Need Advice

[Morphious]

Hi Guys, hope you can help and I hope this is the correct place for this problem.

I check my water regularly using a liquid test kit. Every time my Ph is 7.6 which I thought was ok. By accident I picked up my High Range PH test bottle and the reading was 8.4 !!!!. Not sure which was correct, I purchased test strips and checked the Ph again. This showed the Ph to be 7.8 - 8.0, (The colour was between the two). I checked my tap water using all three tests. The liquid tests showed 7.2 for Ph, 7.2 - 7.4 for the high range Ph and the test strip showed 7.4.

My question now is what can be raising the Ph in the tank as I have no idea.

All other tests are:

Chlorine 0
KH 10
GH 16
NO2 0
NO3 (25 test strip, 0 Liquid test)

In the tank I have live plants, an decorative coral fro the lfs along with a resin cave form the lfs (had this years) and some small shells.

The substrate is Pewter Sand made by Roman Gravel which I have emailed to ensure this is not alkaline. They claim it is not.

Any help would be great as I am lost with this one

 

[OldMan47]

The pH is most likely being raised by the coral in the tank. Coral is largely calcium carbonate which can dramatically raise the pH of near neutral water. I would guess, as a best guess, that your pH is about 8.4. The high range pH is designed to measure higher values of pH than the regular pH test is. My water tends to sit right on the edge where the regular test reads 7.6, the maximum it can measure and the high range reads 7.8 which is not quite the bottom of its range. Because my high range is reading a value within its design range, I use that value instead of the value at the end of the scale on my regular test.

 

[Morphious]

Thanks for the reply Oldman, the coral in my tank is not a living coral. It is a decoration, off the shelf from the lfs, you know the type, made from plastic, resin etc. That is why I am struggling to identify what the problem is.

Any other ideas?

 

[iffles]

shells will generally boost the hardness and pH if they are real. the pH (if ive read correctly) is at normal levels now, right? did you add too many/too few drops of high pH test reagent? that might have affected it the result of the test as well

 

[Morphious]

Thanks Iffles, the shells are real, something thi kids collected form the beach, washed thouroughly of course. I thought that I may had made a mistake with the number of drops added so double checked what was required and done the tests again.

On my comparison charts, the Ph colour chat shows up to 7.6, dark blue. Every test I have done recently has shown this colour so I believed that my Ph was 7.6.

When I picked up the high range, the colour chart ranges from 7.2 - 8.6. My test with this reagent showed that the Ph was 8.4, dark purple. Checked tapwater with both to ensure tests were accurate and both showed similar Ph. Nothing like the differneces I get from the tank water.

Thanks again

 

[Morphious]

Well, I have checked the water in my hospital tank, nothing bar three filers, some plastic plants and a couple of pots for the fish to hide in. The Ph tests are the same as my main tank, showing 7.6 on normal Ph reagent and 8.2 on my high range Ph reagent. Even more stumped now

Only thing I can think of now is that either the ceramic pots are alkaline and they are raising the Ph (these are small pots which the live plants cam in) or maybe some medication. I have last week treated both tanks with Myaxcin. Could either of these be the cause. I am due to do a water change on Friday, should I put a carbon sponge in to remove the treatment ??

Thanks again guys.

 

[Bignose]

The "normal" pH test will have an upper bound, 7.6 sounds just about right. I.e. the normal test will call anything at 7.6 or higher 7.6. I suspect that your water really has a pH of 8.2. The high pH test usually has a range of about 7.0 to 9.0.

Take a glass of your tap water, let it sit out over night so that any CO2 the water company may have added to it to make the water more acidic and test that. I bet it comes out pretty close.

 

[Morphious]

Hi Bignose. Thanks for the reply. I have done as you suggested and the Ph appears to be between 7.6 - 7.8. Used Ph, High Range Ph and test srips.


Regards

 

[OldMan47]

Where we are now is doing a search through the tank contents for the culprit Morphious. The artificial coral will not likely be it. The sea shells will leach calcium carbonate into he water over time which of course will raise your pH if you have more than just one or two. Have you tried placing a sample of your substrate into a jar and testing the jar's pH a day after filling it from the tap? That way we can either rule out the substrate or find our problem. Do you have any other rocks or similar items in the tank? One of them may also be implicated as a source of your pH problem and should be tested in a fashion similar to what was suggested for the substrate. I found that I had a sedimentary rock that was used as decor by the former owner of one of my tanks. That rock took about 2 days to make an easily measured change in the pH of my water so now it is decor in my back yard. It makes great stepping stones and the tank's pH is much more stable now.

 

[Morphious]

Hi and thanks again OldMan. I am going through those processes now. I have added sand to a jar of water. I have also removed the shells. Although as both these items are not in my hospital/fry tank, it is unlikeley to be them. All that remains would be the medication i added. I am doing a 15% water change today. hopefully this will help with start to lower the Ph some and reain stable. Will let you know.

Cheers

 

[Morphious]

Well, tested jar of water left overnight and again second day, tested normal (7.2 and 7.4 depending on which test I used. I have sand in the bottom of another jar of water to see if this is the cause, unlikely as confirmed with manufacturer. Only other things in my main tank are decorative rock cave and live plants. (the filter is in there along with an air line to aeriate the water.

Hospital tank has a sponge filter, fluval 1+ and an elite 5 filter running. There is also a plastic breeding mat in there for when i'm rearing fry.

Any other ideas guys? really need to know what the problem may be !!!!

 

[OldMan47]

Have you tried the decorative cave yet? I refuse to automatically rule out anything. The substrate is often a more likely candidate but anything could be affecting the pH.