spikes alongside increased PH but hopefully, the plants will take the ammonia up.
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Hi @ollyUK

If your tank water really is at pH=5.3, then that will almost certainly kill off the nitrifying bacteria in your filter. Then, you would be wholly dependent on the plants for removing the nasties - ammonia, etc. When I refer to nitrifying bacteria, I have in mind Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter and Nitrospira. I am not including the more recently-discovered Archaea.

JPC
 
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