high ph

Bear · 06-24-2006, 09:08 AM

ok, yesterday i got most of the stuff needed to start my new tank, i just need gravel fake plants fish and food. I tested my tap water and found that it has a ph of 8.4, how can i bring that down to 7?

book_em_danio · 06-24-2006, 09:55 AM

http://www.aquariumpharm.com/en_us/p...erConditioners
There's a downside... it's best not to chemically alter pH. In many cases, it bounces right back up. This fluctuation is more of a problem than the actual pH.
8.4 is really high. I'd check it again. I'd also let the sample sit for 24 hours before testing, before I jumped to any conclusions.
While 8.4 is something Angelfish probably could never get used to, if it is indeed 8.4, many African Cichlids would be delighted. Most live bearers wouldn't freak out either. Perhaps you want to keep fish more in line with the water you have.
Just a thought... did you test with the low or hi range kit? My water at home runs about 6.8-7.0 pH. I test with a low range kit. I'm off the bottom of the scale with the high range kit. Conversely, if your water was 8.4 and you tested with a low range kit, you'd be over the top with that kit.
8.4 just seems too extreme. I know people with 7.5-8, which is high,but nobody with tap water over 8. That must be rare. Is the water so hard it doesn't lather in the washer or tub? Do you have hard water stains? I'd bet if the pH was that high, the hardness would be to.

mrmoby · 06-24-2006, 10:30 AM

Bear it sounds like you are taking the water out of my well*lol*

It sounds like you likely have very hard water, which is tough to remedy unless you add a water softener. And if you did add the softener(which isn't easy or cheap) it will increase your water's instability (meaning you will be more prone to ph swings). Your water, if nothing else, should be very stable, which in the big picture is most important.

Perhaps you could try adding a piece of driftwood, or some peat to the filter, but I really doubt it will do much. Don't even waste your time with the chemical treatments.

A lot of people focus on ph, and I did too when I started, but now I don't even test it. You might want to research what fish do better in high ph, but even then, I wouldn't get too hung up on it. I have cichlids, which have done very well as the other poster stated. I also keep another community tank with mostly a variety of tetras that have done very well.

Bear · 06-24-2006, 11:58 AM

hmmm, ok well alot of the cichlids are very pretty as well, so perhaps i will go that route. I am going to set up the test again and this time i will let it sit. and yes i did use a high range test. thanks for the help guys, please if there is nething else ne one wants to add, post it.

**Damon** · 06-24-2006, 12:51 PM

There are only 2 safe ways to bring ph down, and none of them involve adding chemicals to a tank.

1. Mix your water with R.O. water.

2. Add Co2

You need to find out what your KH is as this is important to know when altering water PH.

Bear · 06-24-2006, 02:10 PM

ok well for some reason the water from outside of my house is only 7.4, so i guess i will haul the water from outside

CaysE · 06-27-2006, 10:03 AM

So the water from say your kitchen sink is 8.4... but the faucet outside is 7.4? Contamination in the line maybe?

harif87 · 06-27-2006, 02:36 PM

pH shouldnt be your main concern. Fish can live and tolerate pH ranges outside of their perferred ones. People say mylasian drift wood will do the trick, personally i think its a fairy tale as ive had it in my tank for a while now (but hey thats just me.

Also if you want you could try a buffer that will bring your pH down and keep it there. But if your tap water is of pH 8 then i dont suggest that. RO water isnt the best since it lacks certain nutrients needed by your fish but since you have no options i would go with that.

CO2 Injection is also another alternative to lower pH as it increase the amount of Carbonic Acid in your water. But it would be needed to be kept constant because the moment you stop the in-flow of CO2 that will be the moment that your pH sky rockets, which is far more dangerous to the fish than simply having the pH remain at a higher range.

northfacehiker · 06-27-2006, 02:50 PM

My pH is 8.6 out of my tap. I have to use the high pH test to get an accurate reading on it. By filling a 5 gallon bucket and putting in an airstone in overnight, the pH drops down to about 7.6 after 12-14 hours. As I don't have CO2 in my tank, I use pH down to get it down to 7.0 or so. Not everyone would use that method, but it works for me and I haven't seen any adverse effects from it.

emc7 · 06-28-2006, 11:56 PM

You use pH down in the bucket? Don't put it in the tank.

SkipT · 06-30-2006, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simpte

There are only 2 safe ways to bring ph down, and none of them involve adding chemicals to a tank.

1. Mix your water with R.O. water.

2. Add Co2

You need to find out what your KH is as this is important to know when altering water PH.

I agree these are the only 2 safe ways of doing it but keep in mind if you stop injecting Co2 the PH WILL crash on you.

I myself when I first started keeping fish worried about PH alot but I could not tell you what any of my tanks are running on PH at this very moment.

I don know chilads can stand a very wide range as long as you slowly change it. I think if you took a fish from low of 7 to a 8.4 all at once the fish would more then likly get to big of a shock. The way I do my new fish is as follows.

I take the fish and the weter from the bag it comes with and put that in a plastic bucket with an air stone. I then have a water container ( bought at wal-mart the kind that will set on its side in a fridge with a spout on it.) with tank water from what ever tank this fish is going to go into. I then set it so it drops 1 drop of water every 15 sec. I let this run till the amout of water is 2/3 higher then when it started.

I can tell you I have never had a problem doing it this way.

Good luck to you

harif87 · 06-30-2006, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkipT

I agree these are the only 2 safe ways of doing it but keep in mind if you stop injecting Co2 the PH WILL crash on you.

I hope by "crash" you mean "crash upwards"............

SkipT · 07-01-2006, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harif87

I hope by "crash" you mean "crash upwards"............

Hehehe yes , I can see where crash would imply down tho .

But yes the PH would jump up

northfacehiker · 07-01-2006, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emc7

You use pH down in the bucket? Don't put it in the tank.

Yes. Any "artifical" water condition adjustments are made outside the tank. When I do a water change of 2 gallons or more (it's usually 5 gallons in my 29), I add the water back over several hours to make sure there are no radical swings in the tank.

**Cichlid Man** · 07-03-2006, 10:06 AM

Why change your pH? Your pH is perfect for african rift lake cichlids.

northfacehiker · 07-03-2006, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cichlid Man

Why change your pH? Your pH is perfect for african rift lake cichlids.

Because I keep rams, rainbows, and will have apistogrammas and cardinal tetras in my new 55 gallon. None of them like pH above 7.0 with the exception of the rainbows.

If I had a cichlid tank I wouldn't touch the pH, but they aren't what I wanted to keep.

mousey · 07-03-2006, 03:10 PM

well isn't that just the way! you don't want cichlids and neither do I! i also have perfect water for them-- but I want cories. Can't keep em alive tho with out a lot of trouble.
i stick with some tetras and livebearers.

06-24-2006, 09:08 AM	#1
Bear Salty Pants Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a Big Yellow House Age: 20 Posts: 895	high ph ok, yesterday i got most of the stuff needed to start my new tank, i just need gravel fake plants fish and food. I tested my tap water and found that it has a ph of 8.4, how can i bring that down to 7?

06-24-2006, 10:30 AM	#3
mrmoby Devout Heathen Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Waterville, ME Age: 36 Posts: 527	Bear it sounds like you are taking the water out of my welllol It sounds like you likely have very hard water, which is tough to remedy unless you add a water softener. And if you did add the softener(which isn't easy or cheap) it will increase your water's instability (meaning you will be more prone to ph swings). Your water, if nothing else, should be very stable, which in the big picture is most important. Perhaps you could try adding a piece of driftwood, or some peat to the filter, but I really doubt it will do much. Don't even waste your time with the chemical treatments. A lot of people focus on ph, and I did too when I started, but now I don't even test it. You might want to research what fish do better in high ph, but even then, I wouldn't get too hung up on it. I have cichlids, which have done very well as the other poster stated. I also keep another community tank with mostly a variety of tetras that have done very well. __________________ Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.- Siddhartha Gautama

06-24-2006, 12:51 PM	#5
Damon Aquatic Naturalist Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dayton, Ohio Age: 32 Posts: 14,982	There are only 2 safe ways to bring ph down, and none of them involve adding chemicals to a tank. 1. Mix your water with R.O. water. 2. Add Co2 You need to find out what your KH is as this is important to know when altering water PH. __________________ For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association) Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress)

06-27-2006, 10:03 AM	#7
CaysE Stowaway Winner Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bloomfield, NJ Age: 29 Posts: 311	So the water from say your kitchen sink is 8.4... but the faucet outside is 7.4? Contamination in the line maybe? __________________ 20gal tall! The display tank. Flourite substrate, Nutrafin CO2 system, Aquaclear 50, 55W 6.5k bulb @ 10hrs, 65W 10k bulb @ 2hrs, 100W Visi-Therm 4 furcata rainbows (and 8 fry!), 1 albino longfin bristlenose pleco, 6 crystal red shrimp, ramshorn & physa snails 5gal hex! Mini planted tank Eclipse Hex5 with Eco-Complete substrate, 25W heater, 1 male crowntail betta, some ramshorn and physa snails.

06-27-2006, 02:36 PM	#8
harif87 Minor Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Age: 21 Posts: 990	pH shouldnt be your main concern. Fish can live and tolerate pH ranges outside of their perferred ones. People say mylasian drift wood will do the trick, personally i think its a fairy tale as ive had it in my tank for a while now (but hey thats just me. Also if you want you could try a buffer that will bring your pH down and keep it there. But if your tap water is of pH 8 then i dont suggest that. RO water isnt the best since it lacks certain nutrients needed by your fish but since you have no options i would go with that. CO2 Injection is also another alternative to lower pH as it increase the amount of Carbonic Acid in your water. But it would be needed to be kept constant because the moment you stop the in-flow of CO2 that will be the moment that your pH sky rockets, which is far more dangerous to the fish than simply having the pH remain at a higher range. __________________ sorry for beating you senseless "The human torch was denied a bank loan"

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06-24-2006, 09:55 AM	#2
book_em_danio Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: USA Posts: 103	http://www.aquariumpharm.com/en_us/p...erConditioners There's a downside... it's best not to chemically alter pH. In many cases, it bounces right back up. This fluctuation is more of a problem than the actual pH. 8.4 is really high. I'd check it again. I'd also let the sample sit for 24 hours before testing, before I jumped to any conclusions. While 8.4 is something Angelfish probably could never get used to, if it is indeed 8.4, many African Cichlids would be delighted. Most live bearers wouldn't freak out either. Perhaps you want to keep fish more in line with the water you have. Just a thought... did you test with the low or hi range kit? My water at home runs about 6.8-7.0 pH. I test with a low range kit. I'm off the bottom of the scale with the high range kit. Conversely, if your water was 8.4 and you tested with a low range kit, you'd be over the top with that kit. 8.4 just seems too extreme. I know people with 7.5-8, which is high,but nobody with tap water over 8. That must be rare. Is the water so hard it doesn't lather in the washer or tub? Do you have hard water stains? I'd bet if the pH was that high, the hardness would be to.

06-24-2006, 11:58 AM	#4
Bear Salty Pants Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a Big Yellow House Age: 20 Posts: 895	hmmm, ok well alot of the cichlids are very pretty as well, so perhaps i will go that route. I am going to set up the test again and this time i will let it sit. and yes i did use a high range test. thanks for the help guys, please if there is nething else ne one wants to add, post it.

06-24-2006, 02:10 PM	#6
Bear Salty Pants Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a Big Yellow House Age: 20 Posts: 895	ok well for some reason the water from outside of my house is only 7.4, so i guess i will haul the water from outside

06-27-2006, 02:50 PM	#9
northfacehiker Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Age: 30 Posts: 100	My pH is 8.6 out of my tap. I have to use the high pH test to get an accurate reading on it. By filling a 5 gallon bucket and putting in an airstone in overnight, the pH drops down to about 7.6 after 12-14 hours. As I don't have CO2 in my tank, I use pH down to get it down to 7.0 or so. Not everyone would use that method, but it works for me and I haven't seen any adverse effects from it.

06-28-2006, 11:56 PM	#10
emc7 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 39 Posts: 2,899	You use pH down in the bucket? Don't put it in the tank.

07-03-2006, 10:06 AM	#15
Cichlid Man Super moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2,100	Why change your pH? Your pH is perfect for african rift lake cichlids. __________________ If you have a big enough tank with enough hiding places, pH of around 7, you can keep virtually any fish together as long as all the fish are around the same size and these two groups of fish are avioded: Serrasalmus Tetradon(figure eights and dwarfs are the exception). I keep a successful community of fish in a 4 foot tank including the following families: Cichlids, tetras, loaches, gouramis, barbs, rainbows, livebearers, killiefish, catfish, puffers.

07-03-2006, 03:10 PM	#17
mousey Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 790	well isn't that just the way! you don't want cichlids and neither do I! i also have perfect water for them-- but I want cories. Can't keep em alive tho with out a lot of trouble. i stick with some tetras and livebearers.

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