Help!!!! my ph is low

[MingTheMerciless]

Hi everyone,
I measured my ph the other day and it is 5.0, I have no idea why. The only chemical I put in my tank that relates to the ph is stabilizer. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on why my tank would do this? Its not a new tank its about a year and a half old.
Thanks

[dandaman352]

Do you use tap water or any sort of water conditioner. Alot of it could just be your tap water, also if you can give more details about your tank and how you do water changes etc.

[ILLUSN]

clean your filter, sounds like a build up of nitric acid in there

[Merrilyn]

What's the hardness of your water?

Soft water equates to low pH. You may need to buffer the water with some crushed coral.

[MingTheMerciless]

The ph of my tap water is 7-7.5. I do put water conditioner in and ph stabilizer. Occassionally I put black water extract but not too often. I checked everything else and nothing came up except a little bit of ammonia. Forgot to check hardness ill check that now.

[albatrozz]

The water that comes out from the tap in Sydney has a pH of 7. Don't know why your pH is so low, maybe you have a CO2 supplement?

[Merrilyn]

How often are you doing water changes.

You should be changing at least 30% of the tank volume every week, or more if you can manage it.

If you've got an ammonia reading, do a BIG water change NOW. Ammonia is toxic to fish.

[MingTheMerciless]

I do do a water change each week about 30% ill do another one now to get rid of the ammonia. Thanks for all your help guys