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Day 130

Had to postpone the transfer of the two froglets out of the 10 gallon tadpole tank into the froglet section of the 20 gallon aquarium. I had intended to transfer them today, however, after examining the PH of both the 10 gallon and 20 gallon tanks, it was clear that the tanks have diverged in terms of their PH levels. The 10 gallon tank was still at 7.6, the same as the last time I checked a few days ago, the 20 gallon tank, however, had, in the same time period, declined from a PH of 7.4 to 7.2. As a precaution, I went ahead and added 2 grams of baking soda to the 20 gallon aquarium in order to boost the PH and the carbonate hardness, KH.

When the carbonate hardness drops, it results in greater tank instability. KH provides essential nutrients to the beneficial bacteria colonies, that feed on waste, in a tank filter. If the KH is too low, the bacteria will begin to die off and a tank cycle will be initiated as bacteria levels begin to recover. Tank cycling is the process by which beneficial bacteria colonies establish themselves in an aquarium. In between water changes, the KH will begin to drop as the bacterial colonies feed. The KH acts as a buffer for the PH, which will remain stable so long as the KH is high enough to sustain the bacterial colonies. Once the KH is gone, however, the PH will rapidly plummet and the end result will be a potentially deadly tank crash. The odd thing is that the tank did not crash when the 3 froglets died on the same day and the KH is only low by the heightened standards of my normal water levels, which I keep higher than average to provide extra security in protecting against aquarium crashes.

Current Totals:

15 - 10 gallon (Tadpole Tank) [3 froglet, 12 tadpole]
28 - 20 gallon (Frog Tank) [5 froglet, 23 juvenile]

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