High PH!!!!

Danwise

Danwise

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Jan 21, 2010
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I have a 5' 370Litre planted tank with a few rocks and driftwood.. the PH went from around 6.8 (tap) to 7.8ish, and I'm having trouble lowering it. :nilly:

Using API PH Down ~20ml daily..

If anyone can help me out, as to:

a) what in the tank could be raising the PH?

b) how to lower it? (if not as simple as removing something)

:perv:
 
What is the reason for wanting to lowing the PH, I ask because you are much better off with a stable tank than one that has the PH constantly changing. What are you useing for substrate, filtration and do you have any calcium carbonate rocks like tuffa rock or dead reef base rock??
 
Well, i know it's a "fish keeping myth" to keep the PH at or around 7 - but I'm just trying to keep it at a healthy level for the community..

5x gourami
1x betta
10x red eye tetra
2x bristlenose

The substrate is 3mm black aquarium gravel
The filter is an overhead wet/dry trickle system - powered by a 2000 l/ph pump

I have a few rocks but i can't remember the name of them, but i know they aren't calcium rocks, and some slate..
 
Have you tested the GH and KH of your tap and let your tap water sit out over night and then test it because PH rises when the water is exposed to O2. I have bred angels and raised the fry in a PH of between 7.6-8.0 so unless you are going to be adding wild caught fish that came from a much lower PH I wouldnt mess with it
 
stop using chemicals to alter your ph. a stable ph is more healthy than a constantly fluxuating ph. In my opinion, the only need to raise or lower ph would be for incredibly sensitive fish or for breeding purposes. And even then, most people would use natural ways of buffering ph
 
Sorry posted up there on my partners login...

So keeping the PH at a higher lever (7.8) is going to be more safe tha n continuously lowering with chemicals..

Thanks for the help guys, feel alot better now! not thinking I'm slowly killing these guys with too alkaline water.
 
What kind of substrate and rocks do you have? Those pH down isnt going to do the trick if you want to lower the pH.

Do few simple test:
Gallon of tap water in bucket: test pH and test it again next day. If pH is still neutral, add one rock at a time in the bucket. Let's test the pH next day again.
Repeat above for each rock and gravel separately.
If you happen find the culpit, remove it/them from the tank. Dont throw them out as it/they can be used to regulate/buffer the water from time to time.

Any pics of tank?
I would agree with you that providing Ideal Condition is important issue, but as someone said above, if water is hard to begin with, even truckful of liquid pH Down may not do the trick here. You will probably only see, if at all depending on your water, a temporary minor drop.

When performing test for these rock/substrate/decoration (artificial cave, etc), make sure to prepare new water for each items.
 
The problem with using pH down is that it's just diluted battery acid. Now if you pour enough into your tank of course the pH will come down, once you have enough to balance out the Alkaline lime thats already in there.

But now you have a mix of Lime and battery acid, the hardness is just the same, and the total dissolved solids is even higher than before.

So although the pH is "correct" the water quality is worse than when you started.

To get soft, low pH water you have to take something OUT of the water, the lime. Then your water will be soft and close to neutral. Then dosing it with a small (and safe) amount of buffers can adjust it to whatever you want. But while that hardness is in the water you will allways be fighting against it.

So generally it's better to just leave the high pH alone, and either let your fish adjust to it, (most will) or pick fish that prefer hard water/high pH.

Raising pH / hardness is much easier as you are ADDING lime to the system, just pour in a little African Ciclid salts and the pH hardness goes up. Taking them OUT is the tricky part, and a Reverse Osmosis filter(expensive) is the best way to do it.

Ian
 
As archer said let the tap water sit out for 24 hrs then retest. The pH rises because the CO2 gasses off. I'll bet your tap has close to the same pH as your tank, you're just testing it too soon. Anyways, your pH is just fine where it is.
 
Danwise said:
Sorry posted up there on my partners login...

So keeping the PH at a higher lever (7.8) is going to be more safe tha n continuously lowering with chemicals..

Thanks for the help guys, feel alot better now! not thinking I'm slowly killing these guys with too alkaline water.
Click to expand...

yes, mine is about the same as your pH and all my fish are perfectly fine. Yes, having a stable pH is better then one constantly sifting.

Trevor
 
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