Bandi Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 So, I have 54 tanks, and decided to do some PH testing. Right out of the tap our water is 7.0 on the dot. But in testing a whole bunch of tanks, some with gravel and some bare bottoms I have been getting PH reading ranging from 6.0 to 8.4. Go figure. So, taking into acount that various substrate and drift wood might affect PH, I starting comparing simular tanks. My 20 gallon fry tanks, My 160 gallon grow out tank and a 40 gallon grow out tank, all have bare bottom and nothing except fish and tap water in them. The 20 gallon fry tanks gave reading of 8.4 and 8.0 for PH (sponge filtered only) The 160 Gallon tested at 6.0 (FX5 with bio balls, and ceramic cones and sponge inside) The 40 gallon tested at 7.4 (internal filter with bio balls, ammonia and carbon granules and sponge) So can any one tell me what is going on? Then I was distraught to discover that my Angel tank, with a gravel substate, petrified wood and lots of drift wood in it, tested at 7.6 PH. I thought drift wood would lower the ph, not raise it. Could it be the gravel or petrifed wood (essecially rock)raising the PH? I have no way of testing water hardess at this time but I am in the process of getting a reading from the town. Generally we have what is considered hard water and I have tried to artifially raise the PH in a bucket of water using baking soda and can't get it above 8.4. I used a 4 gallon bucket of water and added 12 teaspoons of baking soda to get this result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Baking soda buffers at around 8.4, so it will never go higher. As for the diversity, there are a few reasons: Tap Do you always test right from the tap? Being under pressure, tap water has a lot of dissolved gases in it - CO2 being a biggie. That usually gives an artificially low pH reading of the water. A more accurate way to tell what the water will be like in a tank with just tap water would be to put it in a bucket and airate it for several hours before testing. 20 Gals I'm guessing the true pH of your tap water is closer to 8, unless you have any rocks or shells in these tanks that could buffer the pH up. 160gal & 40 gal Larger filters hold a lot more crud, and we change them a lot less often. I'm inclined to think that the lower pH in these tanks is because of the bio-sludge that is held in the sponges of the filters. As it breaks down, it releases DOCs (Dissolved Organic Compounds) which will lower your pH by quite a bit. Driftwood IMO, driftwood isn't a major factor in lowering pH... unless it's soft. Then it will contribute more DOCs. When it's new, it does release tannins; however, with most tap water in Alberta being buffered quite well (lots of Ca, Carbonate, etc), the tannins aren't strong enough to swing the pH much in any direction. pH IMO, pH is not a critical factor, in and of itself. In the wild, there are huge pH swings daily and within regions of a given body of water. However, hardness (and factors affecting the osmotic gradient between fish and its environment) remains relatively constant in most places. The reason we measure pH, is that it does point to other factors that can affect fish health (DOCs, hardness, etc.); but, in reality, differing pHs between tanks is not a big cause for concern. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Jason nailed it to a T, nothing really to add to that fine summation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandi Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Ok, thanks, and yes, I did test the ph right out of the tap.. I will try what you suggest. Thanks for the explaination, that did answer many questions. The only reason I started being concerned with Ph is to capitalize on the theory that cichlids bred in higher Ph will give you a greater % of males. But I also want my angels to breed. They have spawned many times but they never hatch...my thought was that the water ph was too high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Could it be the gravel or petrifed wood (essecially rock)raising the PH? If there are the right minerals in there, then it could be the culprit. Got a nitrite or nitrate test kit around? One of the bottles (#1? I can't remember which) contains hydrochloric acid. Put a drop on any questionable rock, and if it fizzes, it will contribute to a higher pH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLake Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 GreAt lesson jay on tap water. Appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 "But I also want my angels to breed. They have spawned many times but they never hatch...my thought was that the water ph was too high" I'm not sure the ph makes much of a difference to standard angels if they're used to it. My pairs spawn in our "hard as rock" water with no issues and I'm on to my "grandfish"!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandi Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 "But I also want my angels to breed. They have spawned many times but they never hatch...my thought was that the water ph was too high" I'm not sure the ph makes much of a difference to standard angels if they're used to it. My pairs spawn in our "hard as rock" water with no issues and I'm on to my "grandfish"!!! Well that is good to know since I would have trouble lowering the Ph. I hope they will get it right one of these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Maybe they're just practising "safe sex" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JORG Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Or maybe they are one of those new fangled same sex couples Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Have you considered adoption or surrogacy?? There have many advances in angelfish fertility issues in the past years and your angelfish may benefit. But then again, having a family isn't for everyone :pff: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandi Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 A.I.....invetro.....sperm donation....it is all so complicated and there are risks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cgy_Betta_Guy Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Great info jvision. and boy did this thread go off topic quick LOL -roll- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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