# Does anyone use Proper PH 8.2?



## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

I bought Proper PH 8.2 and have used it once before with no problems. But I've been having a lot of problems with my Nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia levels and found out it was because my filter was not good enough. Well I bought a new filter, my boyfriend put it up while I was at work. When I got home tested my levels and my ph was getting pretty low so I added some of that ph 8.2 and now all of my fish but one (as of right now) are dead or are really close to being dead.. Oh and I have a African Cichlid tank, 55. 
Does anyone have any idea why this happened? I'm really kind of upset because I just finally resolved the problems with everything else and now it was for nothing.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Basically fish waste is ammonia based... a healthy tank has a bacteria that "eats" ammonia and "poops" nitrite... and another bacteria that "eats" nitrite and "poops" nitrate... then we do water changes to remove nitrates...

It is our responsibility to "cycle" the tank, which means to establish the proper bacteria colonies. Any new filter will have zero bacteria...

So my guess is your tank was not cycled... and thatâ€™s why your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate were out of whack... when you put the new filter on, this still did nothing to help cycle your tank... so it stayed out of whack...

If you look in the top left corner of this page right above where it says â€œWelcome Kaitlin1227â€


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

I realized after the fact that I did not let it cycle long enough.. My water levels were fine before adding my cichlids but had problems about a month into having them.. I did water changes and everything 2 weekly to try and help the cycling. 
It began with the nitrites, nothing else was high for 4 days I believe, then the ammonia went crazy and the nitrates were just a little high. 
But what I'm saying is when I got home and checked my levels everything was perfect except the Ph.. So I added the Ph 8.2. Now when I check the Ph its way high I've only got the Ph tester that tests up to 7.6 I grabbed the wrong one and its a deep blue. So then I tested it with my strips and it goes up to 8.4 and its a lot darker than the pink (red) thats on the chart.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

oh and I also have the old filter still on.. I dont know if that makes a difference but I've read that you cant filter a tank to much.. So I went ahead and left the other one on to.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

What did you do to 'cycle' the tank?

A very old suggestion is to let the system run for a while without any fish in it. Today we understand this step does little if anything to help us. This is an old school suggestion that stuck around long after it was proven unnecessary.

If you have ammonia and/or nitriteâ€¦ with little to no nitrateâ€¦ this is a sure sign your tank is not properly cycled.

I personally do not use any chemicals in my tanks except for a dechlorinator (Prime), but Iâ€™m quite convinced that your PH issue and your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate issues are unrelated. If you would like a more â€œnaturalâ€


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

I know that they are not related i just wanted to let everyone know about the problems I was having. i only let the tank cycle through for about a week and a half. I have had a tank set up before but I didnt know exactly what I was suppose to do. All I did was test the water and all my reading were good so I got fish. I wasnt planning on cichlids but thats what I ended up with, not knowing much about them at first. but after finding this site I've learned a lot about the mistakes I made setting up the tank, especially when i started having problems with the nitrites then the ammonia. 
Today was the first day that all of them were back down to 0, even the nitrates were at 0. The new filter was put on around 6 and by 10 when I got home from work they were at 0. So I think my filtration was one of the problems with my tank not cycling completely. or it might not be, it just seemed to me since the levels were back down to 0 that that could have been one of the problems.
If I added to much of the Ph 8.2 could have hurt them? I only added what it said to but they didnt start acting weird until I added that, and I was home for about a half hour before adding it and they seemed fine.
And i'm not going to get anymore fish until my tank is fully cycled now that I'm back down to nothing. they have all died.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

First off, we all make mistakes and it's all one long learning process...

When a tank/filter/heater/etc is set up and running with no fish in it... it is NOT cycling...

Cycling means letting bacteria build up to deal with fish waste... but if there is no fish waste, you are not building anything up... your just wasting electricity letting everything run...

On a tank with no fish in it, the ammonia, nitrite & nitrate will be zero... because there is no source for any of them to come from... but as soon as you add fish they will then show up... as the fish is the source...

Read over the articles I referenced earlier... then things will make a lot more sense


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

ooooohhhhhh..... geez, I did not know that...
Ok now I do still have my 2 algae eaters a pleco and the other is some sort of catfish I think.. He was newer and I cant remember what hes called. is it ok to do the fishless cycle with them in there or should I just go buy a few cheap fish.. But it says not to have feeder fish (which are the algae eater right?) I dont have another tank or anything to move them out of it to cycle it. So any suggestions? I couldnt find anything in there about what to do if you already have them...
I know one thing you've been a big help atleast I know my main thing I did wrong now... 
But now something I'm kinda curious about, since I've been dealing with this the last month, and my levels are down to 0 now, has my tank cycled now?


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Iâ€™m glad to see I got you reading those articlesâ€¦ They will teach you a TON and allow you to come ask more specific questions on the forumâ€¦ :thumb:

If a tank is properly cycled there will be nitratesâ€¦ This is the best way I know how to explain itâ€¦ Keep in mind bacteria is a living thingâ€¦



Toby_H said:


> Basically fish waste is ammonia based... a healthy tank has a bacteria that "eats" ammonia and "poops" nitrite... and another bacteria that "eats" nitrite and "poops" nitrate... then we do water changes to remove nitrates...


So to start.. There is no wasteâ€¦ then the fish make ammonia (still no nitrite/nitrate)â€¦ then the bacteria eats the ammonia and poops nitrite while the fish make ammoniaâ€¦ so now there is ammonia & nitrite (no nitrate)â€¦ then one bacteria eats the ammonia & poops nitrite while the other bacteria eats the nitrite and poops nitrate while the fish make more ammoniaâ€¦

Then the levels of bacteria increase to accommodate all of the ammonia and nitrite in the systemâ€¦ and all you are left with is nitrateâ€¦

So when you are cycling you first see ammoniaâ€¦ and it increasesâ€¦ then you start seeing nitritesâ€¦ the ammonia starts to fall as the nitrite starts to riseâ€¦ then you start to see nitrates as the nitrites fallâ€¦ then when your nitrite & ammonia are at zero and your nitrates are climbingâ€¦ it shows you have a suitable bacteria colony for your current â€œbio loadâ€


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

Ammonia is also much more toxic the higher the pH gets.
When you raised the pH, whether it was temporary or long lasting, it may have proved to be too much to handle.


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## Kaitlin1227 (Jun 3, 2009)

thanks so much.. I'll have to go tomorrow and talk to they people at my lfs and see if they'll take them back until I get it cycled. 
Now I'm actually wondering if I should just not worry about the 55, because I recently bought a 75 and have just got all I need for it but am currently waiting on the stand to dry. So I may just wait and get the 75 cycled through and just leave the algae eaters in the 55. Would that be alright??


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