Low pH

[Rainbow Shark]

Just a quick question..........Can baking soda (dissolved, of course) be added to tank water to raise the pH. Just a wandering thought, since we use it in our pool to do the same thing. The pH in our water system is very acidic and I have to adjust the pH with each water change. The stuff I buy at the pet store doesn't raise it enough. (And yes, I use new test strips.)

 

[Jonathan1985]

My girlfriend is having the same issue.... nothing we buy from the shops will raise the PH and she's losing fish... any help?

 

[rdd1952]

Adjusting pH is a very bad idea unless it is well below 6.0 or above 9.0. Most fish can adjust to your pH as long as it is stable. The fish are probably dying from large swings in pH due to the use of chemicals rather than from a low pH. Are either of you using CO2 for plants or maybe driftwood. What are your pH readings from the tap and also in the tanks. Hav you tested the KH of your water? That is the buffering capacity which helps make the pH stable. The lower the KH, the more susceptible the water is to swings up or down. The pH range is exponential so a change of .1 is actually a change of ten. Changes of .2 or higher in less than 24 hours can be hard on fish and cause problems.

 

[IMCL85]

my advice would be not even think about changing ph. This is some thing you dont want to mess with. Even for expert. Ph is like weather to us as human. Any sudden change of ph would be like from an iccy cold world to a hot dessert. You probably would see alot of the recommandation about ph lvl inside fish profile this and that etc etc. But no dont do it. First is because chamical is not healthy for fish unless u r breeding discus. And when u bought new fish from fish store and bring them back home dont worry too much about ur tank ph lvl ur fish will get use to the lvl of ph even they tend to stay on a lower lvl ph. Once they get use to it they will befine. remember fish can stand higher ph but can not stand constant changes of ph. Specially during water change where I live I only can get tap water so I have to use conditioner to kill bad bacteria from tap water. ur tank ph is = to ur tap waters ph so you dont have to worry about lower or higher ph. and if u mess with ph like adding lower/higher ph chamical to ur tank then the ph of those water u about to put into ur tank wouldn't matches the ph inside ur tank. To sensetive fish it could cost massive dead example would be dicuse. So unless you have confidence on controling the ph lvl to be exactly like the one inside ur tank other wise leave it alone.

 

[rdd1952]

And when u bought new fish from fish store and bring them back home dont worry too much about ur tank ph lvl ur fish will get use to the lvl of ph even they tend to stay on a lower lvl ph. Once they get use to it they will befine. remember fish can stand higher ph but can not stand constant changes of ph.

One addition to this: always check the pH of the water in the bag from the fish store before you start acclimating your new fish. Sometimes the LFS pH can be considerably different from your tank pH and you need to spend extra time acclimating the fish or you will send them into pH shock. When I bought my angel fish, the pH from the LFS was below 6 while my tank was at 6.8. I spent amost 4 hours slowly raising the pH they were in by adding about 4 to 6 oz of tank water to their bag every 10 to 15 minutes. Even that was really too slow but I didn't have many options at the time. They are doing great though so it worked out.

ur tank ph is = to ur tap waters ph so you dont have to worry about lower or higher ph.

This isn't necessarily true in that if the tap water is very soft (low KH/Gh) then the water in the tank could be affected quite a bit by CO2 injection or by driftwood causing it to be lower than the tap water. Also, the substrate can cause the pH to change but most substrates will raise it instead of lower it. It's actually a pretty good idea to check both the tank and tap water before you do a water change just to make sure there isn't any problems with either.

 

[IMCL85]

yea that also thx buddy for mentioning it.