Help with ph

[trying]

I am at my wits end trying to figure out what is going on with my ph. I moved from the city to a rural area with a well. There is a softner using K+Cl. I tested the water using an API freshwater kit. The ph was 7.0 out of the hose that I used to fill the 75 gal tank. I hooked everything up put in quick start and it ran a couple of days before I brought my fish out. A day later I checked my ph and it was 7.8. In the mean time I set up another 75 gallon tank with the same water but no fish just yet. It also is reading 7.8 right after adding it to the aquarium. What could be causing this sudden shift with 7.0 pH out of the hose and once it hits the aquarium it reads 7.8 . doesn't sound possible but it is. Does anyone know what would be causing this? I have 300 gal aquarium to move yet and I need to get this figured out.

 

[myswtsins]

The change in pH is simple. Well water tends to have gas build ups like CO2 and lack oxygen (it's the nature of a well, deep underground) so once you expose the water to the atmosphere gas exchanges happen (we call it off-gassing) and the pH is affected. 7.8 is an acceptable pH for most fish though, just avoid acidic loving fish.

You do need to take this pH swing into account at water changes though. Either by using a continuous drip method (only adding a little new water to a lot of old water so the swing doesn't happen) or like I do "age" your water in a barrel or something before adding it to the aquarium (my pH is 7.4 out of the tap and it jumps and stays at 8.2)


Water softener = bad (using potassium chloride is better than sodium chloride but still bad). Water softener work by ion exchange, basicly you are taking all the "good" minerals (hardness that out fish and plants actually need) and replacing them with potassium only (again better than salt). This doesn't actually make the water any lower in total dissolved solids (TDS) which when talking about fish is far more important than "hardness". Do you know why you need the softener? What is the straight well water like? Do you have a by-pass for the softener? If so, take a sample of that, let it sit out overnight and test it, every way you possibly can. If the water gets cloudy or smells funny we will talk more about that. I have high iron so I spent a lot of money on a dedicated iron filter and I use water directly from that bypassing the softener completely.


Happy to go into more details if you like but don't wanna overwhelm you. I have first hand experience with as this stuff lol

 

[trying]

The change in pH is simple. Well water tends to have gas build ups like CO2 and lack oxygen (it's the nature of a well, deep underground) so once you expose the water to the atmosphere gas exchanges happen (we call it off-gassing) and the pH is affected. 7.8 is an acceptable pH for most fish though, just avoid acidic loving fish.

You do need to take this pH swing into account at water changes though. Either by using a continuous drip method (only adding a little new water to a lot of old water so the swing doesn't happen) or like I do "age" your water in a barrel or something before adding it to the aquarium (my pH is 7.4 out of the tap and it jumps and stays at 8.2)


Water softener = bad (using potassium chloride is better than sodium chloride but still bad). Water softener work by ion exchange, basicly you are taking all the "good" minerals (hardness that out fish and plants actually need) and replacing them with potassium only (again better than salt). This doesn't actually make the water any lower in total dissolved solids (TDS) which when talking about fish is far more important than "hardness". Do you know why you need the softener? What is the straight well water like? Do you have a by-pass for the softener? If so, take a sample of that, let it sit out overnight and test it, every way you possibly can. If the water gets cloudy or smells funny we will talk more about that. I have high iron so I spent a lot of money on a dedicated iron filter and I use water directly from that bypassing the softener completely.


Happy to go into more details if you like but don't wanna overwhelm you. I have first hand experience with as this stuff lol

 

[trying]

Wow. I would have never figured that one out. The water in the well was very hard. Since we had to do new plumbing, we put in an on demand water heater and was advised to put in a softner to keep from having trouble with build up.
How to I safetly transfer the fish from my 300 gal tank with a ph o f 7, to a new tank full of water that has a ph of 7.8. I lost two fish out of the 75 gal. A puffer and a red tail shark. The angels and catfish seem to be doing ok . Actually I have a 75 gal tank i filled a few days ago. It was 7.8 the next morning. It has set a few day and today i tested it again and it was still 7.8. The water looked a little funny with some white stringy stuff floating around but it did not smell.

 

[myswtsins]

Acclimate normally, but do acclimate, don't drop-n-plop. .8 isn't that huge, I've had to do more than 3 full points before and in those situations I drip acclimate for a few hours until the water in the bucket is the same as the water in the tank. With just a .8 you could easily do the normal throw a cup of tank water into the bucket every 5-10 minutes. Do you have a hardness test or better yet a TDS meter? A big difference there would be more of a concern to me.

The water looked a little funny with some white stringy stuff floating around but it did not smell.

What water? The water you added to the tank that came from the softener? I was referring to the raw water from a bypass.

 

[trying]

Acclimate normally, but do acclimate, don't drop-n-plop. .8 isn't that huge, I've had to do more than 3 full points before and in those situations I drip acclimate for a few hours until the water in the bucket is the same as the water in the tank. With just a .8 you could easily do the normal throw a cup of tank water into the bucket every 5-10 minutes. Do you have a hardness test or better yet a TDS meter? A big difference there would be more of a concern to me.


What water? The water you added to the tank that came from the softener? I was referring to the raw water from a bypass.

Acclimate normally, but do acclimate, don't drop-n-plop. .8 isn't that huge, I've had to do more than 3 full points before and in those situations I drip acclimate for a few hours until the water in the bucket is the same as the water in the tank. With just a .8 you could easily do the normal throw a cup of tank water into the bucket every 5-10 minutes. Do you have a hardness test or better yet a TDS meter? A big difference there would be more of a concern to me.


What water? The water you added to the tank that came from the softener? I was referring to the raw water from a bypass.

Ok , I will fill a bucket from the bypass valve and check. I have iron and hardness test strips. What else should I check? What do you do about the difference in water temp when adding the water you have let sit in a barrell?

 

[FreshyFresh]

Is your well going to be able to support ~375g worth of tanks on water change day? I know this would be a challenge for many.

There's ways to work around it like staggering water changes, etc..

 

[trying]

Even when I was in the city I had my water changes set up to where I was doing a different tank every week. I really didn't have the time to do all of them in one week. So hopefully this will work in my new home. I have arranged to transport most of the water from my 30o gal tank when I am ready to move it. Counting on this to not have to worry about the ph right away on that tank at least.

 

[myswtsins]

Ok , I will fill a bucket from the bypass valve and check. I have iron and hardness test strips. What else should I check? What do you do about the difference in water temp when adding the water you have let sit in a barrell?

Test strips are not very accurate. I'd suggest getting an API master test kit plus a GH & KH kit, then you have dependable results for all the basics. It is a small investment considering you have a 300g tank, so it is just a drop in the bucket You might also want to get a real iron test kit, I have one and it was essential when changing my source water (and whenever I have issues). But if your strips say no iron and your test bucket doesn't go cloudy, smelly or leave rust deposits (let it sit for a few days) you might not need the iron test.

Yes. My water comes out at about 55F & 7.4pH so I use a 55g barrel with a cheap pool cover pump, a good air stone works too but I also use the pump to pump the water to my tanks at WC. All of my tanks are currently unheated so I just let the barrel get to room temp but if your tanks are heated you will need to drop a heater in the barrel to get your desired temp. With a big heater or several it really doesn't take too long to get up to temp.

 

[trying]

I have the Api kit for ph, nitrates,nitrite and ammonia. I will get the other. I really want to learn how to handle this and keep my fish healthy. I filled a bucket out of the bypass and the ph was 7. So now i will get the other test kits and see what they say. And i will let the wz2ter sit for a couple of days. I am to look for smell and cloudiness?