Aging water ph is higher then my fish tank ph.

[Vieira]

If one you guys can direct me to the forum for this problem I would appreciate it. I really dont want to increase the ph in my tank so i don't know if i can decrease the ph in my storage barrel. Im doing water changes daily 75% everything seems normal the fish don't seem to be stressed as the still eat and bully during or right after water changes. Im sorry to start a new thread I just cant find anything right now and I'm sure there is something about it in here some where. I would take any advise from you guys. My ph come out of the tap 7.6 then and i believe my tank water is 6.8. In the past when I had discus i was only using RODI water i got tired of that. But know someone gave me some discus and they are doing great in my tap water so Im in the middle of purchasing a larger tank it is being ordered i should receive it next week its a 65 gal acrylic tank im hoping to house 5 adults nothing else ok maybe a pair of rams. i have 3 3 inch in a 20 gal bar bottom thank. I would rather not buy a RO system now but if thats the best way I will have to purchase one. My ph does not change when it is aged. Thank you for your time I really appreciated.

[troysdiiscus]

If your not breeding then it wont matter. Aslong as you keep your ph constant that is what matters. So if your ph holds at 7.4 or 7.6 you should be fine. Just check the water that they are coming from and acclimate them, should be fine. So if there ph is 6.6 then slowly bring them to your ph, drip method works good, assures slow acclimation. Lets see what others say........

[Chad Hughes]

My ph come out of the tap 7.6 then and i believe my tank water is 6.8.

Are you doing something to lower the tank pH? If not, test the KH of your tap water. Sounds like your pH is falling in the tank wich may indicate low KH and possible pH swings.

[Vieira]

thank for the reply. Im not doing anything to lower my ph in my tank. I believe my kh is 1. I know its about stable ph and not targeting a certain ph.

[mmorris]

You can raise your kh with baking soda. A kh of 5 or 6 is good.

[lipadj46]

Your Bio filter is going to naturally bring your Ph down especially with low kh tap water. Mine does the same thing. It does not seem to bother them though as long as I age the micro bubbles out of my water

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[Vieira]

You can raise your kh with baking soda. A kh of 5 or 6 is good.

Thanks Martha you've always helped me in the past.

[Vieira]

Your Bio filter is going to naturally bring your Ph down especially with low kh tap water. Mine does the same thing. It does not seem to bother them though as long as I age the micro bubbles out of my water

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

I just worried about long term affects but of right now it does not seemed to bother them at all. They are growing with feeding 5 times a day and daily water changes in a bare bottom tank. I will be moving them in a 30 before they go in my 65 until the get a few inches bigger.

[SMB2]

Is your aged tap water PH 7.6? If you let the tap water age 12-24 hrs. what is the PH?
May be closer to the tank than you think.

[Vieira]

Im confused I do let it age for 24 hours and thats what i get 7.6. Isn't that what age water is?



Is your aged tap water PH 7.6? If you let the tap water age 12-24 hrs. what is the PH?
May be closer to the tank than you think.

[Chad Hughes]

Richard,

You're fine. The aging is gassing off CO2 and causes pH to rise. Since the KH of your tap is only 1, the water has little buffering capacity. Once you put the water in the tank and it's exposed to the biological processes in the tank, the pH slowly settles lower. As Martha mentioned, you could add a small bit of abking soda to your aged water to increase the KH to 4 or 5. The pH should remain the same after that.

[Vieira]

Ok thank you very much. My fish seem find and I don't want make things more complicated so I'm not going to ad the baking soda. Thanks for all your help.

[Elliots]

You said your change water is pH 7.6 and you THINK your tank pH is 6.8? Check both. I do not know is that pH difference is enough to injure your fish but if that is the correct pH of both add the change water very slowly so the pH in your tank does not rise quickly. You might also consider smaller amounts of water change if the pH difference will injure your fish.

[Vieira]

Yes aged water is 7.6 tank water is 6.8. I do want to see these fish get to their full potential so I would like to keep up with the 75% water change daily I want to even increase to 90%. Might have to take Martha suggestion. How much backing soda do I add?

[Chad Hughes]

Richard,

How big is your aging barrel? It doesn't take buch to raise the KH.


Yes aged water is 7.6 tank water is 6.8. I do want to see these fish get to their full potential so I would like to keep up with the 75% water change daily I want to even increase to 90%. Might have to take Martha suggestion. How much backing soda do I add?

[rcomeau]

Do you aerate the water while it is aging?

My tap water, before aging, is PH=6.5. Aging for 1 or 2 days does little to raise the PH. When I aerate and heat the water to 84 deg F for 3 hours the PH raises to 7. It is interesting to keep the test tubes from the start of those 3 hours, 2 hours before done, 1 hour before done, and when it is done aerating for all 3 hours. Comparing the PH colors between the test tubes shows that the PH change happened during those 3 hours rather than the many hours without aerating before then.

It would help to know exactly what your PH is before aging, PH just before the water goes into the tank, and PH of the tank water before adding new water.

[SMB2]

Still seems funny that with a daily 75% WC that the PH in the tank would drop that much, 7.6 -->6.8 (from low buffering capacity) in 24 hours.

[Vieira]

Still seems funny that with a daily 75% WC that the PH in the tank would drop that much, 7.6 -->6.8 (from low buffering capacity) in 24 hours.

I will retest and get back to thank you.

[cjr8420]

Richard,

You're fine. The aging is gassing off CO2 and causes pH to rise. Since the KH of your tap is only 1, the water has little buffering capacity. Once you put the water in the tank and it's exposed to the biological processes in the tank, the pH slowly settles lower. As Martha mentioned, you could add a small bit of abking soda to your aged water to increase the KH to 4 or 5. The pH should remain the same after that.
this sounds 100% correct for ur problem if not baking soda u can try a bag of crushed coral in a filter or add a couple calcium based rocks in the tank u want to make the tank water stable cause if u miss a few WCs then it could drop even further then on the next WC u will have an even bigger swing that might cause damage hth

[art_nyc]

Hi all,

First post on the forum and also looking for help on this topic. I have the same issue with my tap - pH is 7.6 with very low KH whether or not water is aged/aerated. My tank pH is consistently 6.8 before 50% water changes every other day. Discus seem to be doing well but wondering if this 0.4 pH swing ((7.6 - 6.8) x 50%) during every water change is too stressful. I don't have enough space in my tiny apt. to store/treat water and hesitant to add anything (e.g. baking soda) directly to the tank. I know adding crushed coral to the filter will stabilize pH but wouldn't it also raise the overall pH and GH levels? If so, would the benefit of that stability outweigh the overall higher pH and hardness levels?

Thanks,
Art