Ph Question

[Rummynose]

I am a newbie to fish keeping, but IMO your tapwater is fine and this should be used with no buffers at all. The ideal aquarium water is one where you dont add any additional chemicals. pH of 7 is fine for most fish and does not need adjusting, but test regularly for pH & KH as this will likely change as the aquarium matures and reaches equillibrium, and will give you warnings of possible pH crash. My tank started at 8.2 and after 2 months eventually settled at 6.5 which is ideal for the fish I am keeping, this was with no additives, just the chemistry in the tank of plants, tannins and livestock. Try to avoid unnecessary additives and buy fish to suit your water when you know what the end point is. AsI say, i am a newbie, so if this opinion is incorrect please could the more experienced amongst you tell me

If your tap water has a ph of 8.2 and your tank has a ph of 6.5 that is a very big gap. Such a big difference is not good. A large water change could then shock your fish and kill them!

My tap water has a ph of 6.8, it is very soft water (low in mineral hardness). Due to normal processes in the tank, minerals are being used and even doing large water changes could not keep up with these processes. My ph crashed, it measured around 5, and I ended up killing some of my fish when I did a large water change. They could not handle the large ph difference.

The ph in your tank may be so low due to a bad maintenance routine. If the organic waste is not removed regularly from the gravel, the water change is to small, or the filters aren't rinsed at least once a month it also can result in these ph crashes.

 

[Tonyb111111]

I am a newbie to fish keeping, but IMO your tapwater is fine and this should be used with no buffers at all. The ideal aquarium water is one where you dont add any additional chemicals. pH of 7 is fine for most fish and does not need adjusting, but test regularly for pH & KH as this will likely change as the aquarium matures and reaches equillibrium, and will give you warnings of possible pH crash. My tank started at 8.2 and after 2 months eventually settled at 6.5 which is ideal for the fish I am keeping, this was with no additives, just the chemistry in the tank of plants, tannins and livestock. Try to avoid unnecessary additives and buy fish to suit your water when you know what the end point is. AsI say, i am a newbie, so if this opinion is incorrect please could the more experienced amongst you tell me

If your tap water has a ph of 8.2 and your tank has a ph of 6.5 that is a very big gap. Such a big difference is not good. A large water change could then shock your fish and kill them!

My tap water has a ph of 6.8, it is very soft water (low in mineral hardness). Due to normal processes in the tank, minerals are being used and even doing large water changes could not keep up with these processes. My ph crashed, it measured around 5, and I ended up killing some of my fish when I did a large water change. They could not handle the large ph difference.

The ph in your tank may be so low due to a bad maintenance routine. If the organic waste is not removed regularly from the gravel, the water change is to small, or the filters aren't rinsed at least once a month it also can result in these ph crashes.

Sorry, I should also have stated that since the initial fill I have done weekly 15% water changes and substrate cleans using RO water. I use RO due the tap water beeb 14 GH and 5ppm phospate. The decrease is probably due to this and the amount of tannins my two big lumps of bogwood gave off. I also add Minaroll weekly to supplement the water, even though it is re-mineralised. Filters rinsed every two weeks. Does this make my situation sound better?

 

[Rummynose]

I am a newbie to fish keeping, but IMO your tapwater is fine and this should be used with no buffers at all. The ideal aquarium water is one where you dont add any additional chemicals. pH of 7 is fine for most fish and does not need adjusting, but test regularly for pH & KH as this will likely change as the aquarium matures and reaches equillibrium, and will give you warnings of possible pH crash. My tank started at 8.2 and after 2 months eventually settled at 6.5 which is ideal for the fish I am keeping, this was with no additives, just the chemistry in the tank of plants, tannins and livestock. Try to avoid unnecessary additives and buy fish to suit your water when you know what the end point is. AsI say, i am a newbie, so if this opinion is incorrect please could the more experienced amongst you tell me

If your tap water has a ph of 8.2 and your tank has a ph of 6.5 that is a very big gap. Such a big difference is not good. A large water change could then shock your fish and kill them!

My tap water has a ph of 6.8, it is very soft water (low in mineral hardness). Due to normal processes in the tank, minerals are being used and even doing large water changes could not keep up with these processes. My ph crashed, it measured around 5, and I ended up killing some of my fish when I did a large water change. They could not handle the large ph difference.

The ph in your tank may be so low due to a bad maintenance routine. If the organic waste is not removed regularly from the gravel, the water change is to small, or the filters aren't rinsed at least once a month it also can result in these ph crashes.

Sorry, I should also have stated that since the initial fill I have done weekly 15% water changes and substrate cleans using RO water. I use RO due the tap water beeb 14 GH and 5ppm phospate. The decrease is probably due to this and the amount of tannins my two big lumps of bogwood gave off. I also add Minaroll weekly to supplement the water, even though it is re-mineralised. Filters rinsed every two weeks. Does this make my situation sound better?

Ouch! That is a lot of phosphate even if you had a heavily planted tank! You have your work cut out for you doing water changes and must have had to do a lot of research regarding aquarium chemistry! I'm curious though, do you know the ph of your R/O water? Not that it makes a big difference when doing a 15% w/c!

I tell you though, I'm so grateful that I could fix my problem a lot easier!

 

[Tonyb111111]

Do you know, I've always assumed RO water to be 7 so I am going to check now and will let you know

 

[Tonyb111111]

I'm glad I did that exercise, the RO pH is 6 with little or GH. I think I will have start alternating between tap and RO to introduce some pH buffering into the tank. I would be happier doing a weekly dose of something to minimise phosphate than playing around with pH buffers. I think alternating between tap and RO might give me a good result, although I should also mention the tap water also has a nitrate content of 40 ppm. What are your thoughts