Ph Differences?

[Bit.Fishy]

Hey all..just a quick question..

Bought an Api Master Test kit today in prepparation for my fishless cycling..
Tested my Tap waters pH and it was a pretty solid 7.2
Tested the water in the tank and its a pretty solid 7.6

My guess is its probably the Rocks/Stone i added to the tank making the difference?
Is this Normal? what should/can i do?

thanks

 

[Colin_T]

It can be rocks in the tank that are raising the PH. White rocks like limestone and sandstone will raise the PH.

Tap water often has a lower PH due to the water being under pressure and not having a normal amount of dissolved gasses in it. When the water is exposed to the air and allowed to stand for a few hours, or is aerated, the dissolved gasses go back to normal and the PH can rise or drop.
Try leaving a sample of tap water to stand overnight and then check the PH.

 

[Bit.Fishy]

Ahh ok that makes sense,ill put a tap test testtube somewhere safe and leave it till the morning and see if its changed
this is the rocks i have,unsure what they are,maybe somebody will know

thans colin

 

[Colin_T]

the white rocks in your tank are limestone. They are made of calcium carbonate (the same stuff that makes coral and shell) and will raise the PH.

 

[Davo86]

If your going for an african setup then the slightly higher ph will be perfect

 

[Bit.Fishy]

ahh ok cheers.didnt have a clue

yes davo looks like i will be going for cichlids with that ph lol...
had my heart set on a pleco...but i dont seem to find any with a pH tolerance of more than 7.5, is that right?

 

[Davo86]

IME plecos will adapt,
The ph around here is about 7.8 and my tank sits at about 7.6 due to the 8 pieces of bogwood i have,
In the tank i have 3 ancistrus and 1 L018, all of whom seem none the worse for the high ph

Also the fact is that most ancistrus species for example will be tankbred and so will tolerate most phs

 

[Colin_T]

You can keep virtually anything in a tank with a PH of 7.6. The exceptions being wild caught fishes that require soft acid water (eg: bettas, discus and South American dwarf cichlids), or wild caught cichlids from Lake Tanganyika and they require a much higher PH. But anything that has been bred in Germany, Asia or locally to where you live will be fine. Most common Plecostomus and Gibbiceps catfish will live in a tank with a PH of 7.6.
Rainbowfish and barbs love water with a PH of 7.6.

 

[Bit.Fishy]

davo - i was actuallyjust this second reading about bog wood bringing down pH levels a bit..ill be having a bit of that to create hiding places and food (i know pleco's need wood) behind my rock. so thats good,it'll all fall into place thanks

colin - thanks, ill be sure to look into where the pleco's are coming from.to be honest i didnt realise just how many fish were still caught wild. ya learn something new everyday...

thanks

 

[OldMan47]

There are lots of fish still being caught wild Bit.Fishy. Even fish that are easy to breed are caught when it is easier and cheaper to catch them than it is to breed them. Most, not nearly all, plecostomus that you will see in a pet shop are wild caught. Some of the South American governments are starting to crack down on catching and exporting wild fish and it impacts the prices we pay. Since that is the source of many of the catfish that we keep it does move up the price. There are many catfish that have not been bred in captivity so you know where those are coming from. In my mind, those countries actions are a good thing because I would hate the hobby to destroy the wild populations of the very fish that we keep.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish I mentioned aren't necessarily wild caught. In fact most discus, South American dwarf cichlids and Betta are captive bred, as are many cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. I meant for them to be used as examples of potential wild caught fishes. eg: if you keep wild caught discus or wild caught Bettas then they will need soft acid water and won't do as well in the alkaline water. And if you keep wild caught cichlids from Lake Tanganyika, then you will need to raise the PH. But chances are most of the common stuff in the shops will be captive bred and will be fine in water with a PH of 7.6.
If there are wild caught fishes in the shop it will have a label stating they are wild caught.

 

[OldMan47]

Colin, that may be true in Perth but is definitely not true here. Wild caught fish are not unusual and are seldom marked as wild caught. Many folks here would not buy them if they were marked as wild caught.

 

[Bit.Fishy]

I did as you sugested and left a sample of tap water in a test tube overnight,put the pH drops in this morning and it read 7.6 instead of the 7.2 i was getting directly from the tap. thanks for the tip

 

[Colin_T]

Hi OldMan

That’s really odd. I would have thought the shops would advertise the fact that certain fishes were wild caught. It's almost used as a sales ploy here. A number of the more fanatical fish keepers (mainly cichlidophiles) actively look for wild caught fish to add to their collection. Some of the more uncommon South American dwarf cichlids are wild caught, and on the rare occasion there are wild caught discus. These fishes normally command a much higher price than their captive bred counterparts. An example of this happened a few years ago when one of the importers brought in wild green discus and captive bred green discus. They were both the same size but the captive bred stock sold for about $50ea wholesale, whereas the wild caught fish went for $300each wholesale.
The other fishes that are often wild caught are some of the tetras, mainly splashing tetras and swordtail characins, unusual Corydoras and chocolate gouramis.

 

[OldMan47]

Actually otocinclus are almost always wilds along with many of the cories and plecos available. Several of the more common tetras have not been bred in captivity along with many barbs. When both are available, the domestics demand somewhat higher prices because they do not impact the wild populations, but I would love to see some kind of "truth in advertising" rules about revealing the source of fish. I personally like to get fish that reflect the wild genetics but are tank bred. Right now my only source of such fish is through club auctions, where you can be fairly sure all the fish are tank bred and most have traceable lineages to the wild fish. I keep lots of wild type fish but seldom have the easily bred types from wild sources. I have personal prejudices against most highly developed domestic features but don't want my fish keeping to impact the wild populations except that I keep fish that are extinct in the wild. Those fish are kept mostly as a species preservation effort although some I can enjoy for their own characteristic beauty.