Help with ph please!

Kotty · Post by **Kotty** » 15 Jul 2003, 23:48

Hi

I have just done a water test.

Amm & Nitrite 0, Nitrate 30ppm, ph 8.6

Ph seems quite high - is it dangerous for the cats and other community fish?

Should I be bringing it down with chemicals?

Thanks if you can help.

Kotty

Post by **Rusty** » 16 Jul 2003, 00:01

What are you using to test?

Rusty

Kotty · Post by **Kotty** » 16 Jul 2003, 00:08

A dry tab test kit.

Ive just tested the tap water which is 7.6

Ive recently added a lot of slate to the tank to create a cave, I reckon the high mineral content might have done it... need water changes I think.

Anyone know of high ph being dangerous to community fish?

Post by **Barbie** » 16 Jul 2003, 03:25

You don't ever want to modify your pH in an existing tank. You can modify the water you're going to use to do water changes, but that will require a few days pretreatment, unless you're interested in purchasing an RO unit. When you add chemicals to your tank water to modify the parameters, the buffering capacity of the water immediately starts pulling the pH back to what it started out as and you get pH bounce. That's VERY hard on fish, and probably won't take your pH any lower over the long run.

High pH water isn't going to harm your fish, other than the fact that you need to keep in mind ammonia is exponentially more toxic in basic (high pH) water, so overfeeding even once could be a big problem, instead of a minor one. As long as you're aware of that, its easy to keep fish healthy with a higher pH, once they are properly acclimated to it, which obviously your fish are, at this point. Hope that helps.

Barbie

Kotty · Post by **Kotty** » 16 Jul 2003, 08:40

Thanks Barbie,

It helps a lot, I haven't done a ph test for ages so I think I'll leave as is and keep up the regular water changes and monitor it. I recently purchased a nitragon unit and the water that comes filtered through there is lower ph so I hope it will even out over time.

Kotty

chinnp · Post by **chinnp** » 16 Jul 2003, 10:44

I'm very sorry, but I think I have to respectfully disagree w/Barbie. The ph of the water can make a big difference to your fish. First of all, it matters what kinds of fish you have. Some fish are used to living in water with a higher ph and won't care. Others are used to a lower ph and will.

Ph generally doesn't make a huge difference to fish unless it's at extremes. 6.8 is not going to harm fish that are used to living in water at 7.2. When you start reaching extremes (and 8.6 can be high depending on the fish you're keeping) you run into probs. At 8.6, you've got the ph of baking soda or sea water (though some freshwater fish prefer this, african cichlids jump to mind)

Higher ph can shorten your fishes life span and cause them to not breed. The fish may not suffer per se (unless they're used to lower ph), but like I said they may not breed and prob won't show their full colors.

That being said, I agree with Barbie about not trying to bring it down at once. This may work if you have a low buffering capacity in the water, but more than likely It won't. The fish will definitely suffer from ph bouncing up and down while they've more than likely adjusted to living at a higher ph. I think water changes are the best bet. If you can slowly bring the ph down to what your tapwater is, you'll be fine.

Apologies for the long post.

Paul

Kotty · Post by **Kotty** » 16 Jul 2003, 12:00

I have 3 bristlenoses, 2 L number plecs, 6 corys, 4 sunset platys, 11 rummy nosed tetra, 1 sydontis catfish, 6 guppies, 6 black phatom tetra, 3 coulis, 1 gourami, 1 siamese fighting fish and I think thats it.

Thanks for the advice

Post by **Silurus** » 16 Jul 2003, 12:07

It's OK for the platys, but a little too high for everything else.

Kotty · Post by **Kotty** » 16 Jul 2003, 20:52

wierd, just did another test tonight... reading 7.6

I cant imagine a 15% water change would have made that much difference?

Maybe there was something wrong with my original test - dodgy pill or residue in the vial?

Glad its back down though

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 17 Jul 2003, 10:03

Do you have a lot of plants in the tank?This can cause huge pH swings over the course of 24 hours through photosynthesis/respiration.
If not, then I would suggest that the earlier test was flawed in some way. I would imagine that Rummynose tetras would be looking very sick if your pH truly was 8.6!
If the rocks you added are actually slate, these will not have any noticeable buffering effect on your aquarium.
I would perhaps buy another test kit and compare results.