pH 8.5

[PsiPro]

Sooo I ordered some ghost shrimp and they were shipping well more then I would be able to handel in my community. So I set up one of my old reptile terrariums (one of the plastice ones with the holes in the top for water bottles). I threw some Java moss in there so the shrimp will be happy. Well I got the call they are shipping the shrimp and they will be here tomrrow, so I go ahead and test the water. I had been ignoring the tank becasue the moss was pearling so i figured it was happy.

Since the shrimp are comming tomrrow I tested the tank, the first test I did was the pH test and it was above 8.4... I didn't do the rest of the tests. I changed 99.99% of the water and replaced it with established tank water from my community.

What would have made the pH so high? Its not the plastic tank is it? The tank was prevously soaked in bleach as well, possibly residue? I did clean it well (just water), and added declor when i filled it originally.

There is no filtration on it, I will be putting one of the spong thingies that came with my filter in there for the bacteria culture but the plants I moved into the tank other then moss was from my oringal aquarium. Currently I have an airstone in the tank to keep the water moving around the plants.

 

[Menagerie]

What is the pH of the community tank?
What is the true pH of the tap water? (let a cup of tap water stand for 10-12 hours and then test it).

 

[Lonewolfblue]

You need to bring the ph of the tap water down. Tap water here at my place is about 8.2 from the tap.

 

[PsiPro]

True tap: 8.2
Community: 7.6

I have some pH down if it comes down(*pun!*) to that, but hopfully using the community water will be ok.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Community water should be ok, or you can add just a little ph down to bring it down a little more. Up to you...

 

[PsiPro]

Coo thanks. I'll check it before i put them in tomrrow and decide at the time if its not satisfactory.

 

[An t-iasg]

Do you use tap water to make up your community tank water? The bioload of the fish will acidify the water a bit and lower the pH naturally. My tap water is 8.2 out of the tap, 7.8 after aging, and 7.4 in the tank. For the shrimp tank, if it wont have as heavy a bioload to start this natural acidifying process, you could combine tap water with RO water. Or you could just use community tank water in the shrimp tank and then replace the community tank water with however you prepare water for water changes.

I would not start to use a product like a pH reducer. The pH may initially go down, but the pH often rebounds, especially if your KH is high. This leads to a "chasing the dragon" situation. Do you have a KH test? If your KH is high, the RO water will help cut this value and your pH will drop a little without the addition of chemicals. Don't use RO water alone - combine with tap so you don't lose the buffers that make your pH stable.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Would distilled water from the store be similar to RO water?

 

[An t-iasg]

Yes - I used distilled water when the grocery store's RO machine was down once. Just mix it with your tap water, and don't use it alone. Like RO water, it has almost no buffering capacity to keep your pH stable.

 

[PsiPro]

My community water is from the tap.

I'm just going to take the water from my community tank or the shrimp tank I think, my parameters are never really bad in that tank but i'll check them before i dump it.

My KH is high, and I have used pH down before and would rather not use it unless i had to.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I have used pH down before and would rather not use it unless i had to.

I LOVE the sound of that. Don't use it.

 

[Menagerie]

Fish are best off with a stable pH instead of a "perfect" pH.