pH shift

[Cjbear087]

So tested my water straight out of the tap and it came out as 7.5. Waited 24 hours and tested again and it came out as roughly 8-8.5 (maybe inbetween). So I have 2 questions: Will I be okay to just age my tap water 24 hours before a water change and then do the change as normal? And will this pH (assuming 8.5) be okay for discus (stendker)? Of course I will keep it stable but wondering if this pH is okay regardless.

[jwcarlson]

Mine is 8.3. If you age, it will be fine. I would see if you can get a better reading. 8 to 8.5 is a massive difference.

[Cjbear087]

It was defo closer to 8 than 8.5. Also is aging for 24 hours enough? Because surely the pH could continue to increase?

[Cjbear087]

Alright so just bought an electronic ph meter, what I’m gonna do is age for 24 hours, test liquid and see what it is, then use meter for very accurate reading. Then I’ll age another 24 hours and do liquid and electric tests. If it’s the same as the day before, it will mean aging for 24 hours is all I need to do. Sound good?

[jwcarlson]

Unless you spent a decent amount of money and have a meter you you calibrate with known solutions, your electric meter is likely completely useless.
24 hours of aging is enough.

[Cjbear087]

Is 24 hours enough because if its any longer than that the discus will be able to adjust?

[jwcarlson]

I have never checked to see how long mybwater takes to settle into its final pH, buy I suspect it is less than 24 hours. It's just a convenient number. If you change water at 23 hours instead, it isn't like the tank is going to start smoking and explode.

There's only a certain amount the water will shift as its chemistry "resolves" itself. In other words if you age it 72 hours its not like it's better or that it continues to settle.

[Cjbear087]

So just retested my tap again. Straight out of the tap I got a ph of 7.5 and after 24 hours I did a liquid test which looked around 8.4-8.5. I then did the same test but with my pH meter and it came out with 8.7. I’m not really sure which one to believe, but if I acclimate them well enough they should be fine even if the water does have a ph of 8.7 right?

[Charlyc11]

I went through 5 meters until I found one that was accurate and kept the calibration. The pen like meters are not very accurate and have to calibrate constantly. Do you check your meter from a known standard that have not been used to see if your meter can hold cal? How often you calibrate? I am using now a Milwaukee MW302 Pro and it holds the calibrating very well. The plus it's a manual calibration.

[Cjbear087]

Just manually recalibrated my meter with the buffers and retested my water and came out as 8.4 as I suspected. So I should be fine right?

[jwcarlson]

If you have known calibration liquids and it's a 'good' meter, you can probably trust it. I, like Chuck, have a Milwaukee meter. I do not remember what model number mine is, but it seems good.
If you have a meter you trust and it's close to what you're seeing in the liquid tests you can probably be pretty confident that it's at least in that range.

[Cjbear087]

Yep, as I said I thought the liquid looked between 8 and 8.5 (closer to 8.5) and the meter showed 8.4 pretty much confirming my suspicions. So with a pH of 8.4 or maybe 8.5 as the highest, I should be good right? Obvs I will acclimate with a drip but apart from that bueno?

[jwcarlson]

I think so. But again to stress... clean clean clean water.

[Cjbear087]

Yep lol, daily wcs.

[Cjbear087]

Just checked my aged tap after 48 hours this time and it seems to now be 8.75 ish. Would it worth using something like Seachem Discus Buffer for when I get my new tank?