PH questions

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Platiesareawesome

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 17, 2013
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472
Location
Orange County, CA
Hello! I just would like to ask a few questions about my ph. In my current tank, the ph tests at 8.2. I have never tested my tap water, as I am not sure how to do this, because I have heard you need to let it sit for a day or something like that. Anyway, I was wondering what plants and fish can tolerate a ph this high. As you may know, I am planning to set up a 50 gallon goldfish tank or a peaceful community tank. I would plant it with crypts, amazon swords,some kind of vallisneria, and maybe wisteria. Can any of these fish/plants tolerate my ph? Also, how can I test my tap water? Thank you! :thanks:
 
8.2 is high, but it's not that high. Properly acclimated, most community fish should be able to tolerate it. There are ways to lower the pH naturally, though, that might be of interest. Search the forums and you'll find a few methods.

As to testing your tap water; fill a cup with water and let it sit for 24 hours. If you can put an air stone in it for that period, great. If not, agitate the water every now and again by stirring. After 24 hours, test the pH.
 
Thanks for the reply! :) What do you mean by "stirring every now and then"? Would once every hour work?
That should be fine. The point is to equalize the water with the ambient environment. Agitation (whether an air stone or stirring) does that. An air stone is just faster.
 
pH Question

Hello! I just would like to ask a few questions about my ph. In my current tank, the ph tests at 8.2. I have never tested my tap water, as I am not sure how to do this, because I have heard you need to let it sit for a day or something like that. Anyway, I was wondering what plants and fish can tolerate a ph this high. As you may know, I am planning to set up a 50 gallon goldfish tank or a peaceful community tank. I would plant it with crypts, amazon swords,some kind of vallisneria, and maybe wisteria. Can any of these fish/plants tolerate my ph? Also, how can I test my tap water? Thank you! :thanks:

Hello Plat...

Everything I've read on the subject of tap water has said basically the same thing: Unless you plan to keep and breed rare species, you don't need to worry about the chemical makeup of your tap water, just treat it to remove the chemicals the public water people put into it to make it safe to drink. Fish and plants have been adapting to our tap water for decades.

You can add some driftwood if you like. Most pieces will leach a bit of tannic acid that will drop the pH a bit, but most aquarium fish will adapt to most public water supplies.

It's best not to try to change the water chemistry. It will be difficult to maintain it.

B
 
Hello Plat... Everything I've read on the subject of tap water has said basically the same thing: Unless you plan to keep and breed rare species, you don't need to worry about the chemical makeup of your tap water, just treat it to remove the chemicals the public water people put into it to make it safe to drink. Fish and plants have been adapting to our tap water for decades. You can add some driftwood if you like. Most pieces will leach a bit of tannic acid that will drop the pH a bit, but most aquarium fish will adapt to most public water supplies. It's best not to try to change the water chemistry. It will be difficult to maintain it. B
While I generally agree (particularly with respect to pH and/or otherwise trying to "fight" your water chemistry), I would point out some value in knowing the parameters of your tap water. For me, in addition to simply having a baseline, it is helpful to know tap water values so I will also know what affect a water change will have on my tank. Sure, it's not critical, but it's also one less unknown in a hobby that has a lot of unknowns and guess-timates.
 
pH, hardness, etc.

While I generally agree (particularly with respect to pH and/or otherwise trying to "fight" your water chemistry), I would point out some value in knowing the parameters of your tap water. For me, in addition to simply having a baseline, it is helpful to know tap water values so I will also know what affect a water change will have on my tank. Sure, it's not critical, but it's also one less unknown in a hobby that has a lot of unknowns and guess-timates.

Hello sod...

Definitely do whatever you feel is need to maintain a stable water chemistry. Pure water conditions are the most important. I've found simple, large, weekly water changes with pure, treated tap water have made it unnecessary to test the water. As long as I perform the water change every week, I know the water is safe for the fish and the plants too.

B
 
Hello sod... Definitely do whatever you feel is need to maintain a stable water chemistry. Pure water conditions are the most important. I've found simple, large, weekly water changes with pure, treated tap water have made it unnecessary to test the water. As long as I perform the water change every week, I know the water is safe for the fish and the plants too. B
So, are you saying that you don't test your water at all? As in, neither tap nor tank? Dunno if I could ever get there, I'm way to OCD for that. ;-)

Although, you're right, of course. Consistent water changes and pure water really should result in a condition where it's not necessary to monitor everything so closely.
 
I keep a log of test results and find that testing is pretty regular and frequent during the setup/cycling period and drops off to maybe once a month after that. I don't stop altogether because if there is a drift over time, I want to catch it before things get bad.
As long as the inputs (feeding, stock, ferts, equipment) don't change and regular maintenance is performed, you should be good. I do monitor tap water because for a good part of 2012, my local tap water was testing at 1.0/0/5 for Amm/trite/trate. Mysteriously cleared up at the start of 2013.
As mentioned above, fish are quite adaptable to most water conditions. It's the sudden change that can cause problems. Proper acclimation is a good practice.
 
Water Testing & Water Changes

If you keep the water pure, you eliminate 99.9 percent of the things that can go wrong in the tank. By flushing a lot of pure, treated tap water through the tank every week, wastes have no time to build to a toxic level. You make an environment that's the same as a natural river or stream where there's a constant source of pure water. The waste water is removed and replaced with pure.

In a tank like this, there's never a reason to test the water, you know it's clean. But, the testing kits and high end filtration systems are necessary because only 1 person in a thousand is willing to commit to such an aggressive water change routine. This takes time and effort, but water is pretty cheap. I'd rather change the water weekly than rely on testing or expensive filter systems.

B
 
If you keep the water pure, you eliminate 99.9 percent of the things that can go wrong in the tank. By flushing a lot of pure, treated tap water through the tank every week, wastes have no time to build to a toxic level. You make an environment that's the same as a natural river or stream where there's a constant source of pure water. The waste water is removed and replaced with pure.

In a tank like this, there's never a reason to test the water, you know it's clean. But, the testing kits and high end filtration systems are necessary because only 1 person in a thousand is willing to commit to such an aggressive water change routine. This takes time and effort, but water is pretty cheap. I'd rather change the water weekly than rely on testing or expensive filter systems.

B
This only work if your tap is good, mine is god awful and is ever changing. I have seen is go from perfectly safe to having 2ppm ammo, 1 ppm nitrite, 40ppm nitrate and a ph ranging from 7.4-8.8. I ended up going with ro water so that I didn't have to test constantly. I am one of those people that would be more than happy to do major 50-75% water change more than once week but my tap just won't allow it. So I hike 20g of ro water in once a week and call it good.
My plants on the other hand have always loved my tap. I have a tiny dirted tank that just has plants and snails in it. I have been able to grow dhg that is actually carpeting in medium light with no co2 or glut just dosing ferts. I change the water everyday and ph is maintained around 8.5-8.8.
 
Water Changes

Hello flit...

I see your point. Not sure I'd be drinking from the tap if I were you. You may need to buy stock in a bottled water company. Guess I should've specified the water change routine in the majority of public water supplies. Guess I'm extremely lucky here in Northern Colorado.

B
 
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