ph stable

[maaudiosubs]

i use r/o water then add r/o right. i got ph stable also at the lfs and he said i do not need an alkalinity tester even though it says u need it on the bottle. so do i need to test for that or not. and isnt that supposed to keep your ph the same. i added 1/8 teaspoon and it still went back up. it was 6.6 now is 7.0 i want ph of 6.5 is that hard to keep it that low. and if u dont know what your alkalinity then u dont know how much to add right? and ideas would be helpfull thanks.

 

[drobbins27]

Id say do whatever it says to do on the test, and yes, your reasoning sounds justified.

P.S-Changing pH levels is dangerous

 

[modernhamlet]

Wow. Sorry to hear that. I try to keep my tank between 6.5 and 6.8 and haven't had much trouble. After a waterchange, the pH is usually around 6.8. Nitrate buildup and the peice of driftwood in my tank slowly lower the pH until it's time for another water change.

Why is your pH rising steadily instead of falling, as it should to a certain extent?
Do you have anything in the tank that might be effecting the pH now, like coral sand or limestone? If you don't, you can probably blame the swings on your chemicals.

Most aquarium fish are perfectly able to adapt to different pH levels. Adding chemicals to your tank is more likely to create sudden changes in pH, something fish don't tolerate nearly so well. If you're breeding, or keeping an unusual species, then you might try to add some peat to the filter. That's a much less harsh way to adjust the pH down. But for everyday living, most fish will be happy with any stable pH within normal tapwater parameters.


Good luck.

 

[Tropjunky]

my ph changes more dramaticaly and i need to ues a ph adjuster, i have plants and i have a CO2 system so the PH goes down and My fish don't seem to mind the low PH.

 

[Bol]

maaudiosubs,

Using pH adjusters can lead you to trouble, as you may find that you have to keep "tweaking" the water to keep it relatively stable. If possible, tap water is your best bet (even if your pH is not what's recommended for a certain fish), except maybe if you're specifically trying to breed certain fish.

But, that being said, I would strongly recommned getting a KH test.

KH stands for "carbonate hardness", which is also sometimes called "total alkalinity". KH is a measure of carbonates in your water (in your case, added with the RO Right). These carbonates, in sufficient (that is, good) concentration, will tend to keep your pH at a certain level, which is usually called "buffering" -- for that reason, the carbonates are one type of a thing called "buffers". What level that is depends on the amount of buffers in the water.

I've never used RO Right, but since it's made for use in RO water, it seems reasonable to assume it adds carbonates. Therefore, I would guess that RO Right can only raise your pH. I could be wrong, maybe someone else can help here.

But, do get the KH test. It's an important one, especially since in your case you're basically"making" your own water.


And, Tropjunky, I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but pH changes throughout the day/night are normal while injecting CO2. If you mean you want to use pH adjusters to keep the pH stable all the time while you're injecting CO2, I would strongly advise against it. First, you probably can't keep it stable, no matter how you try (edit: unless you have a pH contoller on your CO2 setup, but then your pH would remain pretty constant), and second, it's unnecessary. A pH fluctuation when injecting CO2 is normal.

 

[maaudiosubs]

ive took 2 cups of water and added the ph stable in one and the r/o rite in the other just to what it would do before i even added it to the tank and it tested 6.0 the same as my straight r/o water. so it dont change the ph. my dad thought it might be the gravel. im not sure i dont have the bag anymore that tells. i got the gravel at petco it was color bright white. i just picked it cuz it looks cool under the light. i scraped the white color of the gravel and some are light yellow and some are kinda lightish red-brown is that helps t tel what it is.

 

[maaudiosubs]

oh ya i do have an air pump but would it raise the ph from 6.6 to 7.0. im thats alot of day/night fluxuation right?

 

[maaudiosubs]

KH test test? is that liek a total desolved solids. i got a tds meter and can test for genarl hardness.