Source water is high ph

[CaptnIgnit]

Source water has high ph

So my tap water is a little funky and its causing me a bit of confusion. It's ph out of the tap ranges wildly. Some days it comes out at 7.2 others it comes out at 8.4.

After collecting some of the 7.2 water in a bucket and throwing an air stone in it for a couple days it tested at 8.4-8.6.

I set my tank up a few weeks ago and after hooking up my co2 injection and placing driftwood in the tank the ph seems to have settled out around 7.3-7.4 (been pretty constant for the last week).

My main concern is the water changes swinging the ph around and harming any fish I have. Should I just do small water changes frequently? buy distilled water?

 

[Hubert90]

Have u tried allowing the tap water to sit for 12-24 hours before testing. And yes do small pwc for now. And no distilled water has no trace elements or anything in it so it's not the best for ur fish.

 

[rich311k]

If the tap after sitting in the bucket gasses out to 8.4 then that is the PH. I must say that is a huge swing for just aerating. Your tap must be loaded with gas along the way to you.

The lower PH in the tank is due to the CO2. If you took some out and let it sit it would probably read close to your aerated tap water.

I imagine the KH and GH is the same in both tap and tank, that is the important part. If the dissolved solids are close to the same then there will be no swings that effect your fish. CO2 changes due to gas have no real effect on a tanks inhabitants.

 

[AquaOne]

Interesting 'array' of ph figures !
Are you testing with liquid test-kit ?
If the readings are from tape, I would say there's the problem since they are not so accurate.
Almost everyone at AA must be on commission selling the API Master Test Kit ! But seriously it is a reliable test system, worth it's weight...

 

[Trail_Mix]

I would add peat pellets in a nylon bag for like one or two days after you change the water, and keep to small PWCs.

 

[CaptnIgnit]

If the tap after sitting in the bucket gasses out to 8.4 then that is the PH. I must say that is a huge swing for just aerating. Your tap must be loaded with gas along the way to you.

The lower PH in the tank is due to the CO2. If you took some out and let it sit it would probably read close to your aerated tap water.

I imagine the KH and GH is the same in both tap and tank, that is the important part. If the dissolved solids are close to the same then there will be no swings that effect your fish. CO2 changes due to gas have no real effect on a tanks inhabitants.

Yea, the swing confuses the **** out of me but I've tested it multiple times with multiple different test kits.

I'll double check the KH and GH of the tap and tank water as i haven't tested them in a while. Both were roughly the same last time I checked (sitting around 10 degrees for KH and GH)

Thanks