High PH battle

[Tank1]

Greetings! I have a long term freshwater aquarium (set up and taken down a few times over the years). It is a 30 gallon hex glass tank with a power filter and an air wand for added circulation. It currently has 6 mid swimmers (assorted Tetras) which seem to be doing well.

I am having a tough battle with PH and if I allow it to increase beyond 8.0, the fish eventually die.

The gravel, medium grade blue colored gravel, is ten years old. I have experimented by removing the decor to see if something there was releasing agents into the water that would make it harder. The PH remained high.

The tank was taken down at some point and set up again about one year ago. It has always had high PH issues.

The current and consistent PH in the aquarium, using the API High Range PH Test Kit reads 8.2. The PH coming out of my tap is 7.4-7.6. If I do a large water change, the PH drops into the mid-upper 7 range but then overnight it is back up to 8.2. Using API PH Down daily is having no effect.

I have not yet dug deeper by testing the water general hardness.

Please advise. TANK you!

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Greetings! I have a long term freshwater aquarium (set up and taken down a few times over the years). It is a 30 gallon hex glass tank with a power filter and an air wand for added circulation. It currently has 6 mid swimmers (assorted Tetras) which seem to be doing well.

I am having a tough battle with PH and if I allow it to increase beyond 8.0, the fish eventually die.

The gravel, medium grade blue colored gravel, is ten years old. I have experimented by removing the decor to see if something there was releasing agents into the water that would make it harder. The PH remained high.

The tank was taken down at some point and set up again about one year ago. It has always had high PH issues.

The current and consistent PH in the aquarium, using the API High Range PH Test Kit reads 8.2. The PH coming out of my tap is 7.4-7.6. If I do a large water change, the PH drops into the mid-upper 7 range but then overnight it is back up to 8.2. Using API PH Down daily is having no effect.

I have not yet dug deeper by testing the water general hardness.

Please advise. TANK you!

What is your kh/gh. If your kh/gh is high than things like indian almond leaves will lower your ph, but if your gh/kh is low than this will not work. Search up tge gh and kh of your tap water if you do not have a test kit.

 

[Colin_T]

You need to find out what the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) of your water supply is. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

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You need to remove each item from the tank and put it in a bucket of tap water and monitor the pH of that water over a week. If the pH goes up, then whatever is in that bucket is contributing to the problem.

You will need a separate bucket of tap water that has nothing added to it. This is the control bucket and will let you monitor the pH of the tap water when it has nothing else added to it.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Tank. I think the best thing you can do is not worry about the chemistry of the tap water. Just keep the water clean with lots of regular water changes. I learned many years ago that the key to being successful in this hobby to change out a lot of tank water and do it often. Tanks up to 30 gallons need half the water changed a couple of times a week. Tanks 30 gallons or more need half the water changed weekly. If you're not doing this, then your fish aren't going to be as healthy as they could be. If you're not doing this, slowly work up to the point that you are. Success in this hobby is really quite simple if you can follow this one rule.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[seangee]

The PH coming out of my tap is 7.4-7.6. If I do a large water change, the PH drops into the mid-upper 7 range but then overnight it is back up to 8.2. Using API PH Down daily is having no effect.

Put some tap water into a jug and test the pH after 24 hours. That will give you the true pH of your tap water.

 

[Byron]

Agree, you need to ascertain the actual pH of the tap water. Tap water can continain dissolved CO2, sometimes a lot of it. This produces carbonic acid and the pH naturally lowers. Allowing the water to sit for 24 hours out-gasses the dissolved CO2, and the pH test should then be more accurate. Depending how much CO2 is in the water, the pH can change quite a bit. Given the other information here, this seems the most likely answer.

It also helps to get this value from the water authority if you are on municipal water, check their website for GH (general or total hardness), KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) and pH.

You also do need to ascertain the GH and KH/Alkalinity, as the pH is very closely tied to these. The KH especially acts as a buffer to prevent pH fluctuations. Attempts to change the pH will always fail long-term if the GH and KH are reasonably high. As they probably are here, given the pH but also where you live.

You do not want to attempt any change to the pH without knowing and dealing with the GH and KH. That is another topic. As for fish dying, what fish species are/were they?

Last, welcome to TFF.

 

[Alice B]

You need to find out what the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) of your water supply is. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

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You need to remove each item from the tank and put it in a bucket of tap water and monitor the pH of that water over a week. If the pH goes up, then whatever is in that bucket is contributing to the problem.

You will need a separate bucket of tap water that has nothing added to it. This is the control bucket and will let you monitor the pH of the tap water when it has nothing else added to it.

In the bucket test, sometimes what goes up is the GH before the Ph does. 5 way test strips are the easiest way to monitor this kind of testing. a small seashell can do exactly what you are describing. Reef rock or old dead coral ornaments are often guilty as well