New 20Gallon tank

[freshwaterfishlover]

I just setup my New 20 gallon tank and was doing test. I first did test on Nitrate, Nitrite and amonia. I was puzzled why all test were on the money. I watched a little TV(Cops and Americas Most Wanted). I can back after and did my last test PH, thats were my problem is Low PH. I knew I could not have a New tank and nothing wrong. You know what that means. Another water change.

[cocoa_pleco]

that sucks

[freshwaterfishlover]

I did a water change and the PH was still low. I think I will do another water change later.

[Glasstapper]

you've tested the pH out of your tap, right? Maybe you need to adjust your pH by using chemicals or other convential ways.

[minabird]

freshwaterfishlover-

Unless you adjusted the ph of the water in your tank when you set it up, doing a water change will not affect it. Do as glasstapper suggested and test your tapwater's ph. I would also recommend you test yor tapwater's nitrates and water hardness to give you a reference point and then you can see how much you neet to adjust it for your tanks.

Also, you might want to find out what the water parameters are for your lfs, as a point of reference to see how long you have to acclimate your fish when you bring them home. The more closely your water parameters match your lfs' tanks, the less time it will take for you to acclimate your new fish.

I'd recommend you leave your ph to what it is out of the tap and let your fish adjust to it, unless your ph is really high or low or you are keeping fish with very specific ph needs and are not tolerant of ph differences. I have a bumblebee goby that prefers brackish water and ph near 8 (but tolerates from 7.6-8.5); mine is in a freshwater tank with ph 7.6 and is doing great.

Since you just set up your tank, do you have anything in the tank to start the cycling process? If it's empty, your ammonia and nitrite will be 0 until you start the cycling process.

[Lady Hobbs]

Welcome. Not sure what your pH is. The middle range is 7 but fish can do very well in a range above and below that.

[freshwaterfishlover]

I did a water change and my Nitrate and PH are now bad. I usually do water changes and water goes back to normal. Do one more water change and see what happens.

[kimmers318]

What do you mean by you did a water change and now nitrate and PH are bad?
This is a new tank setup.....do you have fish in it already?
What are the readings for water out of your tap (some suggest letting it sit for an hour before testing as some gases can possibly alter readings)
If you are not cycling with fish:14:
or fishless cycling with pure ammoniathumbs2: (or some type of food waste to decay in there)you are not going to see readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, unless there are trace amounts in your tap water.
So, let us know what the readings are that you are getting, what type of cycling you are doing and we may be able to help you. Unless you are chemically altering your PH in the tank, your ph should remain what it is out of the tap, and that is usually best for fish rather than trying to constantly adjust it.

[freshwaterfishlover]

I filled the tank with water and the PH was low, so I did a water change and then the Nitritre was high and PH was low. I did a second water change still the same. Just now I did a third water change and everything is perfect now.

Yes the new tank has been setup for a week. No I do not put any living things in to the tank till the Nitrite or PH is good.


I have never tested my tap.

Only things I have done setup the tank(hood, filter, heater, themameter and gravel)Filled up the tank with water and did 3 water changes and added two caps full of cycle.

[Rue]

I see you have other tanks...why not just use the old tank water in the new tank? You can also take gravel from the old tank to seed the need one if you'd like...

...and...to help things along...'feed' your empty tank a little fish food everyday...that will help to give off ammonia as it decays...