My tap water comes out at 8.4-8.8 pH

[TacomaToker]

What’s the best way to go about this? In my tanks, I maintain a pH of 7.4. If I do a 50% water change, doesent the pH change shock the fish? It’s Coming out of the tap at about 8.5 or so

 

[aqua.land]

Hi,
I'm not an expert so I don't know....

I'm not exactly sure, but I think that it can cause a lot of stress and even death sometimes...
If you're using tap water, make sure to use water conditioner (you probably do already).
I've never tried this but apparently if you add driftwood to your aquarium or moss it can help.
Lowering pH safely
Do water changes kill fish?
Maybe these links will help....

 

[Byron]

There is more to this issue, starting with the GH and KH of your source water. The pH is part of this triangle. Then there is dissolved CO2. And sometimes a few other things.

If you can give us the GH and KH for the tap water it will help. Also, by "maintain a pH of 7.4" do you mean you are actually adjusting the pH somehow, and if yes, how exactly?

 

[TacomaToker]

There is more to this issue, starting with the GH and KH of your source water. The pH is part of this triangle. Then there is dissolved CO2. And sometimes a few other things.

If you can give us the GH and KH for the tap water it will help. Also, by "maintain a pH of 7.4" do you mean you are actually adjusting the pH somehow, and if yes, how exactly?

GH and KH are both 0 coming out of the tap. I add seachem equilibrium during water changes for the hard water tank to keep it at roughly 200ppm. For ph, I don’t do anything. I only meant that the tank maintains roughly 7.4-7.5 even though I do weekly water changes with 8.5-8.8 ph water. I am curious if this is stressful for the fish

 

[Byron]

GH and KH are both 0 coming out of the tap. I add seachem equilibrium during water changes for the hard water tank to keep it at roughly 200ppm. For ph, I don’t do anything. I only meant that the tank maintains roughly 7.4-7.5 even though I do weekly water changes with 8.5-8.8 ph water. I am curious if this is stressful for the fish

I asked about the GH and KH because without knowing these ity is not possible to really answer your question. Now that we know the GH/KH are 0, the question is why is the pH so high. I would suspect this is due to some substance the water authority adds; this is quite common in soft water areas--where I live for example they add soda ash (sodium carbonate) to raise the pH and this dissipates out. If you could track down what if anything they are adding, it would be useful to know.

I have never ad a problem doing water changes with a pH of 7 where the aquarium is below 5. I've been doing these for more than 10 years now, since they started using the soda ash. Each aquarium is different; in some of my tanks the pH only changes by a couple decimal pints, in others a bit more, as a result of this. Knowing what exactly is occurring in your situation might help us.

 

[TacomaToker]

I asked about the GH and KH because without knowing these ity is not possible to really answer your question. Now that we know the GH/KH are 0, the question is why is the pH so high. I would suspect this is due to some substance the water authority adds; this is quite common in soft water areas--where I live for example they add soda ash (sodium carbonate) to raise the pH and this dissipates out. If you could track down what if anything they are adding, it would be useful to know.

I have never ad a problem doing water changes with a pH of 7 where the aquarium is below 5. I've been doing these for more than 10 years now, since they started using the soda ash. Each aquarium is different; in some of my tanks the pH only changes by a couple decimal pints, in others a bit more, as a result of this. Knowing what exactly is occurring in your situation might help us.

I don’t seem to actually have a problem, the tank is always a consistent 7.4-7.6 during the hour after a water change. I just wanted to know if adding water with a ph of 9 is shocking to the fish, even if it doesent drastically alter the tanks pH. I’ve just looked at my utilities latest test results, and the water is coming out at 9.8 supposedly. My test only seem to read it between 8.4-8.8, but that’s probably cause the test kit doesent read higher.

I’m really surprised and relieved to see how little it changes the tanks actual ph!