Why Is Ph In Tank Higher Than Tap Water?

[simonas]

My discus aren't looking too happy today
Not tested water in a while and ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate high at 160!!!!!!!!!
This must be the dozing for my plants
My tap water is 7.0 but my tank water is 7.2
Why is tank water higher?

 

[StandbySetting]

Tap water has CO[sub]2[/sub] dissolved into it, this leads to the creation of carbonic acids which reduce the PH in an attempt to prolong the life of the water pipes, also halogen ions may bond to hydrogen ions creating hydrogen halides which are also acidic.

 

[leviethan]

your tap water when it comes from its source is probably higher than normal, so the water company put buffers in the water which can lower or raise the ph to 7.5 which is what we need. There buffers wear off after a day or so. Pour yourself a glass of water and leave it for 2 or 3 days then test it. Thats what your fishes live in.

 

[fishguy2727]

Most tap water (city or well) is pH adjusted in some way for the short term as it goes to your faucet. This is not a permanent change and can go back to its natural pH within a couple days.

You are dosing something that includes nitrate to an aquarium? Are you sure the test was accurate?

 

[Bignose]

Also, with the cheap tests bought for aquarium purposes, discriminating a difference between 0.2 pH units is an awfully difficult task. The color change could be from some slightly different sized drops from the reagent bottle, or slightly different volume of tank water in the test tube. Our test kits won't be accurate within +-5% and maybe even as high as +-10%. 0.2 over 7.0 is about 0.25%, well within the margins of errors for a typical home aquarium test kit. In other words, there is a pretty decent chance that both waters have the same pH, and it is just errors in testing that show the slight difference. Unless you want to spend a lot of money and buy lab grade accurate equipment, these error margins are just something to live with for the price.