Question: Pet store driftwood cause cycle crash?

So I bought a chunk of drift wood from a pet store to help bring down my 8.2 pH

A day or two later Sally was swimming A LOT. So I knew something was very wrong. Checked my levels and my cycle is non existant and I'm in the process or recycling her tank right as I go back to college, two internships and a part time job:errr:

Has anyone heard of this happening? Or am I just the lucky first?

My hypothesis is perhaps there was a buildup of ammonia in/on the log and when it was added the big jump of ammonia killed off the bacteria.

Wow why is the ph so high :O what decor is in your tank?

I doubt the driftwood is the cause. What's your ph now? Unless there was something inside the driftwood that could have rotted I don't think the driftwood would cause a buildup of ammonia.

Shes got premium play sand as substrate (silica), 1 anubis (live plant), a string of fake leaves, and a hollow plastic/acrylic log from a pet store for aquarium use, two large granite stones, two glass paper weights (all rocks are twice the circumference of her head to avoid impactation). Any ideas? My tap water is about 7.6. Still 8.2 in the tank and in my other fish tanks.

My 29 gallon has another hollow plastic/acrylic log from a pet store for aquarium use, large plastic plant, three rocks probably limestone (which I expect to raise the pH) and two live plants.
1 10 has brackish water, hollow plastic/acrylic log from a pet store for aquarium use and a string of leaves.
1 10 has high end brackish water, many stones again probably limestone again which I would expect to raise the pH and it is a bit higher at about 8.4.

She does not have limestone rocks in her tank so I'm not so sure what's causing the high pH.

I think I knew someone who had the same problem with betta...do you know where your water comes from? This person was using well water and the water just sort of buffers itself and she had to go buy water in jugs to use for her fish because her ph would go from over 7.5 to at least 8.3 all on its own because of all the extra minerals the water just naturally had.

8.2 potential hydrogen is really not bad. It is on the high end of acceptable water chemistry for axolotls. Cycle crashes are caused by an increase or decrease in one of the compounds or organisms integral to the nitrogen cycle.

In most cases, a crash is a direct result of

A: High Temperatures resulting in uncontrolled bacterial or algae growth
B: Excess ammonia from too frequent water changes or excess decaying matter
C: Low oxygen content as a irect product of one of the other two


In your case, reading over the data you provided, I would suspect the sand is the main culprit. I would not be shocked to find your sand fails the fizz test with murietic acid. I would remove the sand altogether, and skip having any substrate for the time being.

pH and premium play sand

I appreciate the feed back. I have placed the sand in vinegar to see if a reaction occured (in place of HCl (muriatic acid) since I dont have any on hand ) nothing...not even a tiny bubble...the quickcrete brand has some CaCO3 in its premium play sand but I cannot find the MSDS sheet for my particular brand.
(If your interested a MSDS sheet is used for worker saftey, it identifies any chemical compounds used in industrial products like paints, disinfectants and sands! just to name a few.)

I bought premium play sand because it was one of the ones suggested on the care sheet.
"The types of silica sand typically used in aquaria are play sand, pool filter sand (sold for use in swimming pool filters), and sand labeled for use in freshwater aquariums."

My tap water probably comes from a mix of ground water and Mississippi River water.

Also, the cycle crash has probably occured because of to many water changes.--thanks sludgemonkey and I would still like your oppinion on the sand and my pH

Can i also say that you need to soak any drift wood in tap water for around 2 days. This should loose some of the tannins. Also the wood may have fungus on that could cause problems in the tack soaking it should give time for the fungus to grow and die in the tap water. Also it should get rid of the bad bacteria in the wood.