Why Is My Ph So High?

[wooch]

hi guys just a quick question as im confused by my tanks ph levels.

i tested it sometime last week and it was about 8.5 which i relaise is higher than it should be, and i did a large water change with RO water (45-50%) tested it again and it was at about 7.6-7.8 which i thought was better. i tested the RO and it came out at about 7.2. i thought all was well.

However i have just tested my water and it has risen back to about 8.6 i thought this was strange so i tested my tap water just out of interest and it was coming out at about 7.6.

so i am completely confused as to what could be causing such a high rise in ph in my aquarium.

any thoughts or sugestions would be great.

thanks

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Sounds like you have got sand/gravel/coral that is suitable only for a Rift Valley cichlid tank, which is raising the hardness of the water and thereofre the pH.

 

[Ryan12]

What kind of substrate do you have? And do you have any rock decorations?

 

[wooch]

i have a very fine sand substrate, which was reccommended for my corydoras to stop barbel wearing and i only use bogwood, coconuts and clay pots for caves and decorations.

 

[wooch]

anyone? still confused lol

 

[GavinB]

this sounds silly but have you tried removing the clay pots for a few days?

The bogwood that you have in there (providing its real) should release tanins into the water which should help decrease the PH of the water over time.

Other than that the only thing I can think of to reduce PH is to add some Ph Down although in my personal experience its not that effective.

 

[wooch]

yeah they dont get rid of the buffers so it just raises itsself again... i cant think it would be the sand degrading plants maybe? or almond leaves? i recently put some of them in their to help with positive bacteria.

 

[Ryan12]

If you have a filter where you can add additional filtration media, you could add some peat moss (unfertilized) in some nylons and put it in the filter. it would lower the ph a bit.