...my Ph Is Confusing

[unspoken930]

Alright so i decided to check the PH in my tanks today just becuase i havent tested it in quite awhile... well i got 6.0- 6.2 ppm in EACH ONE... so that worried me and i checked the tap water and i am very suprised.... ill just tell y'all all the stats from it...

Ph: 7.0- 7.2 ppm
Ammonia: alittle over .25ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm
Phosphate: .5 ppm

Well... what can i do to get my Ph back up to like... 6.8 or should i worry about it. All of my fish are happy and everything but i plan on getting some shrimp for my new 5 gallon tank and theyve been kept at a Ph of around 6.5-7.0 so... i duno if i should just acclimitise veryyyyy slowly like over the period of 2 hours or if i should do something to my Ph which i know is risky. Glad i checked before i got the shrimp though becuase i really didnt want to lose 25$ worth of them...

 

[jarmado]

more surprising is you have a non-zero ammonia reading on your tapwater.

 

[unspoken930]

yeah that kinda scarred me alittle too....

 

[unspoken930]

does anyone know what i can do to get it up without using chemicals? i could put a seashell in the tank or something (one that i found on the beach thathasnt been treated with chems or anything)

 

[unspoken930]

doesnt anyone knowww.... this Ph thing is somewhat concerning me... i have no idea what could be dropping it in my tanks. 2 have a laterite bottom layer two dont, 3 have carbon in the filter, one doesnt... all have live plants. whats realllllly confusing me is that the tank with the nutrafin c02 system on it has the same ph as all the other tanks and i thought c02 was supposed to bring pH down... im so confused and i dont want to have all of my shrimp die once i order them so if anyone has any input please post it

Thanks

 

[Mad Duff]

You could get some coral gravel from your LFS and add that to your tanks, It will raise the ph and help buffer the water to stop the ph levels fluctuating to much.

What do you already have in your tank in the way of substrate and do you have lots of bogwood in the tanks?

I would also try and find out why you have an ammonia reading from your tap water.

 

[Bignose]

Go and test your tap water's pH. Let it sit out for several hours before testing, because dissolved gas like CO2 in the tap could artificially change your straight-from-the-tap pH.

Next, if you have a hardness test, that will give you a lot a insight as to what is going on. Specifically a KH test would be best, but if you only have a GH test, that information is a little more fuzzy. Either way, if you don't have the kits, more good LFSs will test it for you.

The higher the KH (carbonate hardness) the longer your water will keep a stable pH. Shells and the like will increase the hardness and the pH. So you will get a higher pH and a more stable pH. While hardness and pH are two separate properties of the water, they are often related (i.e. high pH is typically high hardness, & low pH is typically low hardness and vice versa)

Thirdly, and maybe most importantly you have to keep checking that ammonia. Do water changes until the mini-cycle is complete. Small frequent water changes (5-10% every few hours to at least every day) can only help.

***
However, since the water is acidic and there is ammonia present, you are limited to only doing small water changes. There is an equilibrium between ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4+).

When the water is acidic, there is more ammonium present. The good thing is that ammonium is not nearly as hazardous to your fish as ammonia is. But, if you put in newer, higher pH water, that ammonium will shift back to dangerous, hazardous ammonia.

So, small water changes are need to get rid of the ammonia/ammonium, but you can't do a large quick one. Small and frequent is the key
***

In fact, small water changes may help your pH. If your tap water has decent hardness, your tank may have just consumed all the hardness and is slowly going acidic.

See, the end products of the cycling process, nitrate, is acidic. So, it will slowly consume the hardness of the water, and finally, when there is no hardness, the water will start going acidic.

Lastly, pH itself has no unit (you kept saying ppm). pH is the log base 10 of a concentration. ppm is also a concentration. Taking the log of a concentration has no unit, so it is proper to say 1 pH unit, for example. But a pH of 7.0 for example is not 7 ppm. Since, the actual concentration is 10^-7 H+ ions per liter. Or, 100 ppb (parts per billion). People use pH since it is easier to write 7 than 10^-7.

 

[unspoken930]

Thirdly, and maybe most importantly you have to keep checking that ammonia. Do water changes until the mini-cycle is complete. Small frequent water changes (5-10% every few hours to at least every day) can only help.

The ammonia is in the tap, not the tank... the tanks ammonia is 0ppm and im concerned about water changes now becuase with .25 ammonia in the tap when i change the water im adding more of a bioload on my filter.

What do you already have in your tank in the way of substrate and do you have lots of bogwood in the tanks?

I have 3 small pieces of bogwood in my 12 gallon tank, and one small piece in my 2.5 gallon tank (US gallons btw.)

As far as substrate goes, i just have normal freshwater aquarium gravel stuff you get in the bags at the lfs. In two of my tanks i have the first layer laterite stuff but in the other two tanks i dont have that, just some gravel.


Well im off to set out my tap water for a few hours and to see which test i have since the store i ordered the KH and GH test from only gave me one....which means they had to physically break the seal on the package, pull out the instructions for it, the solution bottle, the color card AND the test tube.... so ill go look at that then test for it as well.

Edit: it is a KH test, not Gh so ill leave the water out for 2 hours then ill test it.

 

[Majjie]

If I was you I'd e-mail the water company that provides your water and ask about the ammonia level. It may mean that they're using chloramine to disinfect the water.

Doesn't help you with the pH though.

You could try Waterlife's pH 6.5 buffer as a temporary measure - although it's not a good idea in the long term (It's a lot better than "Proper pH")

 

[Bignose]

If I was you I'd e-mail the water company that provides your water and ask about the ammonia level. It may mean that they're using chloramine to disinfect the water.

This is very true, though I'd call or visit the offices in person. You should not be drinking ammonia in virtually any concentration. This is not just bad for the fish, but bad for you, too.

 

[unspoken930]

Well.... i just tested the KH of my tap water after letting it sit for 2 hours.... and it was 1 degree of Kh The tank water also only has 1 degree of Kh in it too. The tap waters Ph is at 6.9 or so after being set out for 2 hours.

 

[Bignose]

1 is pretty low, no wonder your pH keeps dropping. I'd figure out some way of dealing with the ammonia in the tap, then find a way to increase the hardness of the tank water.

 

[unspoken930]

so would adding a sea shell help that? i just dont want to wake up with a ph of 8.2 or something...

 

[Majjie]

Sorry, can't answer that - chemistry a tad rusty

If there are no chemists around to answer I'd try some out in a separate container
You could also try adding a bit of sodium bicarbonate (cooking variety) - after all that is carbonate hardness. But again I'd try some tank water separately first.

 

[Bignose]

Prediciting what will come out is exceptionally difficult. There is quite a lot of complex reactions occuring, basically every mineral dissolved in the water now would need to be known before accurate prediction could be made.

So, what Maj said is right, you will need to test. Put some in a bottle, and just test it out.

That said, a pH of 8.2 isn't death either. And if you have 8.2 with a high KH, and therefore a stable pH, your fish should be much more content. Most fish can acclimate to a very wide range of pH, this is where research has to come in. You have to research how sensitive the fish you want to keep are. For example, discus traditionally have not taken well to pH's out of their native waters. On the other hand, my water has a pH around 8.4, and I catch my cory catfish spawning once a month or so. So some fish can acclimate well, others can't. It is a good bet that someone on this forum has kept the fish you are looking at before, and it doesn't hurt to ask here.