High ph - 10 gallon tank

[spannah]

I setup a 10 gallon on January first, 6 plastic plants, no live plants, with a small piece of mopani drift wood, which I bought at the local fish store and was labelled "aquarium safe"

1/2 a week later I added two gold fish for the cycling process (I know, I know). Amonia never went higher then .50 ppm. Nitrite did go up to 5 ppm or more and stayed there for a few days, until I removed the mopani drift wood, realizing that could be the only thing affecting the chemistry. Nitrite did go down afterwards. This was at about 4 weeks after initial setup, and that's when I decided to check ph with a low range kit, and it went to the max at 7.6

I didn't worry to much since I knew the guppies I would be adding later prefer alkaline water. However, 2 weeks later and ph is still at 7.6. I may get a ph high range kit to get a more accurate reading.

Last saturday's reading just before water change, 2 goldfish and 2 guppies:

Amonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: < 5 ppm
pH: 7.6 (max, maybe inacurate)

I haven't done readings for hardness.

Could this still be related to the mopani driftwood? Any other ideas?

Thanks

 

[fishfreek]

Test your tap water or what ever water your using for your water changes.

On the PH kit is the color a very dark shade of the 7.6 reading or is it very close in shade. Usually if its way above 7.6 the PH kit result will be darker than the result sheet shows.

As you suggest I would get a high range kit so you know where your PH really is at.

If the driftwood has been out for a few weeks and you have done water changes since then to take the diftwood water out and add non driftwood water in then I would not think it would still be a result of the drift wood but has a strong chance of being due to your source water.

What kind of air/water current do you have? PH can also be affected by the quantity of disolved oxygen or disolved co2 that is in the water.

 

[wetmanNY]

Don't worry: pH 7.6 isn't very high at all.

Your Mopane wood had nothing to do with the appearance and disappearance of nitrite. The bacteria that metabolize the nitrites (NO2)into nitrates (NO3) are slower to get started than the ones that do the first step, metabolizing ammonia (NH3) into nitrite (NO2). Wood is not a souce of ammonia. The fish produce the ammonia.

 

[spannah]

Thanks for the info/suggestions.

Tap water is at 7.0 before and after adding Aqua Plus (de-chlorinator). I let the water sit overnight, and it is about a 20% water change.

I have an Aqua Clear Mini (came with the tank). I am about to get an air pump and a couple of airstones.

How does the amount of dissolved oxygen or dissolved carbon dioxide affect the ph of the water? Does more dissolved O2 makes the ph go up or go down? Does more dissolved CO2 makes the ph go up or go down? I would think they are inverse of each other...

By the way I added 2 more guppies. I may add a live plant or two later. Need to research that

 

[Richer]

CO2 decreases pH of your water. A small percentage of CO2 associates with H2O and forms carbonic acid, thus lowering the pH of your water. Your tap water probably reads a pH of 7 because some CO2 does dissolve into water at high pressures. Airate the water overnight, and pH should raise.

Revise what you have stocked in your tank. It is often suggested to keep 1 goldfish in a 30 gallon tank, adding 20-30 gallons per extra goldfish, depending on filtration. Obviously, in light of such information, your tank is overstocked.

HTH
-Richer

 

[spannah]

Thanks for the info.

About the goldfish overstocking -> beginner mistake. The leaflet that came with the tank said to start with 5 goldfish (comets). I though that would be overstocking, so I only got 2, although the clerk kept on suggesting that I should take more.
I should get a scan of the leaflet and put it in the "bad LFS advice" thread.
Anyways, I will have to decide what to do with those