# Cholla INSANE Ph drop



## arcticwolf (Mar 12, 2014)

10g moderate planted. I added 2 pieces of 3inch cholla.
25 thriving active yellow neons.
I had ph 7.4 the morning i added cholla. No reason to check ph often it is always stable and matches my change water. Kh 3 Gh 6. Did not check ph the day after ... today the ph (I checked twice) is reading 6.2.-6.0 :surprise:Shrimp are not moving around much. REMOVED CHOLLA.
In process of 2liter water change by slow drip(should take 1.5hrs). Praying i can get ph up very slowly. Praying i get it up enough to not kill shrimp colony. Notice most shrimp clustered in back corner not moving much.
I have good circulation and air with 20g size sponge.
am 0
nitrite 0
nitrate around 10 guessing by color
phos 5 at most
substrate black diamond sand
Terrified i killed my colony with 2 simple pieces of cholla ... no clue it could reduce ph so fast. Cholla was only rinsed and soaked for a day, it sank, so i added.

After the half g water change ph is up to about 6.6 ... see 4 molts ... many shrimp now active ... thinking death averted


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Is this cholla that you purchased somewhere? 
One of the advantages of finding your own wood is that you do have a better idea of how it has been treated. When buying from online, some will not be intended or right for tank use. If it was wood intended for craft use, it may have been acid washed as they tend to like the stark white color. 
Can't say that is what you have but just throwing out some ideas?


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Hmm, I boiled the crap out of my cholla wood and never noticed any ph changes. Boil everything!


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## TropicalAquarist (Jun 9, 2015)

That is very strange. Maybe try putting it in a bucket and testing ph in the bucket before, and then after 2 hours, and 24 hours later? 
Also what is you kh testing at? Sounds like it's very low if it's letting the ph fluctuate.

Otherwise, i agree, boiling it will definitely help release the Tannins..

Oh and what substrate do you have in the tank?


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## arcticwolf (Mar 12, 2014)

black diamond medium blasting sand
kh 3
Gh 6
ph has not noticeably fluctuated in 2 months
Cholla came from a shrimp keeper.
Remaining 8 3inchcholla has been soaking in fish transfer hangon like used at pet stores ... have noticed that water becomes like coffe after around 12 hrs been changing water out till few tannins remain ... no clue the first 2 should have also had long soak and leaching time.
Of note tds went from 250 to 375 ... must have been tannin leaching to drive up tds that fast as well.
Now i wonder how often i should change small amounts of water to slowly bring ph back to my normal steady levels, and tds with out stressing shrimp. Thinking another 1/2 gal 2hr drip late this evening might push ph up to 6.8 or 7 which might be to fast a change. Or perhaps i need to get it back up at this rate before more shrimp molt at the much lower ph and higher tds. Causing even more stress bringing ph back up to normal


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

Is the 3 dKH before or after (or both) adding the cholla wood? This is more out of curiosity as I've never used cholla wood before.

I know peat moss actually has a cation exchange that will absorb calcium and magnesium as well as remove alkalinity (OH-) and add acidity (H+). This results in lowering of KH, GH, pH, and TDS.

Since TDS went up, I doubt there is cation exchange happening there, so I don't think your KH should have dropped. I just thought it might be good to verify that 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


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