Ph Levels

[mattlee]

my tap water is 7.2 and my tank water is 8.2 how is this happening? i recently purchased a higher (api) ph test kit as with my lower one it kept reading 7.6 which is the maximum it goes up to and was curious.... when tested the water results were 8.2 or 8.0 difficult to tell the difference, so how is it increasing and is this too high?

 

[doktor doris]

What rocks, substrate, ornaments, etc do you have in the tank?

 

[mattlee]

i have grey/silver gravel, 2 tree root ornaments, about 7 plastic/silk plants, 2 real plants and a juwel internal background which was stuck in place using juwel silicone.

 

[mattlee]

did a large water change about 2 hours ago and the ph reading now is 7.9, tap water is 7.2.

 

[Infidel_Uk]

well for a start , what fish have you got , have you looked into the ph level they live in ?

 

[mattlee]

i have 1 dwarf gourami, 4 german blue rams, 1 polkadot loach, 3 platties, 2 buenos aries tetra, 3 apple snails, 20 cherry shrimp, 2 amano shrimp and was going to add 3/4 corys tomorrow.....

 

[Bignose]

Water companies very often add CO2 to the tap water to keep the water more acidic so that minerals don't build up in the pipes as fast. It is nothing to be worried about. The pH will rise as the CO2 gasses out of the water. My tap water comes in at 7.2 as well and my tanks all stabilize at around that same 8.2 to 8.4 range. This has nothing to do with ornaments or gravel or rocks.

Now, if you are on well water, we might have to do a little more investigating. But, what has been described so far seems completely normal to me.

 

[mattlee]

many thanks bignose, as long as its not going to effect my fish then i am happy with that. i didnt want to go down the lowering ph level route to be honest....

 

[Bignose]

I have kept many fish at that high of a pH level just fine. Cory catfish, tiger barbs, lemon tetras have all taken to that water jsut fine that they have all spawned at different times. The key is to do your research and find which fish will be just happy in that pH, and which fish will be more sensitive.

 

[matchstickman47]

Water companies very often add CO2 to the tap water to keep the water more acidic so that minerals don't build up in the pipes as fast. It is nothing to be worried about. The pH will rise as the CO2 gasses out of the water. My tap water comes in at 7.2 as well and my tanks all stabilize at around that same 8.2 to 8.4 range. This has nothing to do with ornaments or gravel or rocks.

Now, if you are on well water, we might have to do a little more investigating. But, what has been described so far seems completely normal to me.

if the ph is higher its alkaline...

 

[Bignose]

Water companies very often add CO2 to the tap water to keep the water more acidic so that minerals don't build up in the pipes as fast. It is nothing to be worried about. The pH will rise as the CO2 gasses out of the water. My tap water comes in at 7.2 as well and my tanks all stabilize at around that same 8.2 to 8.4 range. This has nothing to do with ornaments or gravel or rocks.

Now, if you are on well water, we might have to do a little more investigating. But, what has been described so far seems completely normal to me.

if the ph is higher its alkaline...

It sure is. What exactly do you think I posted wrong? And it is properly pH, little p big H.

 

[matchstickman47]

ok you said that water companies make the water more acidic....then you said the 'pH' was at 7.2 (alkaline)

so what if i said ph,

i also started my sentence without a capital.... its a message board








no one cares...

 

[mattlee]

ph or pH, capital or no capital..... badda bing badda bong, not fussed as long as my fish will be ok

i think what was trying to be said is that pH 7.2 is alkaline but closer to being acid than pH 8.2......... making 7.2 more acidic, even though its alkaline......

so lets all calm down and watch our fish for 10 mins and be friends

 

[Bignose]

ok you said that water companies make the water more acidic....then you said the 'pH' was at 7.2 (alkaline)

so what if i said ph,

i also started my sentence without a capital.... its a message board
no one cares...

1) I said that it was "more acidic" not just "acidic". The "more" is a very important part of what I said. Water with a pH of 7.2 is more acidic than water with a pH of 8.2 or 8.4. The acid doesn't just disappear when you get aove 7.0, there is just less of it. pH is a measure of to which side the reaction H2O <--> H+ + OH- is leaning, but there is always H2O and there is always H+ and OH- present, just in different quantities.

2) Since you were quibbling with what you thought was a small error, I decided to turn the table and quibble about your improper capitaliation of pH. It is important in that the H in pH is the chemical abbreviaion for the hydrogem atom. And little p is mathematical shorthand for the negative of the base 10 logarithm. So it is little p big H for a reason, it isn't just arbitrary.

 

[killudead]

ok you said that water companies make the water more acidic....then you said the 'pH' was at 7.2 (alkaline)

so what if i said ph,

i also started my sentence without a capital.... its a message board
no one cares...

1) I said that it was "more acidic" not just "acidic". The "more" is a very important part of what I said. Water with a pH of 7.2 is more acidic than water with a pH of 8.2 or 8.4. The acid doesn't just disappear when you get aove 7.0, there is just less of it. pH is a measure of to which side the reaction H2O <--> H+ + OH- is leaning, but there is always H2O and there is always H+ and OH- present, just in different quantities.

2) Since you were quibbling with what you thought was a small error, I decided to turn the table and quibble about your improper capitaliation of pH. It is important in that the H in pH is the chemical abbreviaion for the hydrogem atom. And little p is mathematical shorthand for the negative of the base 10 logarithm. So it is little p big H for a reason, it isn't just arbitrary.

Can't we all just get along!!
In the grand scheme, does it really matter?