PlanetCatfish.com

Hi all.
I have already spoken to silurus about this . but I was wondering if anyone else had similar experiences as mine. I have a clarius which now shares his tank with a small pleco (happily I might add) . The problem I have is that the ph is really high. All other parameters check out really good. I'm not sure about hardness yet as I cant test it till next week. However the ph is really high. Im getting readings in excess of 8.5 and I cant bring it down.
I have added blackwater extract. I have added an acid buffer. Both of these have had little effect. In fact the reading now is more like 8. This is still a little bit too high and might explain some of the strange behaviour I have seen from my c batrachus. and the health problems he has had.keep in mind over 3 days I have slowly added 3 more times buffer than the instructions say is needed!
I live in the thames valley area, has anyone else had such problems with this water? I think ill just get a tank full of synos , they might like those conditions!

thanks
jason

Jason,

I forgot to tell you this, but adding more buffer won't lower your pH by very much. The primary purpose of a buffer is to maintain water at a certain pH, not to raise or to lower it.
Maybe you can try mixing rain water (if that isn't too dirty in your area) in your tank.

ok thanks . no problem, I dont trust the rain water i live too close to the city. Do you think I should try peat in the tank? or i n the filter? if so what type is safe?

thanks
jason

Peat in the filter. It'll work both ways, but it gets very messy and may clog your filters in the tank (especially with your Clarias around).

As I seem to recall, London area tapwater has a high pH to start with. What's the pH of water straight from your tap? You could buy reverse osmosis (RO) water from a shop and mix it with your tap water. This is like using rainwater, but without the risk of pollutants. I would ask a shop in your area for advice because they'll have experience with your local water (especially if they sell discus).

You should try putting ph7.0 in your tank. It is apowder-follow directions. This will bring down your ph to 7 and keep it there-very good stuff. Hope you can find this product or anything like it in England.

yep, ive tried most of those things with no success. the problem is that our water is extremely hard and is therefore pretty well buffered altering pH by adding chemicals has little effect. The only option seems to be using rain or R/O water.
thanks for all your help.

This is directed to anyone who might have might have reliable proven information because im just making an educated guess here. Wouldnt rain water be safer than city water with the exception of a few places in the world for example losangles. Considering that city water suplies are tainted with chemicales everywhere. I would think That rainwater would be the lesser of two eviles.

City tap water is purified by municipal sewage systems, which in most cities do a fairly good job of removing harmful chemicals. Rainwater, on the other hand, dissolves airborne pollutants as it falls, and therefore usually has more nasty stuff in it than tap water does. Mind you, living close or far from a city has little to do with it, as airborne pollution is quickly spread between countries and even continents by the prevailing wind patterns.

Dinyar