Ph change in my tap water

846 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Sharkfood, Oct 29, 2010

DAgua

Discussion Starter · Oct 28, 2010

OK so my bad, I did a water change on 3 of my 5 tanks :icon_surp does a water bowl count? I keep telling my husband it does not :flick: any ways I could see the water going into the fish tank cutting through the water (No this is not normal here) so today I tested the 110 gal and every thing is great except my PH is 7.6 on the normal Ph test and 7.4 on the hight PH test

I could not see how this could be... so I retested... nope still the same ok so then I test another tank sure enough the same thing every thing is nuts on perfect and my PH is high.... now I am worried about my fish health could this be a shock for my skin fish? will it hurt them

then I checked the tap water that has always been 6.4 normal and to my shock it was 7.6 I did not do a high range PH either way it was just too high out of the tap.... I do have an R/O system however it take forever to make enough water for the big tanks..... we did just have a big rain fall could that effect the city water?

I called a friend and had her check her tap water and sure enough hers is high too and she is in the next town over (kind of)

has anybody else had this happen?

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DaveK

· #2 · Oct 28, 2010

It is not unusual to see tap water change, especially with the season. Sometimes it can cause a problem.

If your not keeping any delicate fish, it's not too big an issue for a planted tank.

If you are keeping something delicate or want to be sure your water is always the same, invest in an RO/DI unit and then build the water back to exactly where you want it. Obviously this costs more money.

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DAgua

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 28, 2010

I guess I am going to have to do the RO/DI I have it, and I have delicate fish

ie- puffers in one tank, fire eel in another with cat fish, Dwarf Cichlids in another and my little salt tank....

I have lived in this area for over 20 years and have never had this problem before... it is upsetting to find out after you do a water change that there has been a change in my water source

LOL and storing water for 110 gal tank is well a downer

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chicken

· #4 · Oct 28, 2010

Yes, I have had that happen. I've never had it cause a problem, but perhaps that's just because I don't have very fussy fish.

If you're concerned it could cause problems for your fish, but don't want to do RO/DI, you might try aging the water for a day. My water sometimes comes out of the tap as high as 7.6, but within a day settles to 7.0-7.2.

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DAgua

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 28, 2010

ok great news I will try this with a glass of water since 25% water change is 25 gal of water

I think we will start smaller to see if this will work in our area

has anybody ever put a slice of lemon in the tank to lower the PH?

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Sharkfood

· #6 · Oct 29, 2010

My tap water is 7.2 - 7.4 pH and my Apistogrammas lay eggs in it. Sudden changes like that aren't good, but the pH being in the 7's won't hurt them in and of itself. I wouldn't call SA dwarf cichlids like Apistos delicate, but they come from very soft water originally, and I often have heard people swear they need to have pH as low as the high 5's.

The water in my tank tests much lower due to the fact that I inject CO2, but otherwise my fish are basically living in tap water.

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