pH Issue!!!

[Tobrienne]

Ok guys, so I tested my tap pH a while back and today I was doing some maintenance on my other tank and decided to check everything on my Discus tank...

pH was 7.4 whereas my aged water is a constant 8.2..... I'm kind of wondering how this is possible? There are NO live plants in their tank, it's a black gravel substrate and one or two plastic plants.

The ONLY difference I can see is the discus tank has a heater and my aging barrel doesnt - reason being is because it's summer and really hot in my house so I didn't think it was a huge different in tank vs barrel temp.

My question: Can the lack of heater make that kind of impact on the pH levels? Or is there another reason the pH levels are different?

Note: water in aging barrel is like 5 days aged

[Brent1972]

The reason the Ph is lower in your tank is because the nitrifying bacteria produce acid during oxidation of ammonia and nitrite in your filter .

[Skip]

first of all stop checking ph.. it ok.. breathe..

i am sure its a TDS issue or some kind of bacterial life cycle or both.. that cause the difference.. if your fish happy.. don't worry about it..

your starting to stress ME out too :)

[Tobrienne]

first of all stop checking ph.. it ok.. breathe..

i am sure its a TDS issue or some kind of bacterial life cycle or both.. that cause the difference.. if your fish happy.. don't worry about it..

your starting to stress ME out too :)


LOL Sorry Warlock! :P I've stopped worrying about my discus tank.. I did enough of that before as you recall ;) I was just surprised that they were so different because I am aging my water now to prevent swings like that lmao...


I am just going to assume that this pH swing is acceptable due to the whole nitrification process :)

[DiscusDrew]

How often are you changing the water now? because the longer it sits in the tank eventually, especially if you have a low carbonate hardness, the Ph will start to drop. This can be avoided by regular water changes, but I agree with warlock, if you are aging your water, and doing regular water changes, then stop checking the Ph. It will only cause more stress for you my friend ;) Didnt we go through this already though? haha Im just teasing, you know we'll always be here for you but we have most of the kinks worked out at this point.