High Ph

[Hammerboy]

I bought a test kit yesterday and the pH result was 8.0 in the tank ( tap water is 7.0 ).

Does anybody know why this could be so much higher than the tap water ?

Thanks

 

[Liam]

The tap water reading, is usually lower because of dissolved carbon dioxide which makes carbonic acid which lowers ph. If you have rocks gravel sand that is are releasing minerals then that would put the ph up too. If you leave the tap water out for 24/48 hours then test it, you will get an accurate ph reading of your tap water ph.

 

[Hammerboy]

Thanks, i'll try that.

 

[Hammerboy]

Ok, i tested a sample this morning which i left out as advised and it came in at 8.4.

So the tap is 7.0 , left for 36hrs it's at 8.4 and in the tank it's currently 8.0

Does this make sense to anybody ? Is it something i should be worrying about ?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

some area's do have higher ph and you have to either stock accordingly (e.g. malawi cichlids prefer a high ph) or invest in something like an RO unit which will produce much softer water but you'll have to add in minerals to the water before putting it into the tank. Another option is to have peat in your filter this will soften water.

 

[Hammerboy]

Thanks MW.

I was thinking maybe of starting with Platy and Guppy which seem to like more alkaline conditions reading the Fish Index.

Don't really want to start messing with the pH being a beginner ...

 

[Egmel]

Don't really want to start messing with the pH being a beginner ...

You're right about not messing with the pH, it can be just a tad tricky!

I also have very hard water, I even managed to check the kH and gH the other day and they were something silly like 14 degrees and 20+ degrees Liquid Rock!

I spoke to my LFS about this and they seemed to be very anti RO, basically they said that unless you have extremely sensitive fish you shouldn't need to worry about it and that most fish can acclimatise to different pH levels. Now I tend to believe the shop as they don't have or use RO for either their Marine or Tropical tanks, their tank pH was slightly lower than mine (mine is 8 and there's is around 7.6) but I put this down to the heavy stocking and maturity of the tanks.

I would find out what the pH is at your LFS and ask them what water they use in their tanks, you may find that they keep all sorts in exactly the same water as you have.

I was thinking maybe of starting with Platy and Guppy which seem to like more alkaline conditions reading the Fish Index.

Also, I would avoid guppies, they have been the bane of my life over the past few weeks, the little plecs I have are fine, settled in well and no signs of illness, the guppies have just been dying off one by one and now I'm down to 3. The ones that survived are the ones that are 'different' from the others in the tank at the LFS, one had shorter fins than the rest, one was mixed colours when his brothers were all yellow. Basically if you do get them look for ones that might have a mixed gene pool and have been there a long time (a few weeks).

 

[catxx]

down this end of the world the water is pretty hard, which end of kent are you? i get 7.8-8 in London.

i agree with eqmel says, if you are considering fish that need softer water, find locally bred fish, anything imported will suffer and die. and ask your LFS how they work around it!

or go with a nice malawi cichlid tank

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup anything raised locally should be used to your ph so will stand a much better chance of survival.

I'd second the advice not to start with guppies, although they *should* be relativley hardy the gross inbreeding to get the fancy strains has left them exceptionally weak due to the weak gene pool. I wouldn't get them in a tank under 6 months old (actually I wouldn't get them at all) and when you do be very very careful to choose from strong stock. 6 month's experience in shopping will help you do this too!!

 

[joloco]

becareful though because i went with that line of thought too and ended up killing some rams so it doesn't neccessarily mean that because they are in the tank in your local shop and they say they are hardy fish and have been bred in hard water etc etc that they will survive in your tank

how about rainbow fish? boseman rainbow like hard water and display brilliant colours in it - often over looked but pretty

shelldwellers or apistogrammas? lovely friendly inquisitive little fish, i get a line of little faces looking back at me at the glass when i'm looking into the tank - i keep mine in 8.5 so you see its not the end of the world

 

[Hammerboy]

Thanks guys, points taken on board.

catxx - i'm in Ramsgate