High pH

[Luca Brazzi]

I have 10 gallons of water which I dechlorinated using AquaSafe from Tetra. Since Im trying to cycle some biomedia using a fishless cycle I added enough ammonia to get 5 ppm. However, if I measure the pH I get 8.6! The pH from the tap is close to 7.0 What could be causing the high ph?

[net_shark512]

It could be the aquasafe. I know that if you clean your tank and use aquasafe then do a amonia test right away you get a false reading. After a few hours the false reading goes away. Not sure if this also effects ph,never took notice.
http://smilies.crowd9.com/otn/holiday/noel.gif

[Sumpin'fishy]

Aren't you using some kind of plumber's putty? Maybe this is adding some serious KH and therefore raising the pH.

[Luca Brazzi]

Ah... I figured it out... Its the ammonia. I got it from Walmart and it says Clear Ammonia, and it doesnt foam if I shake it... Is it normal that ammonia will raise the pH so? Is there something in this ammonia that could keep my media from cycling?

[Sumpin'fishy]

I just got through cycling a tank with Clear Ammonia. No raise in pH. It's what you WANT to use to cycle a tank....pure bacteria food.

[slipknottin]

ammonia is a little alkaline...

it might be increasing the Ph, though unless you added quite a bit it shouldnt be bringing it up to 8.6

What sort of rocks/substrate are you using in the tank?

And how did you check the tap water Ph? you should airate a little bottle or cup overnight to check the Ph.

[Luca Brazzi]

Aren't you using some kind of plumber's putty

The plumbers putty isnt part of the equation anymore now that Ive completed building my sump and biotower. Now all I have is water in the sump ( the pump is pumping the water into the biotower which runs back into the sump).


I did another pH test using water straight from the faucet. It was yellow which should indicate a pH below 7.4 (green) (thats the low end of my test kit). Then I added a tiny drop of Ammonia to the testube and it turned dark purple so Im pretty sure that its the ammonia thats doing the pH raising. Im adding enough ammonia to the water in the sump to get 5ppm which is about 5 capfuls into 10 gallons of water.

[RTR]

Testing tap water pH direct from the tap is not a reliable method. Tap water may be charged with dissloved gases which distort the pH reading. Either pull a sample and aerate it for 30min or more in a small container, or just let it stand overnight in a shallow bowl to equilibrate with the air.

[Sumpin'fishy]

Wow, that seems like a lot of ammonia, but then again, no telling how much water is diluting the ammonia. I only had to add 3mL to get 5ppm in my 10 gal tank when first starting my cycle. I then went to 2mL when the nitrites spiked. You are probably right about the ammo doing the pH, although mine never seemed to change.

[Luca Brazzi]

Well, Im using MarineLand Labs test kit, and it says that 5ppm is the second to last color (Dark Blue).... my samples turn dark blue... not black like 7ppm. The Ammonia Brand Im using is called Home Best Clear Ammonia. The active ingredients are soft water, and Ammonium Hydroxide. Ive gone through almost a half bottle of the stuff (due the fact that there was still a leak in the tub, I had to top off the water often, and when I did, I added more ammonia/dechlorinator). Maybe its a low concentration. Well All I know is its been almost 3 weeks and no nitrite spike yet. Good thing I dont have a tank yet or Id probably say the heck with it and go get some hardy fish to finish with. Like I said in my other post I dont see the point in fishless cycling.... its a waste of time IMHO if you arent going to throw a whole bunch of fish in right away.

[JSchmidt]

Originally posted by Luca Brazzi
Like I said in my other post I dont see the point in fishless cycling.... its a waste of time IMHO if you arent going to throw a whole bunch of fish in right away.

Not true. If you cycle without fish, you aren't exposing ANY fish to toxic ammonia and nitrite. The fact that you can fully stock the tank after fishless cycling is a bonus.

Jim

[morleyz]

Originally posted by net_shark512
It could be the aquasafe. I know that if you clean your tank and use aquasafe then do a amonia test right away you get a false reading. After a few hours the false reading goes away. Not sure if this also effects ph,never took notice.
http://smilies.crowd9.com/otn/holiday/noel.gif

This isn't really a "false" positive. When you dechlorinate chloramine with aquasafe, etc. it does release an amount of ammonia that needs to be processed by your bio-filter as any other ammonia does.

[TnMark]

I'm going through a fishless cycle on my new 135 gallon tank and had the same issue. I am also using WalMarts clear ammonia. I had to put 2 tablespoons in to get 5 ppm. My tap water's PH is 7.2. One time I tested the aquarium water right after adding the ammonia and the PH was 8.2. Within a couple of hours it was back down to normal. I'm on day 17 and my cycle should be completed in the next couple of days.

[Luca Brazzi]

TnMark...

Have you seen a Nitrite spike yet?

[TnMark]

Yes, my Nitrites were at 5 from days 4-10 and went down to 0 from day 13-17. I just did a 75% water change today and they went up to 2 but I'm hoping they go back down to 0 tomorrow or the next day.

[Luca Brazzi]

Did you add enough ammonia to get 5ppm all at once or over a few days?

What are you using for bio media?

[TnMark]

I added the ammonia all at one and do it every day. For bio media I'm using Eheim EHFISUBSTRAT. I ran my new Eheim filter for a week in my old 29 gallon tank before moving it to my new tank. I also put in a bunch of rocks and a big piece of petrirified wood from my old tank into my new one.