Tap Water Ph 7.6, Tank Water Ph 6.0

[judi]

A few days after setting up my tank and filling it on 09/02 I tested the ph and it read 6.0. Ever since that is has tested basically the same (sometimes a wee bit over 6.0) so I thought I had soft water. Then yesterday I tested my tap water and it has a ph of 7.6. I tested it like 3 times because I just couldn't believe the results and again today.

Why is there such a big difference between my tap water and my tank water? I'm really confused and would like to figure this out because the tank is taking forever to cycle since bacteria doesn't want to grow in that low of a ph.

I have a gravel substrate (petsmart blend), a large piece of driftwood, several live plants and 2 ceramic ornaments.

What do I do? Will my ph in my tank ever balance out to match my tap? Will my tank ever cycle and stay cycled?

Thanks for the help!

 

[RichardA]

Tap water naturally balances 1 point lower in a lot of areas 24 hours out of the tap.

 

[judi]

RichardA, I just filled a glass with tap water so I can let it sit out for 24 hours then test the ph again. I also removed a large piece of driftwood I had in the tank (it's soaking in a bucket) to see if that helps after I do another water change.

Thanks for the help, if that is the case then it should read approx 6.6 and I will be happy knowing my bacteria has a fighting chance to establish.

 

[Electric Warrior]

I had the same issue in my tank when I was cycling it. It's 7.2 out of my tap, and kept dropping to 6 or lower in my tank. I didn't have any wood in at the time either, just a couple of plants and sand. Do you know the GH/KH of your water? If not, you need to find out because as I discovered, my water is very soft and had a dKH of about 3, which basically means my water has very little buffering capacity, and this was causing my ph to crash, my nitrates to skyrocket, and my cycle to stall. I had to keep adding baking soda to my tank to get the PH up along with massive water changes to get the nitrates down. Eventually, after about 7 weeks, my cycle finished, and I added fish. My PH has remained at 6.5 in the tank, which is perfect for me because I keep Amazonian fish that prefer acidic water.

 

[judi]

Electric Warrior, I just tested.. with the API strips I get GH 30 / KH 0. When I tested with the liquid drops I would say my dKH is 3ish... so it looks like I'm in the same situation as you were. I'm doing a fish in cycle so I'm not sure if it would be safe to add baking soda. At this time I'm not showing any nitrates.

 

[Questions?]

driftwood releases tannins. tannins lower the ph, makes it more acidic, and makes the water a cool yellowish tea color

 

[thereverendturtle]

Baking soda in itself won't harm your fish, the sudden pH swing up will. Add a filter media bag full of crushed coral to the tank, this will slowly increase your kh and pH as it dissolves. Might take a week or two.

 

[judi]

Questions?, I did remove my driftwood from the tank so when I do a pwc tonight I will see if that had any effect and will keep it out until my cycle has completed and things are more stable with my ph.

thereverendturtle, thank you also, do I place the media bag with crushed coral into the filter or just drop it into the tank itself? I'm thinking start with a small amount then increase if needed?

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the information from everyone with this post.

 

[Electric Warrior]

thereverendturtle, thank you also, do I place the media bag with crushed coral into the filter or just drop it into the tank itself? I'm thinking start with a small amount then increase if needed?

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the information from everyone with this post.

Most people just add it to their filter. You can add it directly to the tank, like on the substrate, but it might look kind of odd, depending on your tank set up.

 

[Livewire88]

Also remember that water straight from the tap will contain more Co2, so PH level will read lower that once the Co2 has had time to gass off.

To get a true figure for your PH leave a cup of water out and test it the next day to get your true PH level

 

[judi]

Electric Warrior, thank you... is there a certain amount I should start out with? I am going to add it to my canister.

Livewire88, I filled a glass of tap water last night and will test that as soon as I get home

 

[thereverendturtle]

Add just a couple of cups, doesn't take much.

 

[judi]

thereverendturtle, thank you!

 

[Livewire88]

Electric Warrior, thank you... is there a certain amount I should start out with? I am going to add it to my canister.

Livewire88, I filled a glass of tap water last night and will test that as soon as I get home

Excellent

 

[judi]

I just tested my tap water that has been sitting out for about 24 hours - ph is 7.2! So it dropped a bit from 7.6.

I also just added the crushed coral to the filter so I'll continue monitoring ph to see what happens.