PH weird

[KribensisLover1]

bgarthe and TClare

So my ph in my tank after the broken filter was up to like 7.2 or something but as you pointed out it could be from the substrate sitting. It still was a few days later but now it’s below.

The green is the tank

The blue is the tap. It WAS almost 8 like a month ago and now it’s so low.

I have seen the royal blue indicating that I need a high ph test but this is not the royal blue. i tried high ph but I know that’s not accurate.

Why is the tap so weird? I took it numerous times as well as the tank. It’s great news bc it’s safer for the fish but so weird.

Also I have 7 of the 10 cherry barbs left and I haven’t found any that died. So hopefully these will live ans all the Cories new and old are great and swimming around way more! I think it’s the dither fish!!

The green below is the tank

The blue is the tap. It was seriously almost 8 recently.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

Im glad that your fish are thriving! But i dont know about your pH, Is your county changing there water system? did you add seashels or any other decorations? Which fish are your dither fish? Just curious.

 

[Dechi]

Have you tested your KH ? It might be low and making your PH crash.

 

[tinylostwine]

When measuring tap ph you should put it in a glass cup over night and then test it. The reason is that a lot of water companies add chemical to force the ph up to protect pipes but normally that chemical will dissipate over night (sometime it might take 2 nights or whatever) and the ph will settle at a more normal value. Of course ph normally fluctuates from animal and plant respiration during the day/night.

In truth execpt at low values ph is pretty useless number that should never have been mentioned in literature. The reason the extreme end is important (say below 6; though in truth i forget the exact number) the bacteria for nitrification of ammonia/nitrite changes of course low ph also neutralize ammonia so there is that consideration. Having said that one reason fishes can die is if a fish has never been exposed to low ph bacteria it can have immunity issues. There are other reasons such as how the fish produce slime coating and process minerals. Of course some of this is species specific.

As a simple example most of the aquarium i have are near blackwater conditions with ph from 4.5 to 6 - i have found that store raised fishes frequently cannot adjust while wild caught fishes (which are native to this environment) have no issues. One of the reasons i mostly buy wild caught fishes.

 

[TClare]

Also people worry far too much about low KH. Honestly if you are keeping soft water fish it isn’t a problem. I have KH 0-1 from the tap and have never added anything to increase it. I have never ever experienced any fish losses or illness related to fluctuating pH, in fact the pH in my tanks varies very little. In many Amazon and Orinoco habitats KH is zero.