tap water ph 8.0, 2 days later in the tank 8.6. why?

[gabysapha]

I think I read about the reason for this long ago, but I was hoping someone could educate me more about this.

My tap water is 7.8 or 8.0 out of the tap. Not bad.
Water is very hard; there are calcium deposits all over the water fixtures!

2 days after a water change, my tanks always read 8.4-8.6. I accept it and move on. I have not added anything to my tanks for the purpose of changing the ph. S
ubstrate is eco-complete, and only eco-complete.

Maybe deteriorating snail shells are one cause for the change in my ph? I have found a few mixed in my substrate, and I know that snail shells leach calcium into soil in forests.

I keep tropical soft-water fish and I have yet to lose any of them. Actually, I think I've only lost 1 cory over the last 9 months. Yay.
But I'm always nervous about adding new fish; my water is not ideal for many species. It would be nice to keep the ph as low as it is from the tap.

Why does my ph change?

[BBradbury]

Hello gaby...

Is your testing equipment expired? Could be your municipal water people are tweaking the water. Anyway, the fact your fish haven't been adversely affected should put you at ease.

I must admit, I haven't tested my tank water in a couple of years, because I change a minimum of half the tank water weekly and treat the tap water for chlorine, chloramines and ammonia, you know the drill.

I don't think snail shells would alter the pH. I have a lot of them living and dying and haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

You're very wise not to try to change the pH, that's a receipe for trouble. I read recently that a pH in excess of 8.5 isn't too high and most tropical fish prefer more alkaline water.

Adding new fish isn't a problem, as long as you know your source. I have a Mom and Pop place near me where I get my Corydoras and have never quarantined the new fish.

Aside from the rare breeds, tropical fish are very resilient, so in my humble opinion as long as you don't try to change things, your fish and plants will adapt to the changes in the water conditions.

B

[librarygirl]

If you do a Google search for 'Eco complete raise PH' it seems this is a common problem for users of the substrate even though the packaging says it won't raise PH. I don't know for sure if it's your issue but it could be a factor. You could also let your tap water sit out for 24 hours and test it then and see if it's your tap water.

[gabysapha]

Thanks for the informational replies!!! I will try letting my tap water sit out for a while and see what happens. And oh my, eco-complete may seem to raise pH? That's too bad, I was going to call it my near-perfect substrate! I hope that's not the case. But thanks so much for letting me know as I had never heard that before.

I guess if you know your water, you know what you are doing, and you are mindful, there's not much to worry about. I was honestly surprised to see my fish acclimate so well to the conditions of my tanks, they are much more resilient than I expect them to be. Amazing little creatures!

Can living in hard water damage fish that have evolved in very soft acidic environments? I would expect so, perhaps not in a harmful way to the fish but the body must react somehow. Organisms adapt themselves to less-than ideal environments, so what adaptations do our fish implement? I should ask my fish biology professor in class, but I'm curious now!

[toddnbecka]

First, try running an airstone in a bucket full of tap water for 24 hours then test the pH. If it's higher then that it was fresh from the tap, it's because the CO2 has outgassed and the pH is now stable.

[gabysapha]

Yesterday, water from the tap was 7.8. 24 hours later aftee sitting in a bucket with an airstone, it's 8.4.

[toddnbecka]

In that case I'd say your local water treatment facility is adding something to the water (likely sodium bicarbonate since it's 8.4) to raise the pH. Apparently it hasn't finished reacting when it comes out of your tap, so the pH continues to increase.

[gabysapha]

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

In that case I'd say your local water treatment facility is adding something to the water (likely sodium bicarbonate since it's 8.4) to raise the pH. Apparently it hasn't finished reacting when it comes out of your tap, so the pH continues to increase.

Thank you very much! That makes a lot of sense! I hope the changes in ph don't harm the fish, but i guess during water changes the freshwater mixes with the old and the ph does not change too much.