Sudden PH increase

[Yenko]

I checked my aquarium's ph today, and it was up to 7.4! I repeated the test, and it was the same. I haven't added anything to the aquarium. What could cause such a sudden Ph spike, and how can I correct it. I'm considering using local lake water (the lakewater isn't polluted) to lower the PH more. Is this safe?

 

[gixer]

i certainly would NOT add water from a lake

what was your ph before this increase?

 

[Yenko]

The PH was 6.9 before the increase.

I wouldn't add most lake water either, but this is the same lake that provides my city with drinking water. The city treats it with chlorine and calcium carbonate to increase the PH. The lake has a ph of about 6.

 

[reg2k2]

Any rocks/shells in the tank? What is the pH out of the tap?

 

[Yenko]

I checked the tank for any rocks that could increase the PH; they're all basalt or granite. The substrate has been used in another aquarium for months, so that isn't the problem. The tap water PH (it's normally neutral) was 7.2 on the day I added it. My fish all seem perfectly happy, and the PH has gone back down to 7.2.

Does anyone think there would be any problems with this lake water? It's the same as our tap water, just without the chlorine and PH increasing chemicals.

 

[mrV]

If all seems ok, don't do any changes. pH 6,9 and 7,4 - it's not so huge difference still. If you want to lower pH from your tap water, use about 2-3% H2SO4 to lower pH. Start using it about 0,5-1ml/10 liter water and check pH. Add it to water BEFORE you add that water to your tank (Don't ever put H2SO4 straight to your tank!). Let it be itself for awhile and then you can use it to replace water you took out of your tank.

Don't take water from lake, because it may contain fish diseases!

 

[pendragon]

Your local water department does not process water and add chemicals just to change the pH, it's for killing bacteria and parasites. I personally would not add water from a lake.

On the other hand, a pH of 7.4 is nothing to worry about whatsoever, unless you have some odd variety of fish (or plants) that won't tolerate it, which is unlikely. I'd wager the water in most of our aquariums are 7.4 or even higher. Your tap water may do a pH "bounce" once it's aged a bit. Mine does - it comes right from the tap at pH 7.2, but once in the aquarium (or in a bucket) for a couple of days it climbs to 7.8-ish. It's just a property of the water; probably some lower-pH dissolved gas in the water (CO2?) separating and evaporating over time. Anyway, there's nothing I can do to control it, so I don't fret about it.

Fill a bucket with tap water and nothing else. Test for pH to establish a starting value. pH test it every other day for about a week and see if it climbs. If it does, it's just something in your water. If it doesn't, the pH increase in your aquarium has to be due to something in the tank, or something that's been added to the tank. At least the "bucket test" will tell you if that's where the change is coming from.

Hope that helps.

pendragon!

 

[Vam]

Possibly due to your local municipality adding agents to the water to deal with spring run offs? They do here I'm told.

 

[sleepyflight]

Agreed....don't freak man!!!! In the whole scheme of things, your fish probably don't give a rats....uh huh. Thats not really a bad jump and tap water does change depending on natural occurances and what they do about it at a water plant. I've taken warmouth and largemouth out of a local pond before and they get a PH change of well over .4.....probably more like 1.4 at times and they don't mind as long as I bag them and temp. Lake water though....lotta little things you can't see that can potentially do funny things in your water. I've let it go in mine before and sometimes it's fine, sometimes I've had it introduce little flukes and such though so......NO LAKE WATER

 

[Sky042]

If all seems ok, don't do any changes. pH 6,9 and 7,4 - it's not so huge difference still. If you want to lower pH from your tap water, use about 2-3% H2SO4 to lower pH. Start using it about 0,5-1ml/10 liter water and check pH. Add it to water BEFORE you add that water to your tank (Don't ever put H2SO4 straight to your tank!). Let it be itself for awhile and then you can use it to replace water you took out of your tank.

Don't take water from lake, because it may contain fish diseases!

H2SO4??

Isn't that Sulfuric Acid?