pH in water is super high help needed

[moonmist]

Hi everyone. So I have a 17 gallon freshwater tank with 10 ember tetras and about 2 days ago I noticed them acting, well, not normal. They were hiding a lot more than usual. And this morning I wake up to one of them passed away ): I tested my tap water and tank water and the ph is extremely high, it was purple (from the master kit) which I think is around 8+. This tank has been set up since last summer, and I’ve always used the same tap water and the ph was never this high. I need some tips on what to do. Any help is appreciated. I guess my tap water’s pH fluctuated at some point and I was unaware. I’m not sure if it will go back down to normal (it always used to be around 7.2-7.6)

 

[MaloK]

General and Carbonate are the main drivers of water hardness. You should start by testing these. PH can fluctuate on daily basis without problems.

You ca use Peat-moss, Driftwood and other botanicals to soften your water in the long run in the tank.

The easiest and cheapest way to balance your water before changes is as simple as collecting Rain Water and mix it with your tap to reach the chemistry you want.

Or a RO/DI system Like waterbox that are aimed at the Aquaria hobby.

 

[gwand]

Hi everyone. So I have a 17 gallon freshwater tank with 10 ember tetras and about 2 days ago I noticed them acting, well, not normal. They were hiding a lot more than usual. And this morning I wake up to one of them passed away ): I tested my tap water and tank water and the ph is extremely high, it was purple (from the master kit) which I think is around 8+. This tank has been set up since last summer, and I’ve always used the same tap water and the ph was never this high. I need some tips on what to do. Any help is appreciated. I guess my tap water’s pH fluctuated at some point and I was unaware. I’m not sure if it will go back down to normal (it always used to be around 7.2-7.6)

Have you added a rock to the tank? I once added a beautiful rock that I tested for calcium carbonate and then added to the tank. Even though my calcium test was negative the pH in the tank rose dramatically. The rock probably had calcium carbonate in it. Once I removed the rock and did a water exchange, the pH went back to normal.

 

[moonmist]

Have you added a rock to the tank? I once added a beautiful rock that I tested for calcium carbonate and then added to the tank. Even though my calcium test was negative the pH in the tank rose dramatically. The rock probably had calcium carbonate in it. Once I removed the rock and did a water exchange, the pH went back to normal.

Unfortunately no I haven’t added anything new to the tank in months. I suspect whatever it is happened very recently because my fish only began acting stressed about 2-3 days ago. The only things that I’ve found that are out of the norm is the kH is very high as well as the pH. That’s how I discovered that my tap water’s pH is abnormally high. Which is super unfortunate because I’ve been using the same tap water for almost a year now and the pH has always been at a stable ~7.4. I can’t afford an RO filter and I’m worried that if I add peat moss or something else like that then I’ll have to spend forever trying to keep the pH balanced. Because what if my tap water drops back down to a neutral pH and then it’s too low for the tank with the added peat moss? Sigh.

 

[MaloK]

Yes, I lately re-learned that I cannot trust my water source to be immutable and that is sad because I now have to test the water before uses and adjust as required.

My betta loves the soft water like I have but it's another story for the shrimps.

I also discovered that sometimes I need to nearly triple the dose of tap water treatment to effectively remove the chloramines present.

 

[gwand]

Yes, I lately re-learned that I cannot trust my water source to be immutable and that is sad because I now have to test the water before uses and adjust as required.

My betta loves the soft water like I have but it's another story for the shrimps.

I also discovered that sometimes I need to nearly triple the dose of tap water treatment to effectively remove the chloramines present.

That is a pain. My tap water is consistently hard, GH>200 ppm. I have to dilute it each week with purified water before adding to my tanks. I am slowly acclimating my shrimp to 100% hard tap water. You are in a worse situation since your PH is unpredictable.

 

[moonmist]

That is a pain. My tap water is consistently hard, GH>200 ppm. I have to dilute it each week with purified water before adding to my tanks. I am slowly acclimating my shrimp to 100% hard tap water. You are in a worse situation since your PH is unpredictable.

I had a similar problem a while back when I was keeping cherry shrimp, my water is really soft and I added wonder shells which fixed the problem but unfortunately I rescaped the tank about a month later and I lost all my shrimp from the plants being contaminated with pesticides. I guess you could say I’ve had a bumpy road with fish keeping it’s been quite the journey

 

[Magnum Man]

curious if you are using water from a house soft water system...

 

[BrianK]

My tap is high also and I mix tap and distilled water for water changes. I do about 10% distilled. That combined with mopani wood and plants gets it from about 7.8 down to about 7.2

 

[TwoTankAmin]

This may help.

Buffering Capacity (KH, Alkalinity)

Buffering capacity refers to water's ability to keep the pH stable as acids or bases are added. pH and buffering capacity are intertwined with one another; although one might think that adding equal volumes of an acid and neutral water would result in a pH halfway in between, this rarely happens in practice. If the water has sufficient buffering capacity, the buffering capacity can absorb and neutralize the added acid without significantly changing the pH. Conceptually, a buffer acts somewhat like a large sponge. As more acid is added, the ``sponge'' absorbs the acid without changing the pH much. The ``sponge's'' capacity is limited however; once the buffering capacity is used up, the pH changes more rapidly as acids are added.

Buffering has both positive and negative consequences. On the plus side, the nitrogen cycle produces nitric acid (nitrate). Without buffering, your tank's pH would drop over time (a bad thing). With sufficient buffering, the pH stays stable (a good thing). On the negative side, hard tap water often almost always has a large buffering capacity. If the pH of the water is too high for your fish, the buffering capacity makes it difficult to lower the pH to a more appropriate value. Naive attempts to change the pH of water usually fail because buffering effects are ignored.

In freshwater aquariums, most of water's buffering capacity is due to carbonates and bicarbonates. Thus, the terms ``carbonate hardness'' (KH), ``alkalinity'' and ``buffering capacity'' are used interchangeably. Although technically not the same things, they are equivalent in practice in the context of fishkeeping. Note: the term ``alkalinity'' should not be confused with the term ``alkaline''. Alkalinity refers to buffering, while alkaline refers to a solution that is a base (i.e., pH > 7).

How much buffering does your tank need? Most aquarium buffering capacity test kits actually measure KH. The larger the KH, the more resistant to pH changes your water will be. A tank's KH should be high enough to prevent large pH swings in your tank over time. If your KH is below roughly 4.5 dH, you should pay special attention to your tank's pH (e.g, test weekly, until you get a feel for how stable the pH is). This is ESPECIALLY important if you neglect to do frequent partial water changes. In particular, the nitrogen cycle creates a tendency for an established tank's pH to decrease over time. The exact amount of pH change depends on the quantity and rate of nitrates produced, as well as the KH. If your pH drops more than roughly two tenths of a point over a month, you should consider increasing the KH or performing partial water changes more frequently. KH doesn't affect fish directly, so there is no need to match fish species to a particular KH.

Note: it is not a good idea to use distilled water in your tank. By definition, distilled water has essentially no KH. That means that adding even a little bit of acid will change the pH significantly (stressing fish). Because of its instability, distilled (or any essentially pure water) is never used directly. Tap water or other salts must first be added to it in order to increase its GH and KH.

from https://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html#reference

 

[moonmist]

curious if you are using water from a house soft water system...

Yes I am

 

[moonmist]

This may help.


from https://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html#reference

Thank you very much for the info I’ll give this a read

 

[Magnum Man]

home softened water will be higher in salt, because of how they work... if you happened to draw water while your softener is recharging, it could be different than your normal tap water... we have very alkaline water where we live... so hard, that there are no taps in the house to draw un-softened water... I ended up putting a dedicated RO filter for my aquarium make up water...

I didn't know that to begin with... but supposedly home softener softened water is not good for your fish... I never had trouble with my hard water tank, if fact, I still fill that one with home softer water, as it was plumbed to fill that tank, & it's on the other side of the house from where the rest of my tanks are, & the RO unit...

 

[Magnum Man]

I see you are in Minnesota... what area??? ( I'm southern, close to where I-90, & I-35 cross )... most of the state's water is very hard, but some areas aren't too bad...

 

[anewbie]

ph doesn't matter in most cases; however it might be an indicator of another issue. There are some bacteria that do well in very low ph and others in higher ph and some fishes have trouble transitioning due to bacteria resistance (or lack of - but we are talking about 5.5 vs 7.5 not 7 vs 8); however gh (hardness) can have a big impact on fishes - some requiring very soft water others hard water and still a bunch in the middle that are flexible. A sudden change in ph can indicate another issue (change in water chehmistry or hardness) which can impact fishes. Lacking is what changes you made to your aquarium the past week? DId you add anything - from a marble to a water change to chemicals. I see no mention in this thread of explicit change to your tank and amount of time lapse since you last tested the water chemistry.

When you buy product DO NOT focus on ph - focus on tds, hardness, .... and describe the spieces. While no fish like a sudden change in water chemistry there are fishes that would love hard water. If only KH changed (and ph) then as long as it wasn't very low initially just let time pass and it will settle. the ph itself wont' harm the fish.