So when I used to live with my grandfather, water changes were simple (aside from carrying buckets up 3 flights of stairs lol) his faucet water's pH reading was always a steady 7.0. I moved out two years ago and my faucet water is like 8.0 (we live in the same city, a small 3 mile town). So I wonder what causes fluctuations in pH from house to house? My dad however lives in a new apartment building, his pH was always perfect, recently has been reading about 7.6, went back to my grandfathers (very old house but modernized) his is still 7.0. Could it be weather affecting build up in the pipelines? If so why does it affect some and not all? I now use alkaline buffer with my water changes to keep it stable for my SA/CA cichlids. Any suggestions? (And I've tested water, let it sit in a cup 24 hours retest & stayed the same 8.0)
What makes pH different from one house to another in the same town?
- Thread starter cichlidcave
- Start date
Could be a number of factors, the type of pipes around a house, minerals the city is putting in the water, where the water came from (lake, pond, river, etc) so there could be a number of factors
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Yes indeed, I feel like in this instance it's the pipelines because I live 2 mi. Away from my grandfathers house and we live in the same town same water source & water company. It sucks formally having perfect water to now having to add chemicals to stabilize it lol
Depending on where you live there could be multiple water sources in the same municipality/public works.
I lived in a smaller town with 2 or 3 municipal wells. Super hard water, off the charts. Chlorinated to the max, it smelled like a swimming pool. It was also full of iron and undrinkable, like even at 3am after bar close I couldn't stomach it. We had 20-30 ppm nitrates out of the faucet. frequent water quality notices and warnings from the city. Told us to run the tap for at least minute before you use it to drink or cook with it. I suspected their ancient plumbing was deteriorating and breached by tree roots, they were always ripping up the road and replacing pipe. I had to cut my tap water 50/50 with RO water which I bought at Walmart in 5 gal jugs for like $.20 a gal. Super inconvenient to haul.
Then I moved 5 miles away. It's Awesome water. No issues. Fish started breeding prolifically. Still hard and alkaline but not toxic waste like my old house just 5 miles away.
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I lived in a smaller town with 2 or 3 municipal wells. Super hard water, off the charts. Chlorinated to the max, it smelled like a swimming pool. It was also full of iron and undrinkable, like even at 3am after bar close I couldn't stomach it. We had 20-30 ppm nitrates out of the faucet. frequent water quality notices and warnings from the city. Told us to run the tap for at least minute before you use it to drink or cook with it. I suspected their ancient plumbing was deteriorating and breached by tree roots, they were always ripping up the road and replacing pipe. I had to cut my tap water 50/50 with RO water which I bought at Walmart in 5 gal jugs for like $.20 a gal. Super inconvenient to haul.
Then I moved 5 miles away. It's Awesome water. No issues. Fish started breeding prolifically. Still hard and alkaline but not toxic waste like my old house just 5 miles away.
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Wow, that's something else! But yea, I test for everything from the faucet for other things also besides the fish, say you make iced tea with the powder, or water for the dogs to drink, brush your teeth, etc never know what these companies have going on and what chemicals, and/if/or GMO's they add. My previous apartment had faucet water that smelt just like a pool the amount of chlorine was insane and that apartment was literally across the street and a block away. Mind boggling lol
I wonder if flouride is bad for fish.
I mean I don't wanna get out my tinfoil hat here, but flouride is some pretty rude stuff.
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I mean I don't wanna get out my tinfoil hat here, but flouride is some pretty rude stuff.
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You know, I have def thought ab that before but I figured it must be either removed or diluted with water conditioner, or small traces have no harm some of my fish are 3,4,5 years old
Only 2 miles away? Hard for Jordy to believe the difference n ph? Just get Buckets of water from your Grandfathers house...
About every six months my water company flushes their lines by adding an additive that drops the PH big time. Not a good day for a water change.
Ph could be different in 2 tanks sitting next to each other. The build up of fish waste in the filtration is always driving ph down. Also if you have a deep gravel bed the build up of waste in the gravel bed drives ph down. So depending on the age or the level of waste in the filtration can effect ph greatly.