Water parameters

[Tyler777]

Hey guys, I just tested the water in the tanks we have running.

46 G tank

PH ................. 7.6
HR PH ............8.4
Ammonia .......0
Nitrite .............0
Nitrate .............5.0

1 female swordtail, 1 dwarf gouramie, 3 small neons, 2 small serpae tetras, 3 small mollies, 1 small oleco, 2 agae eaters

Betta tank

PH ....................7.6
HR PH ..............8.2
Ammonia .........2.0
Nitrite ...............0
Nitrate ..............0

1 male Betta, 1 6 inches sort of catfish


Hospital tank

PH ...................7.6
HR PH .............8.4
Ammonia ........0.50
Nitrite ..............0
Nitrate .............0.25

1 big minnow 1 small one

Any advice for any of thanks or all of them will be appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

Do a 75% water change on the tanks with an ammonia reading.

 

[Lcc86]

Your pH is quite high, you could try adding some botanicals to help reduce it across all tanks.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Ph isn't generally a huge concern if its stable. GH is something you need to investigate if you haven't already because the hardness of your water dictates which fish are best suited to live in the conditions you can provide definitely do a big water change for that betta ASAP

 

[Essjay]

You don't need to bother testing with the 'ordinary' pH tester, just use the high range. The 'ordinary' one will just show the highest colour on the chart no matter how high it actually is. You only need to use that one if the high range tester reads 7.4 as that's the lowest it can read.

 

[Tyler777]

You don't need to bother testing with the 'ordinary' pH tester, just use the high range. The 'ordinary' one will just show the highest colour on the chart no matter how high it actually is. You only need to use that one if the high range tester reads 7.4 as that's the lowest it can read.

Ok my high range ph was 8. Something. So is it OK or I need to do something to lower it ?

 

[Essjay]

That depends on the hardness of the water. We should aim to keep fish which originate in water with similar hardness to our tap water. Your pH will suit your hard water fish (swordtails, mollies) but not your soft water fish (everything else).

As mentioned by other members, hardness is more important than pH. If you have hard water, you should ideally keep only hard water fish; if you have soft water you should ideally keep only soft water fish. You have a mixture, so one group of other won't live as long a life as it should.


Changing pH is not as easy as it sounds. When water is hard, KH is usually also high. This buffers the water against changes in pH. A fishkeeper adds a chemical to lower pH; the pH initially drops then the buffering kicks in and the pH rises. So the fishkeeper adds more chemical, the pH drops then rises again. This yoyo-ing pH is worse for fish that a stable pH out of its range. You need to know the GH (hardness) before attempting to change pH.



With your mixture of fish, you need to find out how hard your water is. If you are on mains water, your water provider's website should tell you. Or you can buy a GH tester, they usually come in a pack with two testers, GH and KH. Then when you know the hardness (GH) you can think about your fish.
The ideal scenario would be two tanks. In one you would keep fish which need the same hardness as your tap water. The water would be altered in the second tank to change the GH for the fish not suited to your tap water. If your hardness is soft, minerals can be added for the hard water fish. If your water is hard, tap water can be mixed with reverse osmosis (RO) water to lower the hardness for soft water fish.

 

[Tyler777]

That depends on the hardness of the water. We should aim to keep fish which originate in water with similar hardness to our tap water. Your pH will suit your hard water fish (swordtails, mollies) but not your soft water fish (everything else).

As mentioned by other members, hardness is more important than pH. If you have hard water, you should ideally keep only hard water fish; if you have soft water you should ideally keep only soft water fish. You have a mixture, so one group of other won't live as long a life as it should.


Changing pH is not as easy as it sounds. When water is hard, KH is usually also high. This buffers the water against changes in pH. A fishkeeper adds a chemical to lower pH; the pH initially drops then the buffering kicks in and the pH rises. So the fishkeeper adds more chemical, the pH drops then rises again. This yoyo-ing pH is worse for fish that a stable pH out of its range. You need to know the GH (hardness) before attempting to change pH.



With your mixture of fish, you need to find out how hard your water is. If you are on mains water, your water provider's website should tell you. Or you can buy a GH tester, they usually come in a pack with two testers, GH and KH. Then when you know the hardness (GH) you can think about your fish.
The ideal scenario would be two tanks. In one you would keep fish which need the same hardness as your tap water. The water would be altered in the second tank to change the GH for the fish not suited to your tap water. If your hardness is soft, minerals can be added for the hard water fish. If your water is hard, tap water can be mixed with reverse osmosis (RO) water to lower the hardness for soft water fish.

I will test my tap water tonite n will let u know the parameters.
Also what is a good GH, KH tester to get ?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Ammonia in water goes into two forms. Ammonia the gas is HN3 and is very toxic. Ammonium is NH4 and is way less harmful.

If you are using an API ammonia test or a similar one which reads total ammonia, there is no way to know the numbers for each part.
However, the higher the pH and the heigher the temperatur, the more of the total ammonia will be in the toxic form. Ph is the more important number in this case but temperture contributes as well.

So, I ran your number but had to make and assumption re the temp. so I picked 78. If your actual temps are a bit hight or lower they will change the results a little. Ideally we would like nit to see NH3 above 0.05 ppm and at 0.10 we should be worried.

Betta Tank
HR PH ..............8.2
Total Ammonia .........2.0
assumed temp. 78F
NH3 = 0.1751- This tank is a definite danger to your fish you need to do water changes ASAP and may need yo do more than just one unless it is very big. You will likely need to do a change on more than just on one day.


Hospital tank
HR PH .............8.4
Total Ammonia ........0.50
assumed temp. 78F
NH3 = 0.066ppm- This tank is a bit over my red line of 0.05ppm. Normally you might get awau with monitoring, But this is an H tank which means the fish in it would be sick, The last thing a sick fish needs in NH3 in the water. It will only make the fish sicker as ammonia stressed fish as well as physically harms them.

As far as I can tell neither of the two tanks with ammonia is cycled properly. It is rare to have Ammonia at the level syou report and to have 0 nitrite. If not for the ammonia levels you could treat the nitrite when it appears using a small amount of salt.

All of the above info on ammonia etc. and how to deal with it and nitrite can be forum in an article on this site here https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/

Also, as a rule of thumb if one tests with the normal range pH kit and it reads 7.6, it may be higher so you do the high range test to know if this is the case. Conversely, if you use the High range test and you get a reading of 7.4, it may ne lower and you need to retest using the normal range kit.

Basically, if you do both test and get 7.6 normal range and 7.4 high range, the odds are good it is about 7.5.

 

[Tyler777]

Ammonia in water goes into two forms. Ammonia the gas is HN3 and is very toxic. Ammonium is NH4 and is way less harmful.

If you are using an API ammonia test or a similar one which reads total ammonia, there is no way to know the numbers for each part.
However, the higher the pH and the heigher the temperatur, the more of the total ammonia will be in the toxic form. Ph is the more important number in this case but temperture contributes as well.

So, I ran your number but had to make and assumption re the temp. so I picked 78. If your actual temps are a bit hight or lower they will change the results a little. Ideally we would like nit to see NH3 above 0.05 ppm and at 0.10 we should be worried.

Betta Tank
HR PH ..............8.2
Total Ammonia .........2.0
assumed temp. 78F
NH3 = 0.1751- This tank is a definite danger to your fish you need to do water changes ASAP and may need yo do more than just one unless it is very big. You will likely need to do a change on more than just on one day.


Hospital tank
HR PH .............8.4
Total Ammonia ........0.50
assumed temp. 78F
NH3 = 0.066ppm- This tank is a bit over my red line of 0.05ppm. Normally you might get awau with monitoring, But this is an H tank which means the fish in it would be sick, The last thing a sick fish needs in NH3 in the water. It will only make the fish sicker as ammonia stressed fish as well as physically harms them.

As far as I can tell neither of the two tanks with ammonia is cycled properly. It is rare to have Ammonia at the level syou report and to have 0 nitrite. If not for the ammonia levels you could treat the nitrite when it appears using a small amount of salt.

All of the above info on ammonia etc. and how to deal with it and nitrite can be forum in an article on this site here https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/

Also, as a rule of thumb if one tests with the normal range pH kit and it reads 7.6, it may be higher so you do the high range test to know if this is the case. Conversely, if you use the High range test and you get a reading of 7.4, it may ne lower and you need to retest using the normal range kit.

Basically, if you do both test and get 7.6 normal range and 7.4 high range, the odds are good it is about 7.5.

Thank you for your advice. I already did the water changes. I will test em tomorrow morning

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Don't worry, The water changes wont hurt anything they just slow down the process. The bacteria reproduce when there is more ammonia or nitrite than they need to trhive. And the reverse also happens, When there is less ammonia and nitrite available for them, they slow reproduction but not their netural death rate and the cony shrinks. Over time the amount of bacteria always sizes to the availability of ammonia whic then determines the availability of nitrite.

In a cycled tank, the bacteria pretty much use these two things as rapidly as they are created.

 

[jodisgermanshepherd]

Your pH is quite high, you could try adding some botanicals to help reduce it across all tanks.

What kind of botanicals do you suggest adding?? My PH is coming 8.2 out of the faucet. I have lost all sorts of fish recently so I am taking down the whole tank and starting over...

 

[GaryE]

Your pH is quite high, you could try adding some botanicals to help reduce it across all tanks.

Botanicals are a waste of money if the hardness is high. That's the most important parameter, and the one the "master' test kit doesn't test. You need side kits for it.

Minerals in the water buffer pH, and will neutralize botanicals. I used to have tap from limestone reservoirs, and I could pour hydrochloric acid into a bucket, dropping the pH from 7.4 to 5.0. 10 minutes later, it would be 7.4 again. pH 8.2 shouldn't harm hardwater species. It's important to know what species died - it's usually quite unrelated.