I live in Portland, Oregon and I just got done reading the local Water Bureau website. The city apparently uses sodium hydroxide (lye) to raise the pH to 7.4-7.5 in order to minimize the leaching of metals that our naturally acidic water would encourage. The water is very soft so my question is how would I lower the pH to 7.0 and buffer it against bouncing back to 7.5? I currently use Seachem Neutral Regulator to condition the water which is a product I've had great results with in the past but now it doesn't even lower the pH to the advertised 7.0. Is there a way to remove the sodium hydroxide to make it easier to lock into 7.0? Thank you.
Help with pH
- Thread starter Black_Phantom
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WELCOME!
A stable ph at 7.5 is always preferable than one that bounces back and forth. My suggestion is to find fish that do well in a higher ph and run with it....
P.S. My tapwater ph is around 7.9 and I've never had any noticeable problems.... then again, I try to keep fish that like alkaline water, like cichlids...
A stable ph at 7.5 is always preferable than one that bounces back and forth. My suggestion is to find fish that do well in a higher ph and run with it....
P.S. My tapwater ph is around 7.9 and I've never had any noticeable problems.... then again, I try to keep fish that like alkaline water, like cichlids...
In a way I feel kind of stuck. One of my 29 gallon tanks is stocked with 4 Black Phantoms, 1 Pristella Tetra, 1 Harlequin Rasbora, 1 Betta and 2 Coolie loaches. There is alot of driftwood in the tank which, I'm suspecting, is keeping the pH in that particular tank right at 7.0 (just verified). I make frequent water changes using 7.5 water, but I only change 2.5 gallons at a time. It appears that the fish are not stressed, or are they?? I suppose the solution would be to remove most of the driftwood but I like the look, and I suspect, so do the fish. I do understand what you are saying concerning pH swings. Thanks for the input. Any suggestions for a chlorine and chloramine removing water conditioner? If I'm going to live with a pH of 7.5, I don't need the extra phosphates used in the Seachem product. Also, thanks for the welcome.
Stress Coat is a pretty good dechlorinator, I don't have chloramines, so I'm not sure if it takes care of that or not. I think it also removes excess heavy metals from your water.
You're right, the driftwood will buffer your ph a little. Peat will do the same.
It takes a pretty wild ph swing to really do damage to your fish. I suspect the driftwood sort of tempers the shock involved in adding alkaline water to the tank, keeping it on more or less an even keel and not letting it swing more than .1 or so.
The small, frequent water changes are fine. Better than sparse huge ones by all means, especially if your tap ph is different from your tank. Keep doing it like you have been. Watch for signs of stress, rapid breathing, clamped fins OR really flared-out fins, etc. If you start showing these signs, just change less of the water, more often... say, a gallon or so every 3 or 4 days. As long as pull enough water to dilute your nitrates, you should be aces!
Keep us posted. It seems like you kinda know what you're doing there....
P.S. Your current choice of fish will do fine in anywhere from 6.9 to 7.6....tetras are not reeeeeally picky about their ph or anything...never had loaches, so I dunno about them...
Good luck!
You're right, the driftwood will buffer your ph a little. Peat will do the same.
It takes a pretty wild ph swing to really do damage to your fish. I suspect the driftwood sort of tempers the shock involved in adding alkaline water to the tank, keeping it on more or less an even keel and not letting it swing more than .1 or so.
The small, frequent water changes are fine. Better than sparse huge ones by all means, especially if your tap ph is different from your tank. Keep doing it like you have been. Watch for signs of stress, rapid breathing, clamped fins OR really flared-out fins, etc. If you start showing these signs, just change less of the water, more often... say, a gallon or so every 3 or 4 days. As long as pull enough water to dilute your nitrates, you should be aces!
Keep us posted. It seems like you kinda know what you're doing there....
P.S. Your current choice of fish will do fine in anywhere from 6.9 to 7.6....tetras are not reeeeeally picky about their ph or anything...never had loaches, so I dunno about them...
Good luck!
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Sodium hydroxide is NaOH: not much you can do about that sodium ion. But the OH- isn't buffered, and your water is otherwise very soft (and naturally acidic) Just leaving fresh-drawn tapwater in a bucket with an aerator running overnight should be bringing your water down in pH. What you need to counter your -OH is some more H+: some peat filtration will do a lot for you there, the more effective because of the lack of a buffer.
What troubled me was your remark that the Seachem buffer used to work but isn't working any more. That makes me think that the utility company's sodium ions are beginning to add up, and that some big once-every-three-months water changes of 75% might be called for. Or you could dilute the Na ions with a 50% distilled water flush. (Probably make your tetras spawn right there and then!)
What troubled me was your remark that the Seachem buffer used to work but isn't working any more. That makes me think that the utility company's sodium ions are beginning to add up, and that some big once-every-three-months water changes of 75% might be called for. Or you could dilute the Na ions with a 50% distilled water flush. (Probably make your tetras spawn right there and then!)
I have reserve water sitting in a 10 gallon tank with a heater and filtered by an Emperor with Kent Marine carbon. The water has been sitting in that tank for 48 hours now and I just verified the pH at ~7.4. As far as the buffer doing it's job, we've made a house move over a year ago (still within the Portland city limits) and in the old house the pH out of the tap was ~6.6. I'd add the buffer and it would lock in at 7.0 solid. In the mean time we've moved and had a baby. Though my maintainance of the tanks has not waivered, my testing of the water parameters fell by the wayside. I just monitored the physical condition of the fish and left it at that. It's been in the last 2 weeks that I've stepped up my water testing and found the issue with the pH. According to the aforementioned website the city started treating the water in 1997.
I'm a fan of using as little chemical intervention as possible when dealing with ph issues (and almost everything else pertaining to water quality, and diseases, if I can help it). I take as natural an approach as I possibly can, never using ph-altering chemicals such as sulfuric acid to "fix" my ph problems, instead endeavoring to suit my pets to the environment I've been dealt....it's only a ph "problem" if the fish going in the tank are not suited to the ph of the water I have.
So, you've not been actively testing your water since your move? The Seachem conditioner may have never worked to begin with on the water you've got now if that's the case....
So, you've not been actively testing your water since your move? The Seachem conditioner may have never worked to begin with on the water you've got now if that's the case....
You are absolutely correct in your observation, perhaps the Neutral Regulator has never worked under my current circumstances. Perhaps I'm over-thinking the whole situation. I've been a keeper of fish for over 12 years now and whatever the composition of my water my fish have always thrived. I have never strayed from my method of small and frequent water changes on all of my tanks. I don't discount the need to test the water if for nothing else than to establish a baseline from which to respond before a deviation turns into a disaster. I also agree that the less chemical intervention the better. Now if I live with the fact that my water is 7.5 it also remains true that my water is very soft, in other words minimal buffering capacity. Without the phosphates to buffer the water will my pH maintain 7.5 under a bio-load? Or will my water changing routine make the point moot.
Thank you all for your input, it's very much appreciated.
Thank you all for your input, it's very much appreciated.
The only way to know for sure if the Seachem was helping at all is to simply try not using it for a few weeks, and monitor your ph. If it starts to rise, you'll know the treatments were buffering your tank after all...then you can make the decision of whether to continue the use of the chemical buffer from then on. I would suggest that unless your ph shot up a full point overnight, then don't worry too much about it. Let it creep back up to the ph of the tapwater, and go from there. As far as the bioload goes, as I said, I have nearly 8.0 water in my tap, and I've never had a hard time maintaining a healthy aquarium....for any type of fish I've had (except angelfish for some odd reason...I think they just don't like me or something...).
It's all ultimately your decision, but a little experimentation is in order, I think, just to see what's affecting your water quality and what isn't. Good luck with it, and keep us abreast of the situation....
It's all ultimately your decision, but a little experimentation is in order, I think, just to see what's affecting your water quality and what isn't. Good luck with it, and keep us abreast of the situation....
The respiration of fishes and the decomposing of plant and other organic material keep pumping H+ into your water, slowly acidifying it. A stronger buffer would resist the acidification. Your water changes and maintenance are keeping pH from falling. My water is even softer than yours (<1KH)and I have no pH crashes.(I would if I overloaded my tanks, my plants did poorly and I didn't rinse my filters.)