Falling PH

[John White]

I am cycling my tank at present and wondered if anyone could tell me why the PH has dropped from 7.6 to 6.4?
Set up is: 100 gallon tank with sump filtration. Sump has a filter sock, foam, biohome then returned back to main tank. I am using both the filter sock and foam because if at a later date the filter socks get dirty to quick I can just remove them and have the foam already and matured in place.
The tank has ADA Africa substrate, 2 bits of bog wood, 2 bits of spider wood and is planted. The spider wood has started to look a little furry so I called MA where I bought it from and they said it's normal. Also said that they have some in a display tank which did the same and they added some Otto's to sort it.
The only thing I have dosed the water with is Neutro T and that is as per instructions on the bottle.
Anyone got any idea's please?

 

[tam]

It's normal for new wood to get fuzzy/goopy/mouldy looking bits on in the first few weeks - it goes away in time or you can manually remove it. It doesn't cause any harm. Obviously don't add Oto's to an uncycled tank.

Wood an substrate can all effect ph as they leech stuff into the water. You might find your water turns slightly yellow from the tannins from the wood too, if it hasn't been previously soaked. Again it won't cause an issue, will stop over time and water changes will remove it.

 

[John White]

As the Ammonia was reading 2.0 I added the gel filter started balls that came with the bio home and the PH has now dropped to 6.0.

 

[ian_m]

How are you measuring pH, hopefully a pH pen and not a test kit ? Test kits are notorious for false readings. My theory is the ammonia from your ADA substrate is leaching out in huge quantities and causing your pH test kit to misread (it bleaches the test kit colours), especially true if a test strip kit.

 

[splatteredbrainz]

Test your ph in the afternoon or towards the end of your light cycle. Chances are it's the wood/ada leeching and is completely normal. I like to cycle tanks for months before I commit to any stocking ideals for this reason. Rather than wasting energy trying to control parameters I like to let the system design decide what it's going to be. There's so many options and I always find something of interest to stock with what I end up creating. Honestly it makes the decision process a lot easier to just accept what the sytem is capable of instead of whatever my initial vision may have been. Through trial and error I'm able to see what likes being in there, what I'm able to maintain indefinitely, and any other variables along the way and everything eventually balances itself out... it's always a surprise

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[ceg4048]

I am cycling my tank at present and wondered if anyone could tell me why the PH has dropped from 7.6 to 6.4?

If you are wise, you will ignore pH changes and only use it to measure the effectiveness of your CO2 (if you will use CO2).
Do not get wrapped around the axle with pH.

Instead, worry about whether you are doing enough water changes and whether you are keeping the tank as clean as possible.

Cheers,

 

[John White]

Thank you all for the replies.
The PH was being checked with the usual liquid type test kit. My wife has since borrowed a Mettler Toledo calibrated PH electrode from work and that reads 6.4
The tank is clean as it has only been running for 2 weeks and I am going to do a big water change tomorrowand then again on Monday.
I do not have plans on using CO2 as yet, it all depends on how sucessful my plants are whether that idea changes.
Once again thank you for the replies

 

[splatteredbrainz]

... co2 will drop it further as well

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