Aging barrel is .3 higher in Ph than tap

[Jenene]

Can anyone help with this? I have fish coming tomorrow in a fully cycled tank. My ph was fine at a very steady 8.0 at the tap the aging barrel and the tank. Testing my tank the ph was in the purple reading at about 8.2 or 8.3. The tap tests at 8.0 and one I did a water change without aging the ph is holding at 8.0 in the tank as well. The only thing that is different is I switched the air stones. (took one from the tank and switched with the barrel. There is also a slippery substance in the aging barrel. I can't imagine the air stone would do this. I can drop it in a container, soak it and test but don't think that is it. Could it be the growth in the barrel? Should I be scrubbing that out as well as cleaning the tank?

The tank is a 75 gallon with a 20 gallon sump/ refugium
KH is 4
temp is 84 in both the barrel and the aquarium
used ammonia to cycle the tank and it is returning ammonia and nitrites to zero after less than 24 hours after adding 2 ppm ammonia
Nitrates are at 20 ppm
The aging barrel is a 32 gallon Brute using Prime and heater

I would appreciate any ideas on this.

Thanks so much.

[Phillydubs]

Jenene,

Are you adding the prime to the barrell at the time you add water, or right before you add the water to the tank...?

Based on your slime observation I am going to bet that you are filling the drum, adding prime, then letting it sit for a period of time? If this is the case, it is the prime causing your slime. If you wipe the side with a paper towel, is it a pink film almost?

Once I moved to my new water aging set up, I now only add prime a few minutes before I am going to add my water, you will never see slime again doing it this way...

I would not worry about the .3 too much, I don't believe it is that big a swing to cause an issue...

How did you cycle the tank, are their fish in the tank now? Just trying to see where your readings may be off... I doubt the stone had anything to do with it, unless it was covered in algae or something weird at the time?

[discuspaul]

As Phil has pointed out, the overall differential in pH is minimal and nothing to be concerned about.

Nitrates though, @ 20 ppm are relatively high for discus - suggest you do larger wcs more often to bring this down to under 10 ppm.

[jmf3460]

out of tap is full of co2, diffusing it off is causing the rise in PH. many of us age our water (myself mainly) for that very reason. My well water is rich in co2 out of the tap but it bubbles out in my aging barrel. .3 wouldn't do much harm for partial water changes like 30% - 50% but I wouldn't do a 100% water change or even a 75% water change with that swing. like phil said add prime to your tank right after water changes or to your barrel directly before, don't age with prime or you get slime. and I rhymed!

[DJW]

The city might have bumped the pH up recently (likely temporary), or the water wasn't fully aged when you measured a higher pH... either way its not a problem and it looks like 8.0 is what you will have in the tank. Airline tubing and the heater cord seem to get slimy whether you have bacteria or not. Here is a thread on when to add Prime:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?124164-My-experience-with-adding-prime-to-aging-barrels

[Jenene]

Thanks for the tip on the Prime. Yes, I was adding at the time of filling the barrel. I was cycling the tank with ammonia so I was not changing the water everyday so it sat quite a bit. There are no fish. They are actually arriving tomorrow from Kenny. Good to find out now rather than panic once the fish are in. Thanks so much.

[Jenene]

Yes, thank you. I was just finishing up a fishless cycle. There are no fish in the tank yet but they are arriving from Kenny tomorrow. I was doing a big water change to clean it up for the new arrivals. I was so tired I can't remember if the nitrates were tested before or after the cleaning. I am doing one more tonight so everything is safe for the fish tomorrow. Thanks for easing my stress on the ph. It had been so stable from the tap to the barrel to the aquarium up until last night. I will just focus on keeping it clean and keeping an eye on the parameters. Thanks for your help.

[Jenene]

Thanks for the rhyming tip! I will add the Prime at the right time. (-:

[Jenene]

Thanks for the link! I will relax now. Fish are coming tomorrow from Kenny. Just that one last (hopefully last hiccup) I think I am ready now.