Tap Water At 8.4ph?

[piranha_tim]

Hi Everyone,

As most of you know ... I had a PH problem in my tank.
But to my discovery the information gathered from debugging my (supposed) first problem tank I learned a lot.

One of the things I learned was assuming all my tanks PH was 7.6-7.7 that my tap water must be the same.

well that was wrong my tap water is in the 8.4s which is starting to make a lot of sense to the original PH problem.

Problem:
The water I use for water changes PH is drastically different to the water in the tank.
Tap = 8.4PH Tank = 7.7PH

But while I was independently testing the rocks to see if they where the cause of the High PH

and thinking the rocks aren't raising the bucket water as they measured 7.7PH ... they where actually bringing the PH down.

So I thought about this idea.

Possible Solution:
I fill my buckets the day before and put 3 rocks in each bucket.

This ... if works means I am returning the same PH water to the tank.

Anyways I maybe wrong but I am going to have fun trying it out.

Thought I would let people know if they want to discuss and if it works allow some other members to experiment (I realise this method isn't probably for most people but you never know)

 

[gaz gun man]

good luck with that.

Alot of people (myself included) take a good tap PH for granted

 

[piranha_tim]

Its crazy though I live in a big city ... Thought this would be controlled but I guess not.

 

[backtotropical]

Tim,

You may be being over-cautious here. Have you tested the kH of the tank water? If you have a reasonably high kH, the pH is unlikely to fluctuate anyway.

Also, i've never heard of rocks that lower pH. Are you sure? The drop in pH from the tap to the tank could be explained by something as simple as the chlorine gassing off after it comes out the tap.

I'd recommend you should test some water straight from the tap, then leave it to sit for say 12 hours, then test again. This may answer your problems.

Cheers

BTT