Filtered Water

[jeff_hopkinson]

Hi, when using a tap water purifier is it nessesary to use electro right and p.h stableiser in a fresh water tropical tank. i have two 40gal tanks at the moment i am having trouble with my p.h one tank is showing 7.4 to 7.8 the other tank i cant get a proper reading from its yellow but a very dark yellow i am using a hagen master kit.

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. What is the problem with your pH? Do you need to lower it for a specific reason? Do you have fish that absolutely need a lower pH? Most people advise not messing with the pH as the changes in pH are more harmfull to your fish. Most fish can do fine in a pH in your range... it's the consistency that matters most. The pH in my tank is similar to yours and my fish do fine. Many people have higher pH's in their tanks. Do you have a KH or GH test kit for hardness? If your KH is at least 4 or 5 ppm (mg/L) then you shouldn't need to add any pH stabiliser to the water. If your water is really hard you could mix in some reverse osmosis water or some other filtered water to bring the GH down a little. As for your filtered tap water i'm not totally sure, but i would imagine that you would not need to add any electro right to the water unless you are using some sort of reverse osmosis unit in which nearly all of the minerals in the water are being removed.

 

[jeff_hopkinson]

Hi, thanks, the p.h in both my tanks has always been around 7.2. since using filtered water suddenly one tank is 7.8 and the other one has dropped to somewhere around 6.0. i have sand substrate and well planted, the water filter is an api tap water filter, i do not use any osmosis, i used the filter to get my phosphate down. why should i have a p.h reading like i have.

 

[jeff_hopkinson]

Hi, thanks, the p.h in both my tanks has always been around 7.2. since using filtered water suddenly one tank is 7.8 and the other one has dropped to somewhere around 6.0. i have sand substrate and well planted, the water filter is an api tap water filter, i do not use any osmosis, i used the filter to get my phosphate down. why should i have a p.h reading like i have.

Hi, sorry the top reading should be 7.6 i have just tested my tap water and get a reading of 7.6 maybe a little higher as the blue is a shade darker than the colour chart. in my tanks i do have pieces of bogwood if this makes any difference.

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. Well i would say that your pH of 7.6 tp 7.8 by itself is not of too much concern. I have a hard time telling the difference between the two on my test kit because the colours are so close together. As for your pH dropping down to 6 or so i would suspect that it could be the bogwood. Wood can leach out tannins that can lower the pH of water. It's something that will go away over time as all the tannins leach out. You could do some water changes to help keep it from getting too low but just remember that swings in pH will stress the fish so do small ones daily or twice daily perhaps. Also, as i mentioned in my other post if your KH (carbonate hardness) of the water is less than about 4 then the water is susceptible to pH swings. Maybe your tap water filter is removing material that helps "buffer" (or keep the pH stable) the water. If you can get a hold of a KH test kit you will know if that's the case or not. If your KH is 4+ then i would suspect the bogwood as the source of you pH lowering.

Edit: one more thing that just popped into my head is that if there is a lot of carbon dioxide in the water from the plants, then this may also contribute to lowering of the pH. However i do not have any experience with live plants so i can't be sure.