Question about ph?? help!!?

Question

my aquarium alwyas has a high pH (about 7.4 to7.6) and sometimes even a bit higher, but usually in the range that i have just given.

i have tried to keep it down, and i would like to get it as close to neutral as possible. i prepare the water before hand and put stuff in it to make it more acidic, but its hard coz the water where i live is naturally hard.

is water with a higher pH bad for fish??? i have lost 3 so far and i didint do anything worng ( al least i dont think i did...)
could this be due to pH or sometihng else. i check the ammonia and its always 0.

how do i keep it down and can i do any damage to fish?

p.s. i put salt in the water so my fish dont get fungus! it works!
could this be affectong pH?

ill provide some more details

my tank is 24 litres

its been set up for 4 years, but i have lost heaps of fish coz when i started, the people at the place i went to had NO IDEA so i did all the wrong stuff
i did it all again and its been up and running since about january this year

i have 3 platys ( i had 3 more fish but they died :0(

i have an underground filter it doesn't have a sponge or catridge or anything,
its a special type not sure what it is....

heat is about 26 degrees C

pH now is about 7.6
pH has always been high
when i first started, it got as bad as 7.8!!! (from limestone based gravel! stupid shop people!) i got new gravel...

i have a rock at the back with a plant growing on it and a small brige at the front

i have an amazon sword and a bit of grass

tap water pH is 7.8 or maybe higher. my pH test kit only goes to 7.8

i dont use my airator much...i only have 3 little fish!

hope thats enough

thanks for all the help at the moment!

by the way i NEVER put chemicals in the actual tank!!! i just put a bit in the water that i will use to fill up the rest of the tank when i clean and vaccum it!

Answer 1

First, minor amounts of salt will not affect the pH of your tank, so don;t worry about that and keep adding the salt. As you pointed out, it really does work.

As to the pH. Most fish will do just fine in a pH of 7.4-7.6. It's a rare fish indeed that wouldn't so I would suggest you not try to adjust it. You mention your water is hard and it's tough to keep the pH down. The up and down roller coaster of pH is far, far worse on your fish than a pH 7.6 ever would be. Yes, you could actually be harming your fish in your efforts to provide them with a "better" pH. Allow your tank to return to the normal pH range and just leave it. Much better for the fish that way honestly.

MM

Answer 2

Overall, the pH you give is fine for your fish. I've personally kept tropicals in a pH (straight from the tap) of 8.2. So I seriously doubt that the pH is your problem here. As other answerers have said, you'll do more harm in trying to change the pH than to use it at the level it is from your source.

Salt will not alter your pH as long as you are using aquarium salt, or some other non-iodized form of basic table salt - NaCl. If you're using marine (sea) salt for saltwater aquaria, this contains buffers to raise your pH - marine tanks are kept at a pH of 8.3-8.4, so this could affect your pH if this is the type of salt you're using. Still, at the amount that would be put in a freshwater tank (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons), it shouldn't be a big change.

Two things in your question and comments stand out to me. One, you say your ammonia is zero. That's a good thing, but is your test kit expired? Old chemicals may not give an accurate reading. And what about nitrites (also toxic) or nitrate (best kept under 30ppm) levels? These can also affect your fishes' health. Do you monitor these as well?

Two, you say you "don't use your aerator much". Do you have a filter besides the undergravel filter? The air pump and airstone are what drive your undergravel filter. The movement of the air bubbles pulls the water up the tube, so other water must flow down through the gravel, taking solids (fish wastes and food) and dissolved ammonia and nitrite with it to where your bacteria can convert these toxic substances to nontoxic ones. Without good flow, pockets of harmful gasses can build up under the filter plate, then get released when you start the air pump up again.

The airstone also provides oxygen by way of the water flow to these bacteria and to your fish. If you're turning the air off, you're cutting off their source of oxygen. Unless you have another filter, you should be leaving your air pump on all the time! If you could get one, a powerhead, rather than an air pump and aistone works even better and makes your filter more efficient by moving a greater amount of water through the filter. I think this might be the real cause of your problem.

Below is a link to a website with information on different types of aquarium filters and what they each do to clean the tank water.

Answer 3

As DanielleZ said the PH in your tank is fine. PH is affected by salt levels w/ temperature increases depending on how much was added.

It is better to have a stable PH than to keep changing it. Most fish can live with a varied PH. It is better to accept the water the way it is not constantly fight to try to keep it where YOU want it. Doing this will stress your fish since YOU changing the PH constantly will flux the PH every day.

Stop adding things to make it more acidic. Most fish are fine living in hard water.

Answer 4

First off it is better to leave the PH to what it is going to be than to fool with mother nature. Messing with the PH only leads to more troubles down the line. Most fish do well in a ph of anywhere from 6-8 some even lower and some higher.

The key is to keep the ph the same. Messing with the ph does more harm than good to your fish.

You have lost your fish due to trying to change the PH level in your tank. Other than ammonia, fish are more sensitive to PH changes than anything else. Your water has a hardness. What that water's ph is is what it is going to be. Learn to live with it, your fish do. Everytime you attempt to make a correction in the ph of your tank, dropping points, adding points your fish are the ones who feel the burn. A higher ph since 7 is neutral like 7.4 isn't a big deal. LEAVE it alone.

If you feel your ph is too high for your fish, opt for a slow ph changing alternative like bog wood or peat.

If you need more info on PH and how it works in your tank feel free to email me.

Answer 5

Changing the ph down the scale from what they are used to is really REALLY bad! I wouldn't mess around trying to change ph. You didn't say what fish you have. Test the ph from the tap and repost what that is too. Some fish are just fine in that ph range, unless you're keeping discus. If you truely want neutral water I have a solution for you. For now stop messing with all those chemicals. You go down a slippery path using all that stuff.
If you can repost...
tank size
how long has the tank been set up.
what fish and how many
filtration
heat
ph now
ph then
list of decorations
ph of tap water
airator?
No salt doesn't affect ph -
I'll try to help you.

Answer 6

generally high pH does not affect small freshwater fishes. if the fishes that died were new, I would say that they were just bad stock. if they aren't, I would consider setting up a hospital tank. use a neutral buffer, and use malachite green to kill the fungus, rather than salt. make sure the water is well airated.

Answer 7

I would be more concerned with the kh than the ph. as was previously stated the changing ph is your problem. Let it be. If your continue to try to artificially control your ph the fish will continue to die. good luck to you and happy fish keeping.

Answer 8

thats not high in a grand scheme of things, and pH very rarely kills fish, if its like a wild caught discus or some kinda soft water gourami maybe

but not fish store fish, anyway check your carbonate hardness which does harm fish and goes along with a high pH in alot of cases

if you want to bring your acid levels up, try using a filter bag with peat moss in it in your filter, it works and will leave a tanic color to your water, i do it for my discus
no the salt is not affecting it

Answer 9

You can buy products that will keep it in a specific range. Just add every time you do a water change. I use one to keep mine at a very community tank friendly 7.0`. Just check with yoru local fish store. :)

Hope this helps.