I've had my 55 Gallon Setup going with 4 Goldfish for about 3 months. Everything is fine with my Water Chemistry except one thing; my PH WILL NOT MOVE. I've tried Ph Down REPEATEDLY. At first, it was simply Tap Water, But i was told that my water might be too hard for it to decrease. Next thing i did was buy some Aquarium salt. I went through the whole carton (about 16 OZ) and my PH STILL WON'T budge. The Next thing i did was a 1/3 Water Change with DISTILLED water. There can't be anything but water in Distilled, right? No Change. The next thing i did was get a friend of mine that has a Well, to bring me 5 Gallons of THAT water. It had a little brown tinge to it, but that was to be expected. I added that with another 5 Gallons of Distilled water during a water change and it STILL won't move below the highest reading on my Kit. What Gives?
Ph 8.8+
- Thread starter Fin Man
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mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
stop using chemicals first. is your tap water reading that high? if not, there is something in your tank raising the ph. if you've tried distilled and well water, need to figure out what you have in the tank that could be raising it. its a bit of a long shot, but is there any limestone in the tank? im pretty sure limestone would only buffer it up to around 7.8-8 but there has to be something in there causing it
well, there's the Aquarium Gravel that i originally put in and then there's this one rock. the rock is rust colored and looks volcanic. Got it at a Pet store that sold rock by the pound. The rock is VERY hard. Other than that, the only other stuff in the tank were the plants that the Goldfish ate a long time ago. That was a stupid mistake on my part.
willsta2000
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2009
- Messages
- 72
Don't use distilled water, unless you are mixing, because it lacks essential ions (electrolytes), and will kill fish, amphibians, and probably turtles, even if pH, nitrates nitrites ammonia are all ok.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think you should test your tap water first & see where you are starting from, before messing with your tank.
Hard water at 8.8 has a very high buffer content, it makes it almost impossible to alter the pH. <And that 8.8 is at the highest range of your test kit, so it might even be higher.>
If the tap water is indeed starting at 8.8, then the only way to lower that is mixing in R/O or distilled water. Depending on the starting KH (buffering capacity) you might have to mix 1: 1 or even 2:1. <Experiment in a cup outside of your tank.>
If your tap water pH is lower, then there is something in your tank that is raising the pH. The rock is the first suspect, the gravel the next. Soak the rock or some gravel in a bucket of tap water & see if the pH change.
Finally, goldfish like to be in pH of high 7's & 8.8, although high, is not really unworkable. If the fish appears fine, you might just leave the water alone.
Hard water at 8.8 has a very high buffer content, it makes it almost impossible to alter the pH. <And that 8.8 is at the highest range of your test kit, so it might even be higher.>
If the tap water is indeed starting at 8.8, then the only way to lower that is mixing in R/O or distilled water. Depending on the starting KH (buffering capacity) you might have to mix 1: 1 or even 2:1. <Experiment in a cup outside of your tank.>
If your tap water pH is lower, then there is something in your tank that is raising the pH. The rock is the first suspect, the gravel the next. Soak the rock or some gravel in a bucket of tap water & see if the pH change.
Finally, goldfish like to be in pH of high 7's & 8.8, although high, is not really unworkable. If the fish appears fine, you might just leave the water alone.
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
I got the same issue and got some discus buffer to help but not used yet
tap is a 7.7 gassed off water on 24hr test was at an 8.9 used vitalsine meter.
Gh was 3 drops and KH was 14 drops using API drop tester.
In this tank is eco complete nothing else. what would cause that spike in Ph? since there is nothing but the eco complete in the tank?
tap is a 7.7 gassed off water on 24hr test was at an 8.9 used vitalsine meter.
Gh was 3 drops and KH was 14 drops using API drop tester.
In this tank is eco complete nothing else. what would cause that spike in Ph? since there is nothing but the eco complete in the tank?
KH is in excess of 300ppm. I have removed the Rock and placed it in a mixing bowl full of tap water. i have removed some of the gravel and put it in a bowl of tap water. I will let you all know the results. BTW, i don't intend to keep Goldfish in the bowl, i was using them to help me cycle the tank since they're so hearty.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
With your KH of up at 14, you are not likely to be able to alter the pH with your discus buffer. That kind of KH is the saturation point for carbonate, with an equilibrium pH of 8.2-8.4.
In order for you to overwhelm a saturated carbonate system, you will need to saturate with your 2nd buffer ... even then, your results may not stay stable. Discus buffer is meant to be used in distilled or R/O water. Adding that to highly saturated tap is asking for trouble.
I am not sure why your pH is going up in your tank. Did you check the KH? Is that going up too? If so, something is leaching into the water .... not sure what - as eco should be inert.
Is this a planted tank? With lots of plant, you can drop the CO2 in the water to raise the pH. I tested my pH & it goes up ~.4 in the day (meaning CO2 had bottomed to less than 1 from atmospheric of 3). With your KH & pH, your CO2 calculated out to 0.5. Either you have some other buffers in your water, or your plants are really dropping the CO2. The solution of course is injecting CO2 ... although increasing the water agitation to get some atmospheric CO2 back in would help.
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
that was out of the tap, I got a DI unit and am using that for the discus tanks water supply.
I got DIY Co2 at best, I cant spend 100 bucks on a regulator for my pressurized Co2 at the moment.
I got DIY Co2 at best, I cant spend 100 bucks on a regulator for my pressurized Co2 at the moment.
DragonFish71
Great white snark
I know in our 40g it is the black sand that is keeping the DW and plants from naturally lowering the ph. All our other tanks are in the 6. so ~n~ so range except for the 2 tanks we have the black sand. It can very well also be the gravel. Some of those coatings break down, some faster than others if cheaply made.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you use DI with Discus buffer, that should work fine.
I am also trying to do without CO2. <No point in CO2 with a goldfish tank ... you are not going to get great looking plants with goldies around ...> Bottoming CO2 can bring on nasty BBA/BGA .... that is the main drawback. For now i am playing with the light period & water flow. <Mainly to keep BBA algae down ... plants are growing good enough.>
