Water chemistry

[Gumby]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if someone might be able to tell me why i have a white sort of oxidising on the roots of my Anubia and the wood that plant is attached to ? I am guessing this might be due to the PH ?
This would be in my recently setup 4 FT display tank which has been cycling for 3 weeks.
I have never encountered this before but my PH keeps dropping, out of the tap it's 7.4, after ageing by the time i add to the tank the PH is 6.8, but after a few days drops to ? at present is testing under 6.
In the tank is low PH gravel, 1 large wood structure, another small piece of wood with an Anubia attached, also 1 x Bristlenose and 1 x Golden sucker.
I thought maybe the wood could be buffering my water but i thought about it and the same thing happened before i added the wood and gravel :? (Wood is very twisty branch, Ironbark ? maybe, but not sure, i'm an engineer i don't know my wood very well :lol:
My canister holds the usual, noodles,corse filter pad, substrat, fine pad, activated charcoal.
I have tried not to turn the light on, but it is an Arcadia 30W 3 FT.
Thanks and Cheers, Scotty

[ILLUSN]

sounds like a mould or fungus you gey it a lot on grapewine and gold vine wood its harmless and clears after a month or so, your bns might graze on it.

[Gumby]

Thanks ILLUSN, after a quick discution with my friend on the phone i quickly realised (thankx to my buddys memory jolt) that i need some coral either in the subtsrat or in my canister filter to stabilise the PH, which is also causing the white oxidising appearance on the roots of my Anubia and wood :)
I am just about to place some coral branch pieces in my tank.
Today it has dawned on me just how much i have forgotten in a few short years of not keeping fish :oops:
Cheers, Gumby

[Gumby]

Ok, it's been 2 hours since i put 400 grams of coral pieces into my prefilter, so far so good, PH is now 6.4 :) so i'll test first thing in the morning and see how it's travelling.
Cheers, Gumby

[Gumby]

Well the this mornings test results are good PH still at 6.4 :) also the white oxidising on my plant roots and wood is almost gone.
Cheers, Gumby

[Ty]

Does it matter how much coral you put in it, or just a piece of it?

[Nev]

Depends on how hard your water is as to if you need it.

[Gumby]

Honestly TY, i took a blind guesss at how much coral to use, i just guessed 400 grams would be where i start, weighed it up on the kitchen scales.
My tank is a 4 FT 250 LTR, so if it's the ratio's your after, you should be able to work it out from there for different volumes :wink:
Cheers,G

[Ty]

Thanks, awesome advice...I appreciate it.