Ph Question

[FishLover66]

Hi all. I was wondering if someone would know why my tank water, which I just did a 33% water change on, has a pH of 6.8, but my tap straight out of the faucet is 8.4? I thought it was slightly higher than neutral from a previous strip test, but it was off the charts, so I had to use the High pH tester (I use API Master Test Kit now).

I'm not a chemist and have no desire to be one. I just want to be sure the water is safe for my fish and wonder how there could be such a discrepency. Does the water conditioner/dechlorinator somehow adjust or buffer the pH? I heard that tap water pH changed once it's put in a tank because of the water filter flow (some sort of chemical reaction), but I thought it would INCREASE, not decrease the pH value.

I'm not going to add anything I don't NEED to, so I plan on just testing every other day or so to see if the pH fluctuates. Worse case, if it does start to increase too much, than should I use a buffer to keep it neutral? I keep fish that like slightly acid water (tetras), but would like to eventually get at least a small group of livebearers.

 

[fidjet2]

when you test your tap water you have to let it sit in a cup( or something) for 24 hours. I think it is to let the gases evaporate or something like that- some one please correct me if i am wrong i also have a high ph of 8.0 and i keep neon tetra's, cory's and a flame dwarf gourami....people on here have told me just to leave it as it is more harmful to the fish if the water ph flucuates and that they can get used to it if acclimatized proparly..... again some one please correct me if i am wrong

 

[FishLover66]

when you test your tap water you have to let it sit in a cup( or something) for 24 hours. I think it is to let the gases evaporate or something like that- some one please correct me if i am wrong i also have a high ph of 8.0 and i keep neon tetra's, cory's and a flame dwarf gourami....people on here have told me just to leave it as it is more harmful to the fish if the water ph flucuates and that they can get used to it if acclimatized proparly..... again some one please correct me if i am wrong

Thanks for your help! I didn't know I should let it sit for 24 hours before testing. I will definitely do that and see what happens. So, with the tank being so low in pH and my tap water being so high (maybe even after the 24 hours wait), that won't harm the fish I have in my aquarium?