Insane pH levels

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DAS212

Gambusia
MFK Member
Apr 26, 2012
11
0
16
Chicago
I have a 55 gallon tank with a baby Jardini Arowana in it, I understand that this tank will be to small in a few months and do plan on upgrading. Now to my problem, the water I use comes out of my tap ( I do treat it) at a pH level of around 7.6 however my aquarium sits around 6.0 to 6.4. Immediately after my weekly 25-30% water change the levels will briefly come back up to around 6.8-7.0 then drop back down again. I live with a few other guys as I am in college and two of them have tanks, neither of them have this problem and their pH stays about the same as the tap. I only have a piece of lava rock, regular fish store gravel, a few plastic plants, a plastic pot, blue crayfish, small catfish, a air pump, two filters (one in tank and the other out of tank), a 200W heater and a jardini in there. I can not figure out what the heck is going on! The guys at the local tropical fish store are stumped also. Im afraid my pH will drop below 6.0 and kill my jardini but I am also afraid using chemicals to adjust it will kill the fish with the sudden fluctuation. Does anyone have any idea as to what could be going on here?

- Dave
 
Interesting issue. Firth thing to check for is the Kh of the water coming out of the tap. Post the value here.
 
That is the buffering capacity. If it is high than you are probably safe. Even though your PH's are different the buffer stabilizes it to the resting PH. How quickly does this fluctuation end? If your KH is low then fluctuating PH's would be a problem. You want stability rather than screwing with the PH.
 
Pyramid_Party said:
That is the buffering capacity. If it is high than you are probably safe. Even though your PH's are different the buffer stabilizes it to the resting PH. How quickly does this fluctuation end? If your KH is low then fluctuating PH's would be a problem. You want stability rather than screwing with the PH.
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Yes constant ph is beneficial as long as its within tolerance 6-8. Lava rock and rock can adjust it somewhat, is the tank established?
Soft or hard water?

#1 S. Vettel
 
Yes the tank is established I just did a 30% water change last night the pH before the water change was 6.0 a while after I tested again and the pH came back up around 6.8 - 7.0 (7.8 is the tap).Now today around 20 hours later the pH is back down to 6.0, very confusing.
 
DAS212 said:
Yes the tank is established I just did a 30% water change last night and the pH came back up too 6.8 to 7.0 (7.8 is the tap).Now today around 20 hours later the pH is back down to 6.0, very confusing.
Click to expand...

Dip stick or api mtk?

#1 S. Vettel
 
Wish I had ph that low. I have discus and the ph is like 7.4. I'm trying to get it down but I just cant.
 
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