PH Levels

[FreeZe]

From my tap the water Ph is 7.0 After a few days the water climbs to 8.0-8.2

which my fish hate it that high I have 3 blue rams and 4 swordtails in this tank.


what makes the PH level go up.. how can i get it stablelized around 7- -7.2 max

with out putting chemicals in it weekly.

 

[clutterydrawer]

hiya

what kind of decor do you have in your tank, and what substrate, and where did yo uget it all? it's possible a rock or something in the tank is affecting your pH.

also you should try testing your tapwater after it has stood for a while (not in the tank, in a dish or summat!) because water always shows a lower pH when it's fresh from teh tap than when it's stood.

Edit: I jsut noticed you have two tanks. does this pH problem occur in both tanks or just one?

 

[FreeZe]

yes it happens in both.... my deco is plastic rocks.. from lfs
I will put some water in something right now.. and let it sit a couple days and check it.

I'm screwed right now both ways becuase i like to change the water 20% every week end.. but when i do it changes the ph levels.. to much to fast.. for the fish i think.

i do have the same type of deco in both tanks.. the
A, n , n are 0,0,5 right now.. in both tanks.. everything seems to be perfect for the fish except the ph levels changing.. makes them easy to get sick.

 

[clutterydrawer]

this is a bit odd

what kinda substrate are you using? are you sure you havent accidentally got coral sand or something?

if it's just that your tap pH after standing is naturally high, there are better ways to alter it than adding "pH down" chemicals, by which I mean more natural methods which don't cause big fluctuations. Off theh top of ym head I think filtering through peat or adding CO2 can work but I don't know the details so do a bit of research first. There are a bunch of threads around on this forum about altering pH, if you can search for some there might be some good suggestions. HTH.

 

[FreeZe]

I just have gravel... no sand.
i been looking around this forum and others.. trying to pin point the cause of my changes...

thanks for the replys and any help is good help. I'd rather keep the ph stable in some natural way.

EDIT: Is it possible that i'm suppliing to much air. which in return is reducing the CO2 amount. raising the damn ph.

in both tanks i have air pumps that air bigger then needed and have air stones the extend the length of the tank. lots of bubbles

 

[skimpy]

Hi Freeze

If you have unstable PH levels I suggest you check you GH and KH levels for the tank and tap water.

The interesting reading would be the KH it is the buffering capacity for the PH. If this figure is low you will find that the PH will fluctuate.

Firstly check the PH levels of your tap water again, but after it has stood for a while, it might be a bit higher after standing. Then test the GH and KH and post all reading on here and we will see what we can make of it.

To reduce the PH in the actual tank, a natural way would be to add some bogwood.

Also have a read of this post which is very interesting Water

Let us know how you get on

edit: If readings show a low KH what can help is to reduce the PH naturally i.e. with the bogwood and do smaller water changes i.e. 10% instead of 20% because it is less of a shock to the fish.

I do not advocate to let NitrAte levels rise but in your case they are very low so a small rise would not do any harm. NitrAte is actually Nitric Acid and it also has a reducing effect on the PH levels.

HTH

 

[FreeZe]

i get another test kit tonight. What about the air... is there a such thing as to much air ?

 

[jsa500]

If I was having this problem, I would test the Ph of my tap water and then put some of the gravel in the test vial, shake it about a bit and see if the color changes.