Newly cycled tank, only 3 mollies for now to support the ecosystem, all the plants are new as well, got them from a local grower, Ive been at straight 8.2 for weeks now.

Ignore that beginning dip, pretty sure that was a mistake on my part, but after off gassing, I’m 8.2 out of the tap. This is all pea gravel so I should have a pretty good buffer, but I just can’t figure out why I lost .4

Any ideas?

  • cybervseasEnglish
    7·
    5 months ago

    8.2 to 7.8 isn’t a huge shift, and could even be explained by the error margin in whatever device you’re using to measure.

    If not random fluctuations then:

    • bacteria establishing and acidifying
    • drop in kh reducing buffering capacity of water
    • not enough agitation causing co2 concentration to increase, resulting in ph decrease

    Time of day can matter for ph. Even when I wasn’t doing co2 injection I would see ph moving +/- 0.3 throughout the day.

    • StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      4·
      5 months ago

      I’m just using an API testing kit, yeah Its good to know it’s not a lot I’ve just been burned by ph changes in the past, I will say I’ve been doing multiple tests a day in the week leading up to this and PH has been super stable, so this might likely be the bacteria one