PH in tap water

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fish 4 life

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jan 12, 2011
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Hey i just had a question about the ph levels in tap water. My tap water currently has 8.8 ph, and 1.00 ammonia (caused by chlorine). Is it okay to have 8.8 ph or is there i way to bring it down? I think it is reading such high ph because of the iron, and minerals in the water. What do you guys do about this? Also how much prime do i add to 5 gallons?? I fill up 5 gallon buckets of tap water and then put prime in each..

Thanks!!
 
Speaking just for myself I have had no problems with high PH. Everything I have observed is you don't want to use products like "PH Down" or "PH Up" except in specific cases which most people won't encounter. Even if your water is out of a specific fishes prefered PH zone you are much better off just acclimating them to YOUR WATER, and not try to change your water to match their preference. Doing so would lead to a lot of fluctuations in your tank.

PH instability = bad

High or low PH but Stable = OK.

Again, just my experience..
 
9 times out of 10 PH isn't going to matter to your fish. It's much better to let your fish get used to the ph from your tap than trying to change it.
 
Okay cool thanks guys!!! I will just let him get use to my water.. But how much prime do i use for each 5 gallon bucket?
 
fish 4 life said:
Okay cool thanks guys!!! I will just let him get use to my water.. But how much prime do i use for each 5 gallon bucket?
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You can just dose for the whole tank volume. Pour it right into the tank and you can put your 5 gallon buckets directly into the tank afterwards?

Or... 2 drops is a gallon. Or...a thread on the bottle cap is 10 gallons. Much easier to dose for whole tank imo. Lol
 
I don't worry about the ph out the tap, unless it comes out too low for whatever reason. But like another post said, as long as its stable and not fluctuating, best not to play around with it
 
It's always best to choose the type of fish you keep, to go along with the pH of your tap. Fish from any of the African rift lakes, or Central America will do well in your tap water.
Trying to keep fish such as cardinal tetras, discus or other soft water fish might be problematic, unless you are a chemist (or you can regularely mix your tap water with filtered rain water).
The ammonia you detect is probably because your water provider uses chloramine, and not chlorine as a disinfectant.
It provides a longer disinfection residual, and non of the carcinogenic disinfection byproducts of chlorine.
Prime will work perfectly to neutralize it.
 
8.8 is extremely high. Are you testing it straight out of the tap, or after it has had a chance to age? If straight out of the tap (which I suspect) it will come down after a few hours usually. The ammonia is not caused by the chlorine, but most likely when the chloramine is broken and releases ammonia.
 
rodger said:
8.8 is extremely high. Are you testing it straight out of the tap, or after it has had a chance to age? If straight out of the tap (which I suspect) it will come down after a few hours usually. The ammonia is not caused by the chlorine, but most likely when the chloramine is broken and releases ammonia.
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Yeah that test was taken right out of the sink. If i by accident add to much prime to the bucket is this bad??
 
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