pH much higher than orginally thought..

[177ichael]

Hello everyone,

I've been fishless cycling my tank for about a week now and learning as I go along. I added a couple ml of pure ammonia at the start of my cycling. With pH test strips, I started testing the level and according to the test strips I was reading about 6.9 ppm. After a few days, I went out and bought a master water test kit with drops to try to get a more accurate reading and to see if it would be consistent with the strips. Turns out that with the dropper test kit, my pH reading is much higher at 7.6! This is very disheartening considering I want to eventually add Angelfish. I have a small piece of African Root that I added recently after boiling numerous amounts of times. I've heard this will help to lower the pH.

Does the nitrogen cycle affect pH at all as nitrite/nitrate levels increase? Does anyone suggest adding pH down in this situation?

Michael

[PumaWard]

I would first check your kH and find out what the reading is so we can maybe determine if your pH made a swing. I don't think the nitrogen cycle effects pH, so have you added any rocks or anything to the tank? What kind of substrate do you have?

Next, if your pH really is 7.6, don't lose heart. Fish are very very adaptable and the angelfish will be perfectly fine in that water. pH is not as important as the large companies, or, even the profiles for fish, make it out to be (with the exception of wildcaught fish). The values given are often that of the values found in their natural range; chances are that these fish were raised in different water than their wild counterparts and your water may be better for them, depending on the water they were raised in, than the values found in their natural enviroment.

HTH

[177ichael]

I have gravel substrate and my hardness is 3 or 53.7 ppm. When I first established the tank, I added a couple rocks. According to the LFS people, these were fine for freshwater tanks. I believe the tag on the rocks read "Flagstone" or something to that nature. My Ammonia readings are approximately at 2.0 ppm with no nitrite/nitrate readings. I don't believe I have a kH test for my water. What is kH and how does it play a role in my tank?

I've uploaded a few pictures of my tank. Click on the link below to view.

My Aquarium (http://mjchen54.home.comcast.net/index.htm)

Thanks for the help.

Michael

[aquariumfishguy]

Your pH is fine *ppppppffffttttt* :p

And kH isn't too important...or I should say, it's not an issue for most people so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[JSchmidt]

I keep angels in water with a pH of 7.6 or 7.8, no problem.

JIm