Houston - We have a water problem

B

BHRay

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Nov 27, 2002
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girard, oh
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I recently acquired a test report from our local water plant. They pull the water from a reservoir and perform some sort of soda process. I think that what I have is very soft water with a very high PH. I also have found 1.0 ppm of NH3 at the tap, but I got some Amquel+ (thanks to the help[ of this forum) to knock that (chloromine) down. THis is what I got when I tested at the tap.

PH = offscale (nly read to 8.8)
NH3 = 1.0 ppm
NO2, NO3 = 0
KH = 2.5 (I say 2.5 because it began to turn at 2 and completed by 3).
GH = 7

I was using Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kits.

The water report shows

PH = 10.5
Chlorine Residual - Total = 2.0 mg/l (is this ppm?)
Chlorine Residual - Free = 0.0 mg/l
Alkalinity - Total = 39 (mg/l as CaCO3)
Alkalinity - Phenolphthalein = 27 (mg/l as CaCO3)
Alkalinity - Hydroxide = 15 (mg/l as CaCO3)
Alkalinity - Carbonate = 24 (mg/l as CaCO3)
Alkalinity - Calcium Carbonate Stability = 15 (no units)
Hardness - Total = 105 (mg/l as CaCO3)
Hardness - Non carbonate = 66 (mg/l as CaCO3)

There seems to be more info than I need, but I'm unsure which coincides with which from my testing - plz teach. Also, would the mg/l refer to ppm, it seems more of a molar type of unit - plz teach. I've heard that soft water with high PH can lead to PH swings and damage/shock/death to fish. Is this what I have? Do I need to buffer or will Amquel+ do the job. Thanks so much.

My present fw tank is a heavily palnted 29g, penguin 330
6 rainbowfish
1 cae
1 sae
1 female krib
1 juvenile betta
2 neon tetras

Plan to setup more tanks but would not like to select fish where they would have difficulty in these water conditions. Will research more on water conditioning.
 
holy crap, you are going to need to start pouring lemon juice into the tank! rainbow fish do ok in high ph, but not 10.5!!! thats even too high for a tanganyikan! i dont know how to help, but im pretty sure a ph of 10 would hurt if you touched it with a hand

finding whether a fish likes soft water or hard is pretty easy,,

african cichlids, live bearers and rainbows like hard water high ph, EVERYTHING ELSE likes LOWWWWWW

rocky lake = hard water
swampy rainwater forest river = soft acid
 
Make sure you run a test after water has sat out overnight, I may be off base here, but the out of Tap PH is greatly affected by treatment processes, and allowing certain things to gas off overnight may significantly change the PH of the water In other words the PH in the pipes may be temporary, and not truly show what will be in your tank. If it stabilises out at a lower PH you may not be in horrible shape, fish will adjust except for a few special cases. I wish I could be more helpful, but this is an area I am still learning a lot about, so I'll let the experts help you out more. I do know from experience that trying to adjust and hold a PH range with buffer chemicals can be very frustrating and difficult. It is better to acclimate your fish if they will do it and most of the time they will. Obviously they won't acclimate to a 10.5 Ph, but an overnight test may paint a prettier picture.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I would have to agree with ya Buckeye fan. The PH in my tank is 8.0, so something goes on with time, although I'm not sure if it is the water changing or a reaction from within my tank. Also, GH = 10 and KH = 4 in the tank. I brought as much old tank water as I could from my old place when I moved here, in January, but most of that has to be gone now from water changes. I have some tap water setting out - I'll check it tomorrow.
 
Originally posted by BHRay
THis is what I got when I tested at the tap.

PH = offscale (nly read to 8.8)

<snip>

The water report shows

PH = 10.5

<snip>

I've heard that soft water with high PH can lead to PH swings and damage/shock/death to fish. Is this what I have? Do I need to buffer or will Amquel+ do the job?
Click to expand...


I don't think AmQuel will help the pH, but you might try NovAqua from the same company. It has buffers to bring the pH to neutral & you can go from there depending on what your fish need.
But check your tank, go slow, don't try to pull the pH too far at once or you can shock your fish (I know you know this, BH, but just to be safe I put in the warning for the differently educated).

:)

I use AmQuel+ and NovAqua at each change, and PolyAqua after netting or nipping, but then I have awful terrible tap water here in my nation's capitol. :rolleyes:
 
Darn, I just took the NovAqua back and traded it for the Amquel+ when I found my water source was using chloromine instead of chlorine:argh

Oh well, the beat goes on!
 
Here's some results, based on your suggestions (which I thank you for)

After 24 hours PH still reads offscale (>8.8). Treat with Amquel+. Still reads offscale PH, but NH3 reads zero.

After 48 hours PH still reads offscale. Treat with NovAqua - PH still reads offscale. Treat with Jungle PH Reducer. PH reads 7.4

So it looks like the NovAqua was not able to stabilize enough. Never liked putting too much stuff in my water, so I am asking at this point what you would do? Looks like I need the Amquel+ to remove the 1.0 ppm NH3 and the Reducer to bring PH into safe range. Should I use these 2 and leave the NovAqua out? Strange that my tank reads PH = 8.0, unless nitrate is pulling PH down? Thanks for your continued help.
 
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