acclimating fish to diff. pH

[Mr Burns]

i usually like to keep my tank pH neutral using Proper pH 7.0. our tap water is really hard...it's like liquid rocks. taking showers feels worthless because working up a good lather is difficult due to the hardness. i don't have readings on the kH and gH, but from what i've read, those two measurments would explain why the tap pH reads so stupidly high. it's around 7.8 ± .2 (the color tests aren't very exact.)

so...through a stretch of 10% water changes every week with just dechlor and no Proper pH 7.0, would i be able to slowly acclimate the fish to the higher pH of the tap? i always thought most fish can adapt to most pH levels over time, but not sudden changes.

 

[LAGlocker]

If I remember correctly most aquarium bred fish can acclimate within certain ranges to a pH other than what they are originally from. I am not sure of the range with which this can happen. I would think that if you have fish that come from, or are already used to a pH in the mid to upper 7 range, or even low 8 they would have no problem with the change as long as it was gradual. Now if you have fish that need or prefer a pH in the upper 6 to low 7 range, I am not how much of a change they would adapt to, ie 7.8 or so as you stated. I am sure others will kick in on this subject. Not really something I really checked on, as my pH is at or around 7.0 to 7.2 here.

 

[astroguy]

hardness and pH are two different things. Hardness relates to the amount of carbonates (KH) and calcium/magnesium (GH). A hard water will act as a strong buffer. An acidic or alkaline water will contain a strong concentration of H3O+ or OH-, respectively. So, despite the "Proper pH 7.0" product (which is also a buffer), your water will essentially not care! That's why your water keeps staying at 7.8.

Fishes can generally be well acclimated to any pH, as you say. Of course, you may want to take fishes that prefer some alkaline water (e.g, cichlids, guppies).

Good luck

 

[Fruitbat]

Mr Burns...

What you're proposing should work quite well. As long as you slowly acclimate them to the untreated water they should deal with it just fine. Just take it slow and easy!

 

[Mr Burns]

i figure 10% a week is slow enough.

as for the pH, kH, and gH...i know they are different, but what i might have mistaken is the correlation between pH level and the measures of kH and gH. i thought that hard water affected the hydrogen in the water such that it formed more of the OH- molecules. the proper pH is working...my tank reads close to 7, it's just the tap that is around 7.8.....

 

[smilla4]

Here's an interesting post from Aquatic Plants Digest on pH
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200309/msg00269.html

FAQ on water chemistry at fins.actwin.com (contains info about ph, kh and gh are related, etc)
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html

I have also read posts on google groups where people mentioned that the tannic acid leaching from driftwood lowers pH. And also that snails can lower gH because they utilize the calcium present in the water to build their shells (the calcium usually being what makes the water hard, I think there might be something else present that can make water hard also, magnesium??).

Hope this is useful...

 

[Mr Burns]

that first article is really good, smilla. thanks