Confused about ph

[vikki]

I would love some help with this ph question...

Tap water ph - ranges between 6.6-7.2
Aged water ph - 7.6
Aquarium ph - around 7

I have been ageing my aquarium water for my discus tank as I thought this was best to keep water paramaters stable. However, I am questioning whether I should still age my aquarium water or just use water straight from the tap and not worry about ageing it (I always use prime). The reason for this is that my aged water ph is 7.6 but my aquarium ph is about 6.8/7. So am I creating more stress for the fish by adding water to the aquarium with a higher ph when I could just add water straight from my tap which seems to have a closer ph to my aquarium??

I have tested my tap water ph in the morning, lunch time and evening and found that the ph in the morning and lunch time was 6.6 and evening ph is 7.2.? Does anyone else experience fluctuating ph with their tap water and why does this happen?

The kh of my aquarium water is about 2 which I'm assuming could be the cause of my aged water dropping in the aquarium.

So should I either:

A) keep ageing water to ph of 7.6 but perhaps do more regular and larger volume of water change which may help keep ph more stable? (I am currently changing about 30% of water every three days - which some people tell me is too much and others tell me is not enough)

OR

B) start using water straight from the tap and don't worry about ageing it as my current aquarium water ph is closer to my tap water ph then aged water ph?

I am not interested in using any buffers as I am not confident with them and think it would only make the problem worse!

Would love to hear thoughts!

[Len]

So is is taking three days for the ph to drop from 7.6 to 7 in the aquarium? If so don't worry about it. People get to hung up on targeting a number for ph and when it sways one way or the other alarm bells start going off. It isn't a big deal (within reason). In this case it looks like you are talking about a .6 change in three days. If it were me, I wouldn't be aging my water with those parameters. I would make sure to use a dechlor if neeed and go straight from tap. In fact that's what I do and my fish are perfectly fine and even spawn so I'd say they're pretty happy. Hope that helps some.

[Len]

also in terms of how much water you are changing and how often it depends on how many fish, how heavy you feed and what your parameters are telling you. Test for ammonia, Nitrite (to make sure your filter is cycled). Test for Nitrate to give you an indication of how effective your water change regime is. You can adjust it up or down accordingly.

[Cichlidcraze]

Agree with LenS. I would use straight tap with prime. Just want to add something - although your ph drop is not drastic, it could possibly indicate high nitrate level. High nitrate + low kh, could be the cause of a falling ph and if left unchecked, a ph crash.

[vikki]

Ok great!! Thanks so much for the help!! Yes I have noticed my nitrates going up!! My nitrates were 5ppm when I first got the discus about a month ago. Since then I have taken the purigen out of my filter as I wormed them and I haven't put it back in so thought maybe the nitrates had gone up because the purigen was taken out. My nitrates are now at 20ppm, planning on putting the purigen back today and doing a water change.

One more question...my tap water ph seems to fluctuate through out the day, 6.6 morning and lunch time and about 7.2 late afternoon. Would it be best to change the water in the evening when the ph is at 7.2 or does this not matter?

Thanks so much :)

[Len]

Unless there is nitrate in your tapwater, your nitrates are telling you to do more water changes. Time of day is up to you and when it's convenient. A suggestion as a starting point is 50% daily.

[vikki]

Ok great thanks for the help!