High Ph tap water?

[Anomaly]

Howdy all,

I have been having problems recently with the Ph in my 10 gal, for some reason over the last month my ph has been hovering around 7.3, I'd prefer it around 6.8, but usually have it at about 7.0.

I tested the ph in my tap water and it is through the roof! I don't know if this has anything to do with it, as I never bothered to test the ph before, so I don't know if it's changed in the last month. I have other tanks, one of which stays in the high 6's, so I'm pretty sure it's not the tap water, but who knows?

I changed out my filter cartridge, did a water change, nothing seems to help though. I also have a had an algae bloom, which hadn't happened since I got plants. The tank already has two pieces of driftwood, but is there anything else that I could put in the tank (except chemicals) that might lower and stabilize the ph? I've heard diluted baking soda works, has anyone ever tried this?

Oh, and there are no new fish in the tank, so it isn't an over-stocking problem either.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Menagerie]

First try testing your tap water after letting it sit out overnight.
There are natural ways to lower the pH. What kind of fish are you keeping?

 

[krap101]

im pretty sure baking soda raises your ph but im not sure. have you tried peat?? it lowers your ph slowly and when it gets too low then you do a lil water change. i never got how it works so some1 can chip in on that

 

[poikilotherm]

Hey Anomaly, hve you checked your water hardness? If it's really low, then your water will have no buffering capacity, and pH measurements can vary over a pretty wide range without much of change in H+ concentration. If its really high, then that could be causing the high pH.

I think that after leaving it out overnight the pH is likely to be higher due to CO2 outgassing. It's a good idea as it gives a more realistic assessment of the water, but it is unlikely to help! Boiling the water (ugh) will reduce KH too.

Driftwood and peat can soften your water and lower pH, and they also provide some buffering capacity (humic acids: they buffer, they chelate, they soften, they acidify. All for three easy payments of $29.99), so that even if your water is soft, the pH should be more stable than in RO water. You could mix tap water 50/50 with RO if your tap water is hard...