water conditons

[strokinbyeu]

i just got done with a water test everything looks good except my ph

ammonia-0
nitrite -0
nitrate -20ppm
ph -8.0


can this be harfull to my fish its always been a liltte high, around 7.6 but this time its up to 8.0 my fish all seen to be normal. my tap water i use to do my pwc test out at 7.6
any input will be helpfull

 

[mfdrookie516]

so whats the ph of your tap water after sitting in a bucket overnight? the ph in itself wont hurt the fish, but if its rising and dropping it can. How long has it been since you did a pwc? Do you normally test about the same amount of time after doing a pwc?

 

[strokinbyeu]

im not the best at schedule but i did a pwc an friday(4days ago) i norm check my paramiters about 3-4 days after a change then again at about 10days after and i never notice a change in anything i did add stresscoat the day after the pwc bc i added 2 fish (kinda sis a foster home for a few days) ill run some water off and see what it reads tomoro. do u h think it will change?

 

[mfdrookie516]

alot of times it will change after sitting out for a while, thats the ph you should use as your baseline from the tap. hard to guess without knowing what it is yet. let us know tomorrow and we'll go from there

 

[strokinbyeu]

ok will do thanks alot

 

[BigJim]

pH isn't nearly as critical as most people make it out to be. Unless you're trying to breed a finicky fish, they'll adapt.

 

[strokinbyeu]

well i droped the ball an getting you the reading i forgot to run some off in a bucket last nite. my tank still reads 8.0. i didnt think it was to big of deal as long as it stays mostly stable.

 

[BigJim]

You've got the right idea. Stable pH is more important than "correct" pH in 99% of cases.

 

[strokinbyeu]

so i jsut tested the aprox gal i put in the bucket last nite my water after it sits over nite test out to 6.8

 

[mfdrookie516]

ok... so now that we've established that, what do you have in the tank that might be raising the ph? what kind of rock, substrate, decor, anything like that? A ph of 8 is certainly acceptable, but if it starts bouncing around you could have some problems....

 

[strokinbyeu]

ok i just figured out why its high lol thank you. i put in some new rocks and i knew they were limestone and i knew it would raise my ph. i even put one rock in and waited a week then another then another. i feel stupid for not thinking about that. i will watch to make sure it dosnt raise anymore or start going up and down.