Help with ph

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SnakeIce

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Ph and total dissolved solids (tds) are not necessarily directly linked, and well water with lots of CO2 dissolved has essentially the same tds right out of the tap at 7.0 ph as it does after it reaches equilibrium with the atmosphere and has 7.8 ph. There is only a risk of "ph" tds shock from using your water right out of the tap if the tank water tds has increased sufficiently to be a problem. Again as long as you are doing enough water changes using tap water immediately is not an issue, because the CO2 caused ph shift you are seeing from tap to day old tank water is NOT a change in tds. Osmotic pressure changes due to tds differences is the cause of the "ph" shock people talk about.

Water softeners work by exchanging ions for other ions, but because what they are pulling out has a 2 charge and the exchange salt has a 1 charge the water that comes out is "softer" but has a higher tds by double the component of the minerals responsible for hardness. Generally for fish, what we would call hard water is easier to deal with than the higher tds water that comes out of the softener. And some of the things that make up hardness is needed by the fish, plants, and your beneficial bacteria. So non softened water is healthier for the fish generally.

Water temperature of change water is not as important for river and stream fish because a good thunderstorm can drop the temperature 10-12 degrees F. Assuming you change 50%, your tap water can be as much as 20 degrees F below your tank temperature and that would simply simulate a good thunderstorm because the total drop is half the difference between the tank and tap temperatures at 50% change.

Example: tank temp 78F

tap 58F with 50% change= good thunderstorm
tap 53 with 40% change = good thunderstorm
tap 48 with 1/3 change= good thunderstorm
tap 38 with 25%change = good thunderstorm
Ice water with minimal ice 20% change = good thunderstorm

I'm not recommending doing water changes with ice water, but what I'm getting at is that the net change in tank temperature would not be beyond what a thunderstorm could cause. I've seen that temperature drop act as a spawning trigger. Given that the heater would be running in the above cases, I don't see any issue with piping the change water right in. The refill time period, unless you are refilling with a fire hose, would be enough to take care of water a bit colder than what you might use to simulate a "thunderstorm".

Lake fish do tend to have a more stable environment given a choice of habitat and thus you might limit the temperature variation due to water change, but again I don't know that it is necessary to match the change water temperature with the tank temperature. You can find reasons and fish that need more of a temperature match, but for general community tanks it isn't as much needed.
 
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trying

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I ordered a tds meter today. Could not find one locally. The ph in my bucket went up from 7.0 to 7.6 from yesterday . So far no smell and is still clear looking.
Am I looking at measuring the tds in the old aquarium water compared to the new well water?
 

trying

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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.
I ordered a tds meter and a gh/ kh kit. Couldn't find one locally.so ph out of bypass was 7.0 and 24 hrs later 7.6. So far no smell or cloudiness.
 

SnakeIce

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As long as the tds of the tank doesn't rise to much beyond the tap tds you will be fine doing normal water changes and putting the water directly into the tank. Fish know and deal with osmotic pressure, and the tds affects that equilibrium. Most fresh water fish can adjust to a wide range of tds values, but they need time to adjust if the difference is very big.

Your ph difference is not due to a change in tds so the fish will be fine. CO2 is a weak acid when dissolved in water. In fact if you grow plants in a high light aquarium you will want to add CO2. The generally recommended amount to add is 30 ppm. That amount of CO2 in the water will drop the ph 1.0 log from where it started. This is only an issue if the water is Oxygen deficient, the change in ph from CO2 does not change the tds so the fish do not care as long as they have enough Oxygen available to them.
 
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trying

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Sorry for the late response. I was in the process of finally getting moved. My three hundred gallon tank was moved with no problems and 90% of the water was also transferred. So I haven't had an issue losing any fish there. I have also not lost any more fish in my 75 gallon tank that has angelfish, Cory catfish, and a couple Of algae eaters. My problem now is my other 75 gallon tank has been up and running for about a month with no fish but it does have plants. I added quick start and Stresszyme and a few days later Added 10 tetras and a rainbow shark. All small in size.

All but three have died. My water parameters are.
100-200 ppm KH
100-200ppm GH
Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite all were O
Ph was 7.6
TDS 611
What is wrong?
 

FreshyFresh

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Those readings looks pretty neutral, as I guess you'd expect from a tank running for weeks with nothing but plants in it.

My guess on the fish dying is they were possibly kept in drastically different water conditions? Hard to say.
 

FreshyFresh

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If the fish store is on the same water supply that you are, it should be an easy acclimation.

What is your water temperature? I've seen things like defective heaters shorting out into the water and killing fish.
 

tarheel96

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Take your meter and a plastic cup and measure the TDS at the lfs before buying the fish. E.g. Some stores around here keep some freshwater tanks' TDS around 2,800 ppm. These particular stores aren't using ro/di and building it up. It's the same very soft water that I have (118 ppm TDS). I suspect they're adding salt in hopes of preventing ick outbreaks.
 
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