Ph Issue

[Wishful]

Hi all
We have just got a new 330 litre Aquaone Windsor 88 corner unit. We've put in substrate of silica sand and Unipac Dorset gravel and filled it with RO water from our local fish shop. Instead of the Aquaone filter we are using an Eheim Professional 3e filter.
The pH of the water we added is 6.8 but testing it today (we filled it on Friday) it is showing at 7.6! The only thing in the tank at the moment is the sand/gravel substrate. Obviously the water is passing through the new filter media and we have started adding Seachem Stability New Tank Stabilization System to help to get the tank ready for adding fish.
The only other thing that is added is the Tropic Marin minerals added to the RO water.

Can anyone suggest any reason why the pH should have risen? We can't understand this at all.

Thanks for any help
Wishful

 

[Wishful]

Have I posted this to the wrong sub-forum?

Thanks
Wishful


Have I posted this to the wrong sub-forum?

Thanks
Wishful

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

Not sure but does the ph not rise in a new tank and then fall back down again after a while.

 

[Wishful]

Not sure but does the ph not rise in a new tank and then fall back down again after a while.

Is that possible? I thought that pH was constant in things but I'm no scientist it has to be said! Is that something you've read somewhere?

We'll definately retest after a few days to see if that's the case.

We are planning to put bogwood in there which I believe will have an effect, but are disinclined to add anything else, especially the fish, until we've got this sorted out.

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

I think i read something like that before but not 100%. It could be the gravel that u have in has put it up, the new bogwood will alter the water too. Would be better waiting till everything is stable in the tank before adding fish because a sudden change in ph can kill the fish. Even the difference in ph from the lfs to your tank can have an effect on the fish. Should try and have yours as close to the lfs ph as possible. U can buy ph adjust either up or down.

 

[Wishful]

I think i read something like that before but not 100%. It could be the gravel that u have in has put it up, the new bogwood will alter the water too. Would be better waiting till everything is stable in the tank before adding fish because a sudden change in ph can kill the fish. Even the difference in ph from the lfs to your tank can have an effect on the fish. Should try and have yours as close to the lfs ph as possible. U can buy ph adjust either up or down.

Yup, we're aware of the risk to fish. This is why we use RO water from our lfs, our current tank runs at the same pH as their's. We won't be putting anything in there until we're sure of it. I think we both just flipped a bit when we saw that result having nothing in there but substrate.
Having read your comment we've done a bit more investigation through the power of Google and have found that pH changes constantly owing to various things - it even changes during the day and night! Apparently the ammonia/nitrite changes have an affect, so I guess it could be the Seachem stuff we're adding to get the filter cycled.
We have danios and a couple of rainbows in the existing tank that we're going to put in the big tank, but we'll probably move the zebra danios first and get a few White Cloud Mountain Minnows when we do start adding fish to cycle the tank further before we start moving the more delicate fish. Slowly, slowly etc.
Thanks for your thoughts though - any others more than welcome!

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

I think i read something like that before but not 100%. It could be the gravel that u have in has put it up, the new bogwood will alter the water too. Would be better waiting till everything is stable in the tank before adding fish because a sudden change in ph can kill the fish. Even the difference in ph from the lfs to your tank can have an effect on the fish. Should try and have yours as close to the lfs ph as possible. U can buy ph adjust either up or down.

Yup, we're aware of the risk to fish. This is why we use RO water from our lfs, our current tank runs at the same pH as their's. We won't be putting anything in there until we're sure of it. I think we both just flipped a bit when we saw that result having nothing in there but substrate.
Having read your comment we've done a bit more investigation through the power of Google and have found that pH changes constantly owing to various things - it even changes during the day and night! Apparently the ammonia/nitrite changes have an affect, so I guess it could be the Seachem stuff we're adding to get the filter cycled.
We have danios and a couple of rainbows in the existing tank that we're going to put in the big tank, but we'll probably move the zebra danios first and get a few White Cloud Mountain Minnows when we do start adding fish to cycle the tank further before we start moving the more delicate fish. Slowly, slowly etc.
Thanks for your thoughts though - any others more than welcome!

Good luck with it all, hope it all works out ok.

 

[thegnu]

this shouldn't be happening. the stuff you are putting in, Seachem Stability New Tank Stabilization System, sounds a bit iffy.
is it a buffer that keeps the pH stable, could it be upping your kh, what are the ingredients. another time you could try testing you ro water with the same time lapses without adding anything and see if the ro changes. if it does then the lfs should perhaps change there filters/ membrane.

edit:
the silica sand is inert i now nothing of Unipac Dorset gravel, could this leach anything

 

[Wishful]

this shouldn't be happening. the stuff you are putting in, Seachem Stability New Tank Stabilization System, sounds a bit iffy.
is it a buffer that keeps the pH stable, could it be upping your kh, what are the ingredients. another time you could try testing you ro water with the same time lapses without adding anything and see if the ro changes. if it does then the lfs should perhaps change there filters/ membrane.

edit:
the silica sand is inert i now nothing of Unipac Dorset gravel, could this leach anything

The Seachem website says this about the Stability stuff:
"Stabilityâ„¢ will rapidly and safely establish the aquarium biofilter in freshwater and marine systems, thereby preventing the #1 cause of fish death: "new tank syndrome". Stabilityâ„¢ is formulated specifically for the aquarium and contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria which facilitate the breakdown of waste organics, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Unlike competing products, the bacteria employed by Stabilityâ„¢ are non-sulfur fixing and will not produce toxic hydrogen sulfide. Stabilityâ„¢ is completely harmless to all aquatic organisms as well as aquatic plants, thus there is no danger of over use. Stabilityâ„¢ is the culmination of nearly a decade of research and development and represents the current state of the art in natural biological management."

I have asked Seachem whether it's possible that their product has made the pH go up but haven't received a reply yet.

Your comment about the RO water is interesting, we must try that. Although our other tank has the same RO water in it and we haven't any pH issues with that.

Thanks for your comment - I'd be interested to see what you think of the Stability write up.

 

[Wishful]

I just checked with my other half and he did check the remainder of one of the bottles of water from the lfs that went into that tank and the pH has stayed the same over the same period of time.

Also, from everything I've read, the dorset gravel and silica sand are both pH neutral.

 

[newtotropical]

From what i understand its normal for the PH to change while a tank is cycling. I would add fish till its stable.
Where do you buy your stock? im in Hampshire as well.....just interested.

 

[Wishful]

From what i understand its normal for the PH to change while a tank is cycling. I would add fish till its stable.
Where do you buy your stock? im in Hampshire as well.....just interested.

We live on the border with Dorset and generally use the Maidenhead Aquatics in Wimborne. We went to the Southampton Maidenhead the other day and they seem to have even more fish, but it means a 25 minute drive for them rather than 10 minutes. On the same trip we went to the Aquajardin store at Fair Oak and were very pleasantly surprised, the livestock were beautifully presented with lots of useful information printed by each tank - far more than I've ever seen before. Very impressed.

Where do you go?

 

[thegnu]

its nothing to do with the seachem then, unless they do a marine one and you got that by mistake, its got me stumped. can you test the waters kh. this should be about nil

 

[Wishful]

its nothing to do with the seachem then, unless they do a marine one and you got that by mistake, its got me stumped. can you test the waters kh. this should be about nil

No this is for tropical. We tested the kH last night and it was around 7. We had understood that basic RO water is nil but the re-mineral stuff that needs to be added should bring it up by about 6 - is that not correct?

 

[thegnu]

oh, yes sorry i didnt read you were remineralizing