Water Conditioner affecting PH!

[ThinIce]

Hi all

Did a ph test on the water yesterday. Was quite surprised to find this at 8.0.

A quick test of the tap water revealed that it was ph 7.0 (neutral).

I had some conditioned water left over from a small water change, so I thought i'd give that a test, this was also PH 8.0

I can thus only assume that it isn't something in the tank doing this, but the water conditioner

Does anyone have any experience with this product? Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks in advance

 

[Toadfish]

pH can be affected by many things, however I've never had water conditioner do it. The pH in the bucket I can't explain but the pH in the tank could be affected if you have things like crushed coral or even some rocks will alter the pH. I've never used nutrifin, but the basics of water conditioner is the same, so what tetra uses is similar to nutrifin, and I've never had tetra raise the pH, not so dramatically. Just out of curiousity, how old is the test kit, an older one may be giving you false readings!?.

 

[ThinIce]

The funny thing about this is that i've got no crushed coral or anything of the like in the tanlk. There is merely sand, mopani wood, a small piece of slate and plants.

The test kit is a couple of months old and i'm disinclined to think there is anything the matter with it, primarily because tap water tests at 7.0 on the standard ph, and at the lowest end of the scale on the high range PH indicator test. That said, I don't know much about how the chemicals age over time...

Perhaps the water conditioner is from a contaminated batch? I'm tempted to repeat the test just to be sure with another bucket of tap water, and then take it back to the shop. It says nothing useful on the bottle about the content apart from "US Patented Formula with Pure Herbal Extract" - is it possible that the action of the conditioner is producing a false PH reading? I know nothing about how itworks.

One other thing I notice, the syphon sitting in the bucket of water is now slimey to the touch...

 

[Toadfish]

Hey your test kit is probably fine, but because of the slime I'd want to know how old the water conditioner is and if it is giving off a funny smell (liek rotten eggs), it could be that the water conditioner has gone bad.

 

[Toadfish]

Hey your test kit is probably fine, but because of the slime I'd want to know how old the water conditioner is and if it is giving off a funny smell (liek rotten eggs), it could be that the water conditioner has gone bad.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I've found some water conditioners will make the water feel "slimy", especially the ones that help promote the slime coat. Have you checked the KH of your water? KH is the buffering capacity of the water. If it is low, then the pH will change after the water has been left out for a while. If this is teh case, just don't do a large water change, and you will be fine.

 

[IMCL85]

ur gravel and stuff inside ur filter might effect the ph as well. I also have this problem long ago my water is high ph like 8 from tap and my other tank have ph of 9 and after I found out that it was my gravel that makes my water hard. so check, I also use ur brand's conditioner so far I dont see much change in my ph lvl of all my tank. So I doubt it was the conditioner.

 

[ThinIce]

Thanks for the replies. I'm reasonably confident that the slimyness is due to the product, and is intended - taken from the Hagen website

AquaPlus does exactly the same job on coating the fish with an artificial slime coat as Stress Coat. This is not the same substance as what Stress Coat seems to suggest with its "patented" aloe vera, this is not what does the coating. Aloe Vera is simply there (as far as we can tell) since it is a popular human additive with some soothing health possibilities, but we have not seen any real benefits from this compound for fish.

AquaPlus has been carefully formulated to do exactly what it claims, it is a water conditioner better than others because it does the rest of the jobs as well. It neutralizes toxic metal ions that otherwise can enter the tissues of fish and cause problems. Some other conditioners do that as well, but none actually took the extra step and formulated a homeopathic additive that actually (and visibly) drops the stress level of fish without drugs. Much like a relaxant tea, P.H.E. calms fish and relieves stress during the water change process, making it less trying on fish and allowing them to sail through the changes occurring easily.

Hope this gives you a bit of an idea of what the differences are, you don't need two products - a chlorine remover and a water conditioner, AquaPlus does those jobs superbly.

Regarding the PH change - this is tap water in a bucket! The ph is changing before it gets close to my tank

The water conditioner is two months old, and has no specific instructions regarding how it should be stored on the bottle, it doesnt have an unpleasant smell.

Unfortunately I don't have a KH test kit at the present time. I'll have to read up on what affects KH

I've emailed Hagen to see if they can make any useful comment,

 

[black angel]

I use the same conditioner as you do and never had a ph change from using it. Ive had this particular bottle which is nearly empty for around 6 months and its still good.
I dont see how the ph could change so fast either. Hope you find out though

 

[yvez9]

water fresh out of the tap and water that was left sitting there will have a different pH

the reason for this is tap watre contains many gasses, chemicals and metals that will evaporate if left sitting, and others will settle in.

it is normal IMO depending on what your municipality puts in the water.