what could be causing a high ph

[jmf3460]

I currently have 4 tanks set up in my house. three out of four maintain a ph of about 7.0-7.2 on a regular basis. I am fortunate enough to have very good well water than settles to almost exactly 7.0 after aging for a couple hours or so. all my tanks are planted with gravel substrate and pieces of driftwood. the tank I am questioning is a new tank that I have just finished cycling with guppies. the tank is a 75 gallon tank with a very thin sand substrate and lots of pieces of manzanita driftwood. it also houses some cool pieces of zebra stone, one medium sized piece of slate and one cool piece of what petco calls sandstone. this tank seems to run high on the ph side with a ph of around 7.6-7.8. I am wondering why the ph in this particular tank is so high compared to all my other tanks. it will house 7 discus, that I already have in another tank but that have outgrown the 50 gal and need to move to the new 75 gal. I am worried about switching them with the new tank keeping a ph so high. could it be the zebra stones, the sand stone or the sand substrate?? I know its not the wood, that is suppose to lower ph right??

[lipadj46]

So one of those stones have carbonates in it. Drip some acid on the stones and see if they fizz. If you have an API master kit one of the bottles is a strong acid. Google to find out or look at the msds for them. Don't quote me but I think it may be the nitrate bottle one but can't be sure.

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[blueluv]

More than likely it's the stone slabs that you have in their. Mainly the sand stone

[blueluv]

So one of those stones have carbonates in it. Drip some acid on the stones and see if they fizz. If you have an API master kit one of the bottles is a strong acid. Google to find out or look at the msds for them. Don't quote me but I think it may be the nitrate bottle one but can't be sure.

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It's the sand stone, which is high in minerals

[lipadj46]

Could be the sandstone. I don't exactly recall from Geo in college but some sandstones have carbonates as the cement but not all. The definite test is the acid "fizz" test. And I confirmed the nitrate bottle #1 test is an acid and can be used to check for carbonates. Vinager does not work well but can work in some cases.

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[blueluv]

Well he signed off, so hopefully he'll perform the nitrate test as you suggested. I'm curious as to which stone is the cause of high ph, still leaning towards sand stone.

[lipadj46]

Probably is yes

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[jmf3460]

So most everyone is in agreeance that the sandstone is the culprit. I did the vinegar test on it before putting it in there and no bubbles, guess it fooled me. Dang that sucks because it is a pretty piece of stone too. Maybe I can convince Petco to taking it back. I will do the test again tonight when I get off work with the nitrate tester solution and let everyone know. I assume I will have to do a large water change after taking it out. Yay!

P.S: Blueluv/Chris...I am a woman.

[blueluv]

So most everyone is in agreeance that the sandstone is the culprit. I did the vinegar test on it before putting it in there and no bubbles, guess it fooled me. Dang that sucks because it is a pretty piece of stone too. Maybe I can convince Petco to taking it back. I will do the test again tonight when I get off work with the nitrate tester solution and let everyone know. I assume I will have to do a large water change after taking it out. Yay!

P.S: Blueluv/Chris...I am a woman.

Oops :o

[jmf3460]

haha no worries. I kinda wish I would have picked a better username, I just went with my email. regretting it now. also, do you know how long before my username picture starts showing up on threads and stuff.

[nikond70s]

im pretty certain its the sand substrate and not the stone. especially if the sand is still kinda new.

[blueluv]

haha no worries. I kinda wish I would have picked a better username, I just went with my email. regretting it now. also, do you know how long before my username picture starts showing up on threads and stuff.
Should already be showing. You can ask for help with that in the forum site feed back.


im pretty certain its the sand substrate and not the stone. especially if the sand is still kinda new. could also be the slate.

[Baygon]

So one of those stones have carbonates in it. Drip some acid on the stones and see if they fizz. If you have an API master kit one of the bottles is a strong acid. Google to find out or look at the msds for them. Don't quote me but I think it may be the nitrate bottle one but can't be sure.

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

Check the bottle that has a "hand" and a "skull" lol

[jmf3460]

wow. so the nitrate #1 bottle did wayyyy better than the vinegar test. oddly enough it wasn't the sand stone that was causing the ph to rise it was the darn "zebra stones" i tested them and every single one (5 in the tank) buzzed up like new years bubbly. they are being removed as we speak. i did gather some stones from a river in the mountains and they don't bubble at all, after boiling them tomorrow i should be safe to put those in right??? the look like pieces of slate, or just river rocks i presume.

PS - everyone beware, i got the so called zebra stones from Petco, the look cool as all get out but are chopped full of carbonates.

[lipadj46]

Glad it worked for you. Boil the rocks just don't bake them.

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[blueluv]

I'm glad you found the cause.

[jmf3460]

THANKS!!! for everyone's help. also, its good to know if i ever run into a situation where i need to raise ph, i can just add zebra stones from Petco. they do look cool. hopefully they will take them back and give me store credit so i can get some dog food. or more fish related things that i probably don't need but will buy anyway. :)

[Baygon]

Glad it worked for you. Boil the rocks just don't bake them.

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what will happen if you bake them? just wondering lol

[lipadj46]

Some rocks explode

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