PH problem....solution?

[keepinfish]

No problems with 8.2-8.4 ph and have had my rays breed lots of times. Even had a flower breed but she died before giving birth by the hand of another pregnant female. I tried the mixing tap and r/o and it is the best way to go when trying to lower the ph but the big problem with doing that is if you have to do an emergency waterchange will you have a big enough r/o unit to accomidate this? Best bet is to leave it at tap.

i think, you have bred more than most, i would take his advise Fishman646.

 

[flamenco-t]

How is your aged water have higher PH than out of the tap ? I thought it's the other way around..

 

[T1KARMANN]

its all about slow changes in ph rays can live in ph 8 its not ideal but can be done

just up it slow

 

[turkeyboy85]

i think you have a bigger problem if your ph is at 6.2 out of tap and then goes to 8..... if you can stay at 8 consistanly then it wont be a big deal but that worries me that your tap is that much different out of the tap. I would be careful doing large water changes then....

 

[DavidW]

Do you have a kit to measure hardness or a meter to measure conductivity?
Ph follows those functions.
As your pH rises after the water is out of the tap something is probably gassing off. A good suspect would be CO2.

 

[jcardona1]

Do you have a kit to measure hardness or a meter to measure conductivity?
Ph follows those functions.
As your pH rises after the water is out of the tap something is probably gassing off. A good suspect would be CO2.

bingo.

Ph swings after aging your water incdicate a change in co2. All you're doing is allowing the water to reach equilibrium with the atmosphere. If your water source is high in co2, it will have a low ph, and aging it will cause co2 to go out of the water, causing your ph to rise.

If your water is low in co2, the ph will be higher, and aging will cause co2 to go in the water, causing the ph to drop.

But the important thing to remeber, and what you should check, is the hardness. I'm confident the kh/gh levels between your water source and your tank will be very similar, if not identical. Co2-induced ph swings have NO negative affect on fish. CO2 is not a buffer, nor a salt. Its a gas, that results in an 'artificial' ph swing.

Ever wonder how planted tank guys inject loads of co2 in a tank, causing the ph to swing by 2 or more points in a short amount of time and no fish dead, ever? Why? Because while the ph changes, the hardness remains the same. The salts and minerals in the water (hardness) is what affects osmoregulation in fish, not co2.

Moral of the story? Death and stress caused by ph swings is a MYTH. Pay attention to what really matters, your hardness.

 

[dookie]

Is this well water? I think most people have problems fighting low pH as a tank matures. Just do smaller water changes and you should be fine. Rays seems to be able to adjust to a wide range of pH's over time.

 

[Just Toby]

Excellent post by jcardona!

+1 from me.

I wouldn't mess with the ph. And double check your kits, I had 8.2 on liquid tests but using a proper digital test against a known calibration it was 7.4.

If you really need to change then do as davidw suggests and cut with ro but I would keep it simple.

 

[DavidW]

Co2-induced ph swings have NO negative affect on fish. CO2 is not a buffer, nor a salt. Its a gas, that results in an 'artificial' ph swing.
Moral of the story? Death and stress caused by ph swings is a MYTH. Pay attention to what really matters, your hardness.

well, I wouldn't quite go that far to call it myth but as long as the change is gradual usually it is not a problem, sudden changes can be catastrophic and acidity can affect your biofiltration efficiency ( lower pH less efficient bacteria 5.5pH is biostasis for most bacteria)
remember that the pH scale is logarithimic. 6 is 10X more acidic than 7. 8 is 10X more alkaline

 

[Just Toby]

well, I wouldn't quite go that far to call it myth but as long as the change is gradual usually it is not a problem, sudden changes can be catastrophic and acidity can affect your biofiltration efficiency ( lower pH less efficient bacteria 5.5pH is biostasis for most bacteria)
remember that the pH scale is logarithimic. 6 is 10X more acidic than 7. 8 is 10X more alkaline

...as well as logarithmic it also has a large affect on the toxicity of ammonia, the higher the ph the more danger your fish are in.