Please, only answer this if you’ve had experience with this or really know what your talking about. I’m having such an issue with this.
Okay. So I’ve started up my 20 gallon tank and it’s still in the cycling stage. I have had it up for about 9 days now. I have added to the water both a water conditioner and a bacteria cycle start. (the bottle says with the cycle you can add fish after 5 days, but I’m going to wait longer).
I have tested my water and my amonia is 0, my nitrate is about .1 or .05, and my nitrate is about .25 (lowest color on the chart is .5 but it’s lighter than that.) I don’t know what my alkalinity is. I know this may be a problem.
As for my tank set up, I have the 20 gallon aquarium set up with a multicolored brown gravel in the bottom. The bag says it’s a polymer coated gravel suited for aquariums. I rinsed the gravel about a cup at a time in a glass bowl, swishing the water around as it filled up and dumping it a couple times. I also have an underground filter with charcoal in the spouts. (This charcoal does need to be changed. It’s old). I also bought a plant, it’s called a charlie or something. However, the ph was high before I bought this… For my filter, I have a penguin biowheel filter. The carbon filter was old, just changed it today.)
And now lies my problem. My tap water is hard and from a well so it bypasses a home water softener. Out of the tap, the water’s ph reads about 7 to 7.5. Perfect. HOWEVER. The water in my tank reads much higher. It was at about 9.25. The people at the pet store instructed me to do a 35% water change, I did. This lowered the ph to about 7.75. I was happy with that, only to retest the water two days later and have it back up to about 9.
I don’t understand what is going on. I tested the tap water with the chemicals before I added it to the water and this is not the source. What else could it be? And what could lower it the 7-7.5 I want? I don’t really want to use a ph down chemical since these are temporary fixes and the ph will just go back up again over time.
i don’t have any decor other than my live plant, but that’s not causing it.
I just bought the test kit so it’s still good.
I will try letting my water sit for that time and using the air stone to check it.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
i agree with pleccy, however is there anything like limestone that is rising the pH to a such high number? having an unstable pH is bad if you had fishes, pH down chemicals dont work well, its just a waste of money, what you could do is try dropping some vinegar on the gravel to see if it fizzes if it does then that gravel is harmful, do it on every ornament. you can also lower the pH with driftwood, if you dont find the problem that is causing this, however driftwood may not be strong enough at the end in my opinion
It’s nice to hear that you are being patient with the cycling process, as this can take a few weeks to complete.
Chemical pH adjusters should be avoided as the pH will only end up bouncing back up within a few days. Do you have any decor in the tank that could be causing the pH rise, such as limestone or tufa rock?
If in doubt, take out the decor and pour a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice onto it. If the decor fizzes then this means that it consists of an alkaline substance, such as calcium carbonate.
Also how old is the test kit? The reason I ask this is because chemical test reagents do have use-by dates and as such do go off after a certain period.
How to Test Your Tap Water’s pH
Many hobbyists test their tap water right away for pH. However, this is not a good indication of your “true” pH. To properly measure your tap water’s pH, pour some tap water into a bucket and place an air stone in the bucket to agitate the surface (to oxygenate the water). Then let this bucket of water sit out for 24 hours. After this, test the water for its pH. It is then a good idea to check it after 48 hours to see if there is any additional change. These values measured after 24-48 hours are an accurate measure of the “true” pH of your tap water.
So, why do you have to leave the water out for 24-48 hours? Carbon dioxide in the water causes the pH to drop. By exposing your tap water to the air and agitating the surface, you are causing a gas exchange at the surface of the water (oxygen goes from the air to the water while carbon dioxide goes from the water to the air). This exchange reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in your water and causes the pH to rise. This pH will be the actual one you will measure in your tank (assuming there are no other objects/chemicals in the tank impacting the pH) as the oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange occurs in your aquarium constantly.
If you find that there is a major difference between the pH of your water right out of the tap and the pH of your water after 24-48 hours, the easiest way to do water changes and not stress your fish is to buy a bucket or two, fill them up with water, add an airstone to each, and let the water sit out for 24-48 hours. The pH will then be adjusted to its actual value and you can use the water for your water change.How to Test Your Tap Water’s pH
Many hobbyists test their tap water right away for pH. However, this is not a good indication of your “true” pH. To properly measure your tap water’s pH, pour some tap water into a bucket and place an air stone in the bucket to agitate the surface (to oxygenate the water). Then let this bucket of water sit out for 24 hours. After this, test the water for its pH. It is then a good idea to check it after 48 hours to see if there is any additional change. These values measured after 24-48 hours are an accurate measure of the “true” pH of your tap water.
So, why do you have to leave the water out for 24-48 hours? Carbon dioxide in the water causes the pH to drop. By exposing your tap water to the air and agitating the surface, you are causing a gas exchange at the surface of the water (oxygen goes from the air to the water while carbon dioxide goes from the water to the air). This exchange reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in your water and causes the pH to rise. This pH will be the actual one you will measure in your tank (assuming there are no other objects/chemicals in the tank impacting the pH) as the oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange occurs in your aquarium constantly.
If you find that there is a major difference between the pH of your water right out of the tap and the pH of your water after 24-48 hours, the easiest way to do water changes and not stress your fish is to buy a bucket or two, fill them up with water, add an airstone to each, and let the water sit out for 24-48 hours. The pH will then be adjusted to its actual value and you can use the water for your water change.
How to Test Your Tap Water’s pH
Many hobbyists test their tap water right away for pH. However, this is not a good indication of your “true” pH. To properly measure your tap water’s pH, pour some tap water into a bucket and place an air stone in the bucket to agitate the surface (to oxygenate the water). Then let this bucket of water sit out for 24 hours. After this, test the water for its pH. It is then a good idea to check it after 48 hours to see if there is any additional change. These values measured after 24-48 hours are an accurate measure of the “true” pH of your tap water.
So, why do you have to leave the water out for 24-48 hours? Carbon dioxide in the water causes the pH to drop. By exposing your tap water to the air and agitating the surface, you are causing a gas exchange at the surface of the water (oxygen goes from the air to the water while carbon dioxide goes from the water to the air). This exchange reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in your water and causes the pH to rise. This pH will be the actual one you will measure in your tank (assuming there are no other objects/chemicals in the tank impacting the pH) as the oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange occurs in your aquarium constantly.
If you find that there is a major difference between the pH of your water right out of the tap and the pH of your water after 24-48 hours, the easiest way to do water changes and not stress your fish is to buy a bucket or two, fill them up with water, add an airstone to each, and let the water sit out for 24-48 hours. The pH will then be adjusted to its actual value and you can use the water for your water change.
● Add Carbon Dioxide – increasing the carbon dioxide in your tank lowers the pH. Therefore, pumping in more carbon dioxide would result in a lower pH.
● Add Wood – Many types of driftwoods will lower the pH.
It is much more important to have a stable pH than to have a specific value for your pH. Adjusting the pH in your aquarium can be dangerous to the fish as swings of just 0.3 in a day can be deadly. Therefore, unless you have a specific reason for doing so, it is better to acclimate the fish to your tap water’s pH than to adjust your pH to fit the preference of your fish.