High PH

[qwikimpss]

I am trying to breed cherry barbs, i know theyre not too tough but never bred an egg-laying species before, and in preparation i set up my 10 gallon tank, filled it with water from my 29 gallon aquarium and tested the water (hadnt tested the water in a long while because i do my 25% water changes 2x a week and my fish are doing great) and it turned out that the water is at 8.6!!!! out of curiosity i tested my 55 gallon and it's the same!!! i dont know how my tetras...or anything else for that matter, are doing so well!!! Whats the best way to reduce the PH, my water has high carbonite hardness (buffering capacity), is there a way to reduce that so i can reduce it with just chemicals? or do i need RO water or to collect rain water? and sorry for the long post

 

[Bloo]

What's your PH currently ? (oops, sorry I missed the 8.6 bit)
RO can be fairly costly and very time consuming and "fairly" hard work to keep up. If you simply want to drop your PH, then I suggest introducing some CO2. Beneficial obviously for your plants, but in my tank it brough my PH down from 8.2 / 8.4 to 7.4 / 7.2 in a matter of days. With a KH of 11 - which is hard.

 

[qwikimpss]

So, could a reason for high PH be a lightly stocked aquarium. In theory, they would produce less CO2 thus lowering PH less? It makes sense to me.

 

[Karah's_Mommy]

Check out the pH of your tap water. Where I live the pH out of the tap is 8 - 8.2. The water at my lfs is the same as well, so that could be why it's so high.

 

[qwikimpss]

My PH is a little lower than my tank water, like 7.8 or 8

 

[rdd1952]

The high pH and high KH go hand in hand. As Bloozoo2 suggested, CO2 would lower the pH. You might also try driftwood or peat though they would have less of an effect. I would definitely steer clear of the pH adjusting chemicals. All you will get with those is a very unstable pH. As you have already seen, most fish (your tetras) can adjust to a pH that isn't perfect for them as long as it is stable. When it starts bouncing up and down is when the problems start. Rather than RO water, you could probably use bottled water but that would be expensive too. Here is a site I found a while back that lists ways to raise and lower pH, KH amd GH.

 

[mlee0332]

dont tinker with the pH as changing the pH could do more harm than good. Adding chemicals at the wrong rate could cause a crash/spike, and send your fish into pH shock. I was told that even the most experienced of aquarists stay away from altering pH, b/c its so risky. Fish can adjust to a range of pHs, so if they are fine now, they should be fine with pH where it is now.

For breeding, that's another story...

It may have to be perfect for that, so I suggest setting pH in the EMPTY aquarium to the recommended. Then acclimatize your fish as if they were new arrivals. You know float in bag for 15 mins, add aquarium water, float 15 mins, add more water etc...

HTH!!!

edit: @ rdd: I have read that bottled water has no kH at all, which would open the door for bouncing pH...

 

[qwikimpss]

Okay! update, i was wrong on the PH of my tap water, my tap water comes out at 6.8!!!! I just tested ALL of the taps in my home, all the same, 6.6-6.8. and the tank PH is still at 8+. I am trying to think of why my tank water is so much higher! i need to retest carbonite hardness tho, but it doesnt make much sense to me.

 

[Bignose]

I don't think that what mlee said can be overstated: so long as your pH is stable and not fluctuating, the fish will be fine. They have obviously acclimated to the higher but stable pH.

In nature, the pH is something that changes -- depending upon the time of day, and of course the pH changes with rain washoff and many other factors. The big thing is that the pH does not change too rapidly. If your water has no buffering or you do not use the chemicals correctly the pH could change up and down a great deal. There are many examples of harder water that has its pH lowered for a short time by chemicals only to bounce back up a few hours later. This situation is obviously very stressful on the fish. There are a few sensative species that will require a certain pH (I am thinking of most discus as an example) but most species are hardy enough to take to most stable pH's. This is where research is necessary before you purchase a certain fish.

So, in synopsis, it is normally much, much more important to keep a stable pH, rather than a pH that is in the 'right range' but moving a lot.

Edit regarding your tap water at ph=6.8. There is often a lot of dissolved CO2 in the water in your tap. Let the water sit out overnight and test that. To wit, my tap is 7.2 to 7.4 ish, but my tank water, and the tap water that sits out overnight always tests 8.2 to 8.4 ish.

 

[qwikimpss]

Well, i guess i'll try breeding my barbs in the water i got and if that doesnt work i'll have to remedy it somehow.

 

[mlee0332]

my pH is extremely low... I believe its 6.2, and all the fish are doing good, so theres another range you know they can stand

 

[qwikimpss]

i did a test tonight and put in 1/2 tank water from my 29 and 1/2 bottled water in a test tube and loved the results! ph of 7.2 and lower carbonate hardness. i'm thinking just to breed i may try doing this as it will only take 5 gallons of spring bottled water to begin and 2 gallons every week for changes until the fry are old enough to acclimate to the tank stuff.