High pH

vigesimal

vigesimal

Still trying to get the hang of it.
Aug 22, 2005
25
0
0
47
Whitehall, PA
home.earthlink.net
First post after lurking a month...

I've searched a lot and I was wondering if anyone knows what I can do about this.

My water test kit (Mardel 5-in-1 strips) goes to a maximum of pH 8.4 - which is what my tap water comes out as! What's worse, does that mean I have 8.4 pH or is it actually higher! I have very hard, very alkaline water (super-high buffering capacity), which, as I've read, means changing the pH is going to be near-impossible without expensive reverse-osmosis stuff. Don't want to go down that road, a 37 gallon tank and set-up was expensive enough!

Some places I've read said pH will naturally go down as you cycle (I haven't hit nitrite stage yet). Is this true?

I have 3 platies right now doing the cycling. They seem ok - but am I subjecting them to a slow painful death with such a high pH?

My wife and I had a stocking scheme all planned out, but I never actually thought to check my tap water until it was too late and we already had all the stuff!

If my pH never goes down, any ideas on what fish I can have?
 
Does your water test at 8.4 after it has set out? Sometimes tap water is highly depleted of carbon dioxide, but after it sits for 24 hours it picks up atmospheric CO2 and the pH may drop.

What is your water's KH? That will hold the key as to how difficult it might be to lower pH. If KH is high, you have little chance of lowering pH safely through the use of acid compounds (which are always tricky, at best). Acid produced as a byproduct of the nitrogen cycle, or from driftwood, or any other source, will similarly be ineffective in high KH water. What do your strips say about KH?

Jim
 
kH - Is that:

Buffering capacity? 300 (max on strip, which means it could be higher, right?)

Or hardness? That's 250 - very hard.

Or do I need a different test?

Doesn't the tank water "sit out" as well?
 
Yes, buffering capacity is essentially the same as KH. If yours is 300, you have some well-buffered water that will resist most efforts to change pH. (And yes, if you're tank measures the same at the tap, you're reporting the actual pH of the water.)

Your options are (a) leave the water alone and hope your preferred fish do OK in that water; (b) stock your tank with fish that like hard, alkaline water; (c) cut your tap water with either distilled water or RO water (some places sell RO water in 5 gallon jugs or you can buy the RO gear).

Many fish will do fine in water that is different in pH from their native waters. The fish may not breed, but they generally will do OK. Personally, I'd be researching fish that like those waters, like african Rift Lake cichlids. In a smaller tank like yours, you'd have some limits on what kind of cichlids you could keep, but there are many that would work. If you think you might want to go that route, just post in the Cichlid forum and ask for suggestions.

Good luck,
Jim
 
i would try a liquid test kits, which are much more reliable than strips. you may want to bring a sample to your LFS first and have them test it for you. make sure you ask what the exact numbers are. if it's a big difference, then you know the strips are crap.
 
Also buy a high pH test, that way you can know exactly what your pH is. Also put your water in a bowl (from the tap) I think someone touched on this, let it sit for 12 hrs. then test it and see what the pH is. I have hard, akaline water and I have been able to successfully keep some soft-water fishies.
 
Unless I am wrong--I think platies like a high PH.
 
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