Central America black water

[Tripping Willow 91]

When you tested your tap water PH, was it sitting in a cup for 24 hours before testing it? Also, your water authority could be collecting water from other sources, hence the change in your tap water PH. More rain in the water reservoir could mean less water from some other source.

PH is not a reading of how soft the water is. It's a measurement of acidity/alkalinity.

GH is a reading use to determine how soft the water is.

No I didn't leave the tap water 24hrs, I don't believe it would of changed the result, if it were to it would only reduce my tap pH making it lower than the tank which wouldn't make much sense considering the amount of wood and botanicals in there.

I understand pH is not a measure of hardness but it's the pH not the GH that may reduce when introducing tannins.

I have a GH of 20 and a KH of 10 so my water is considered very hard with a high buffering capacity, these are the numbers that lead me to believe that botanicals will have little to no effect on my pH

 

[Tripping Willow 91]

Different materials will produce different shades in your tank, darker or lighter, from yellowish to brown to murky brown to blackish. This tells you something about what they're releasing because fulvic acids are more yellow, humic acids more brown.

That's some good info that I didn't know, thanks

 

[Tripping Willow 91]

Also, your water authority could be collecting water from other sources, hence the change in your tap water PH. More rain in the water reservoir could mean less water from some other source.

I was thinking the same. Either that or my API pH test is no longer accurate, the nitrate and nitrite tests stopped working that's why I purchased the NT. Whatever it is I'm happy if my pH stays closer to 7.5 rather than 8