Water Chemistry Woes

[Fin Man]

I have had my 55 Gallon Setup for at least 4 Months. all i have in it are 4 small Goldfish. I've had a MAJOR problem with PH. For all this time, i haven't been able to lower the PH to low enough to read on the kit i have. this means that it's 8.8+. In that time, i have Removed the large ROCK that was in there. I've tried PH Down to the point of using up two full bottles (Not all at once). I've done 33% Water Changes with Tap Water, Distilled Water and Well Water. No Change. Today i tested all 3 of those individually. The Well Water came in at about 8.4 PH, the Tap Water was 7.8 PH and the Distilled was 7.2 PH. I decided to bite the bullet and do a MAJOR water Change. I removed 40 Gallons of water from the Aquarium and Replaced with ALL DISTILLED water. This was about $45 worth of water. I turned everything back on and let it sit for about an hour. I tested the PH, and it's STILL OFF THE SCALE. The only thing in the tank other than water is the Gravel that i bought from Wal-Mart. I think it's Top Fin brand. What in the World do i have to do to get a decent PH?

 

[mattrox]

Don't try to adjust your pH with chemicals. It will do more harm than good. Most tank bred tropical fish will happily live in your water. If you are really worried you could keep fish that are originally from high pH water.

 

[mfdrookie516]

have you tried another test kit? Distilled water should have a ph of 7 (im pretty sure)... Either you're getting false results or you have something in your tank buffering the water. Seriously though, a steady ph is good, even if it is a bit high. If you're really concerned about it, like mattrox said, trade in the goldfish for some african cichlids. Depending on which ones, some come from a ph of 9+

 

[BigJim]

Distilled water should have a pH of 7.0, completely neutral. I'd try a different kit.

What are your other parameter readings? It's a long shot, but if you have really high ammonia levels, your pH will rise because ammonia is a base. I can't imagine fish would survive in that kind of water, but it's another possibility.

 

[Fin Man]

My ammonia is Zero. Perhaps the leftover water in the tank is buffering the water i put in somehow. the Goldfish were there only to cycle the tank. I was going to put in Angelfish, Giant Danios and Bala Sharks.

 

[Fin Man]

I got a different Kit like was suggested and bingo!! My water is at 7.2!! Fantastic!! All i need to do now is get the **** Goldfish out of there and start planting. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Go ahead and take the bala sharks off the list while you're at it. they get way too big for a 55g. Glad you figured out what was going on though

 

[mgamer20o0]

good luck with the tank. normally if something is super off good idea to go back try something different. some times the kits are not always accurate.