New to dirted tank

Hi guys, I am new to dirt tanks and I just set up a 10gallon dirted tank just yesterday and here are my specs

lights: 2 20W CFL

Substrate: Organic's Choice Potting mix, capped it off with an inch of sand.

DIY C02 System

Plants:

1 Amazon sword

2 Java Fern

1 ludwigia peruensis

1 Anubias nana on driftwood
2 pots of Dwarf hairgrass

For my question, I have been doing water changes for about a day and my ph is still high (more than 7.8) Do I need to keep doing water changes for the ph to go down or does the ph naturally go down as the tank cycles? Do I need to put fish first for it to go down? I really appreciate the help. I just can't wait to get my first betta.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Josh (fishman) on June 8, 2012 at 12:00pm

I would continue to do water changes. Eventually with these your PH will stabilize. Sounds Like a wonderful tank!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Doug T. on June 9, 2012 at 8:42am

How many water changes have you done? I usually do 3-5 on a freshly dirted tank. You water is probably really hard because the dirt will put extra minerals in the water, and hard water normally means high PH as well. The plants will use these minerals over time, that's why you usually see a growth spurt(and occasionally an algae outbreak) when you first set up your tank. Running co2 should help lower you PH as the plants will convert the co2 into carbonic acid. How long are you running your lights?

As for putting fish in, I'd wait til the water stabilizes. It normally takes a week or so for everything to stabilize.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by jpss90 on June 9, 2012 at 12:28pm

The Ph is now 7.2 after the C02 system started working. I have already put in fishes and now just monitoring the levels of ammonia as the tank is still cycling. I am doing 20-30 percent of water changes everyday. Thanks for the info :)