Why can't i get my pH to 7.0??

Question

I tried the Ph up drops to get it to 7.0 because it is usually around 6.2 - 6.6. After i add the drops and wait about an hour or so, i test it and it always stays the same or gets lower. Then i tried the automatic pH tablets that bring it to 7.0. I tested it and again it stayed the same! Why does this keep happening? Is there anyway i can bring it up to 7.0?

Answer 1

You may have a lot of acidity in your water source. Have you tried testing the water you're using before it goes in the tank?

If the water source is higher than your tank water, there may be something in your tank that's changing it. Do you have lots of driftwood (this could be leaching tannins/tannic acid)? Some types of sandstone (especially rocks you've found and added to the tank) can also do this.

Does your tank stabilize at 6.2-6.6, or the the level drop over time? If it's stable, it would be better to find fish that will live in the pH you can provide rather than keep trying to change the pH. If you really want fish that need a higher pH, you'd have a few options:

1) If there's something in the tank that's raising the pH, you can remove it.

2) Use a calcium carbonate substrate (the kind that's specified for saltwater or cichlid use - you'll have to add slowly to the tank and experiment to see how much you need so it doesn't get too high).

3) Pick generally hardy fish and acclimate them slowly to your tank - the pH doesn't have to be EXACTLY 7.0 - most fish have a range where they can live, and low to mid 6s would fall in this range for a lot.

4) Bring your pH up chemically (least preferred method) - although I wouldn't use the pH up - a bottle is expensive and doesn't go very far! There are products for saltwater (kalkwasser) and even baking soda can be used, but don't add these directly to your tank. I don't know what fish you are/plan to keep, but these will affect your hardness as well as pH. I'd experiment a bit with water and 1/4 teaspoon amounts in a 5 gallon bucket (or gallon jug) to see how much is needed to adjust your water and add them to the water that's used for water changes. And always top off the tank before doing a change so the amount removed will be the amount added. Keep monitoring the pH in the tank as well. Animal respitation, plant photosynthesis, and waste decay will also affect the pH.

Answer 2

Trying to buy your water quality rarely works. If you have extremely soft water, as you say, it is better to bring the ph up by adding limestone rocks or a seashell or some crushed shells to your tank. Items like this slowly leech calcium and other water-hardening elements into the water, and this is the best and most natural way to alter ph. It will be slow at first, so don't add too much and overcompensate. Monitor your ph closely because it won't read anything for a while and then it will jump up, maybe too high. So, you'll need to play with how much rocks or shells you need to add for a while. As these disintegrate, you will also need to add more, so you will constantly need to monitor your water. Also, as Copperhead said, it could be the reverse; that you have acidic elements in your tank. Testing your water from the tap will determine whether it is naturally acidic or being modified in your tank. But, all this said, having the recommended ph is not as important as a stable ph. Constant fluctuations are more stressful on the fish than the low ph. Fish can tolerate a wider range of ph levels than their recommended range. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Answer 3

pH up will get it to where you want for a few hours. Then it will crash down again. Partly because the underlying cause is something else. For example, take a 24 hour old water sample from the faucet. Waiting 24 hours allows the sample to out gas.
Low pH is often due to high waste levels. Urine for example is about 5.5 pH. How much urine in 7.0 pH water will knock it down to 6.2? Not much.
Another way to get the tank stable is to use proper pH powder, they have 6.5, 7.0, 7.5 and 8.2.
What you DON'T want is that number bouncing up and down. Maybe you don't have it exactly where you want. That's OK, so long as it is stable.

Answer 4

Why exactly do you want to bring it up to 7?

Don't use chemicals to alter Ph, they will always cause more harm than good.

What kind of fish do you have?
If you have a fish that needs a Ph of 7, then 6.2-6.6 is perfectly fine for it. About the only thing that absulutely must have a high Ph is African Cichlids, but even then 7 is way too low.

Fish do not read Ph. When it is constantly changing that will make your fish very susceptible to disease. As long as you use chemicals, your Ph will never be constant, and your fish will not be healthy. The best Ph is a constant one.

Answer 5

Your tank is crashing!!!! You need buffer NOW! Kent Marine R.O. Right and Neutral Regulator or ask an aquarium dealer (not petco or petsmart) what you need. OR you could change 100% of the tank water. This is a seious problem for your fish and classic tank crash. That is where all of the buffers that were in the water (and its in the tap water) have been used up and the tank is going acidic. It can go very very fast. If you don't do something today tomorrow the whole community will perish! It doesn't hurt fish as bad to go up Ph as it does going down Ph. Get the Ph back up quickly to where it was or your fish will get acidosis and die. Call an aquarium specialty store in your area, they can further explain. Please trust this advice. You have to do something TODAY.

Answer 6

This is going to sound dumb but what kind of gravel do you have? Believe it or not certain types of gravel will keep your ph from increasing or increase it too much. Also, if you are using distilled water, or a water softener in the house or in general have soft water, this is the culprit. Read below for understanding PH in your tank.

The property of water to resist changes in pH is known as buffering capacity. You can determine the capacity of your buffering system by measuring total hardness. A reading of 4-6 dH or higher is usually adequate to keep the buffering system in place and maintain a stable pH. A reading under 4 dH means there isn't enough of a buffering system and the pH is likely to drop. For higher pH levels, you will probably want to aim for 6-12 dH. Many hobbyists choose to measure only Carbonate Hardness (KH), which is a measure of the calcium carbonates in your water. This test is also effective in maintaining a proper buffer system. When testing for Carbonate Hardness, a reading of 75-100 mg/L is adequate for most aquariums, while a reading of 100-200 mg/L would be desired for higher pH levels. For the purpose of freshwater aquariums, measuring either total hardness or carbonate hardness is necessary, but measuring both independently would not be needed.

You need to know that anywhere in your aquarium where detritus (a fancy term for dirt) accumulates is a source of Phosphate production. As detritus accumulates in your gravel bed and on your filter pads, the Phosphate levels in your aquarium rise. Free Phosphate ions may bond with calcareous buffering material, precipitating calcium from your aquarium, and reducing your aquariums ability to keep pH stable. This is why it is so very important to clean your filter pads regularly and vacuum the aquarium gravel with each water change. In addition, your tap water contains buffering ions. Doing regular partial water changes will help to replenish the buffers which have been lost. This is important in all aquariums, because fish respiration and organic wastes alone will cause a gradual drop in the ability of your aquarium to buffer against pH swings.

Now the question becomes what to do if the fish you want to keep have very special pH requirements. If your fish prefer a pH level which is reasonably close to the pH your aquarium water is naturally buffered to, then I do not recommend you make any changes at all. Unless you are keeping an extremely specialized fish your fish will be fine. On the other hand, if your fish have pH requirements which are far from the values in your tank, then you have work to do.

Let us consider methods of raising the pH of your tap water. There are many additives on the market today which claim to raise your pH. Most of the liquid products on the market today are a 50/50 success at best when used alone only to find the ph will soon return to the normal level of 6. You also need to use a product to increase the buffering ability of your aquarium. To maintain a stable pH in the upper levels of the pH scale for fishkeeping, I would recommend using a buffering substrate such as crushed coral. You can add crushed coral to your existing aquarium. You can place larger amounts of shells or chrushed coral beneath the substraight in the tank. I personally place the crushed coral in a mesh bag and place the bag in my filter. You will want about 1 kg of crushed coral per 40 liters of water to buffer the water to hold a pH around 7.6. This method does not allow for the use of large quantities of crushed coral, but can be effective if you only need to make small adjustments to your aquariums buffering ability. This is why ocean items such as shells and ocean sand should not be used in a fresh water aquarium. It does raise the PH level.

Be assured that attempting to control pH is the most frustrating experience for a fish hobbyist. I would guess that 50% of the problems encountered in new aquariums are a result of the aquarist attempting to change the pH level. Few fish keepers actually need to adjust their pH. For the majority of aquarists your tap water pH will be adequate. The dangers of adjusting the pH incorrectly far outweigh any benefit you may receive by moving your pH a few points on the scale.

Remember, when it comes to adjusting your pH, less is more! Stability is most important. Routine maintenance is the key to keeping your pH stable and your fish healthy!

Also, do not use baking soda in your tank. Over doing the ph plus adding additional salt is not going to do your tank any good. It will also revert back to 6 when the carbon filters pull the Soda out.
Hope this helps