Why is my aquarium ph so high and how can I safely lower it?

Question

Whenever I test the ph in my aquarium, it's always like 7.6-8.0, which seems awfully high. I can't determine what is causing the problem. I do a weekly 40% water change. I vaccuum the gravel as best I can, but I don't want to remove everything because otherwise my Cory won't have anything to eat. I feed the fish every other day, either bloodworms, brine shrimp or Tetleys flake food.

My aquarium is a 6 gallon and I have 4 fish in there now and don't plan to add any more. 1 female betta, 1 little albino cory and I added a couple little otos who help keep the algae in check. It's a marineland system 6 that came with a pretty powerful filtration unit that seems to do a good job. I've also added an airstone and a heater and keep the temp pretty steady between 78 and 83 (it goes up a bit during the day). I have a couple plastic plants and some smooth gravel. Fish all seem happy and energetic.

Maybe my tapwater is just naturally alkaline? I do treat it before adding it to the tank.

Answer 1

I highly, highly recommend not worrying about it. PH of 8 is not that terribly high and most of the common aquarium fish can handle it without any issues. Just avoid the really delicate species. I have kept a very wide variety of fish successfully in PH 8.0 tapwater and wouldn't consider ever messing with it.

The majority of tap water out there is more alkaline because it doesn't rot pipes like acid water does. Always treat your water with water conditioner. As far as I'm concerned this conditioner is the only thing you should ever add to your tank - they sell a lot of garbage at the pet store and the more of it you use, the more you are raising the chances of problems.

Those PH adjustment chemicals they sell at the pet store are highly NOT recommended. They add stuff to the water to try and lower it, while the water still contains all of the minerals that made it hard in the first place. The two fight and the water inevitably wins, and the fish lose when the water becomes unstable. Trust me, quick fixes and bottled miracles don't work.

Peat moss is a method of lowering it - the problem is that the more alkaline your water, the less effective it is, and in many cases the amount of moss needed to make a noticeable difference can be excessive, and the water very yellow.

If you really feel the urge to mess with your PH anyway, then the best bet is to buy bottles of distilled water or use reverse osmosis and mix this with tap water. You must mix it because distilled and R/O alone is missing important elements to keep fish healthy and the water stable, but mixed together you can achieve a neutral PH of about 7.

Answer 2

Yes, there are tons of chemicals and vcarious "natural" ways to lower your pH as many others have pointed out. Don't do it! The fish you list have no problem at all in the pH of your water and trying to lower it will only lead to the pH bouncing up and down and that is far, far more harmful to your fish than just leaving it alone, even if it is a bit high. Not that 7.6-8.0 is high, that's a fine range for your fish.

Your tap water is no doubt the source of the higher pH. It will test as hard, with a high carbonate hardness and your test will reveal it to be about the same pH as your tank. That's fine and a good thing.

ADDITION: Consider this a ditto to Ghapy whose post was added while I was typing.
MM

Answer 3

I wouldn't worry about the ph, really. I've got Gourami's, platties, zebras, corys, plecos, and even 3 Betta-Girls in my tank, and it stays at over 8.0 ph... It's the tap water here, I know.
But, I screwed up, and added a TON of chemicals when setting it up, at the first of the year, to make sure it wasn't outta wack, but I think I made it worse. So, I do partial changes about once a month, and everyone's happy in there.

Couple suggestions -
First, have your tap water tested. If everything is safe for the fish, I'd add nothing but stress coat to it when you do your partial changes.

Second, Try a couple live plants. Your betta will LOVE it, (all of mine do!) and it will help equal out all the bad stuff in it, depending on what kind of plant you get.

Thrid, Driftwood is known to lower the PH also. May be be worth a shot if you're really concerned.

Fourth, if you've got any WHITE colored rocks for decoration, (like limestone) or shells, it would be a good idea to get them out. It will cause high ph. To test if it's causing high ph - take the rock or shell out, and drip vinegar on it. If it starts to bubble, it's raising your ph. Don't put it back in if it bubbles. I had to do this too.

Also, if everyone's happy, why do you want to change anything??? High ph isn't really a concern at all with the fish you've got. But, a severe change in ph (or anything really) will stress your little guys out, and may kill them. Don't change your ph drastically quickly!!! THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

Good luck, and I hope this helps!!!
;o)

Answer 4

Contact your city water department and they will tell you the ph, hardness and just about any other water question you have about your local municipal water supply. If your water comes out of the tap at 7.6-8 ph just smile and switch your fish to African Rift Lake Cichlids or Central American Cichlids. If you insist on soft water low ph fish get a reverse osmosis (RO) unit and add some peat moss to the filters to lower the ph. When you do this you need to lower the volume of water changes and since the volume is lowered you need to raise the frequency of the water changes. Live is easier to just get fish that match your water though I'm guilty of not doing that as well so I spend a lot of time on some tanks providing the proper environment for these fish.

Answer 5

The water could naturally be alkaline or you might have a natural buffer already present. Do you have any shells in the aquarium? The calcium carbonate in the shell will neutralize the acids that normally develop. Also, check before you alter the pH of a tank. Do some research on what is the best pH for the fish you mentioned. There is an authror named Axlerod. His books might be some help.

Answer 6

The normal level of the water ph is 7(this is the neutral one) and what you got is 8.2 that is already what you called alkaline. You need to bring back your water into its neutral level by using the ff. dried ketapang leaves-Use only those on the ground don't pluck them from the branches because it contains toxins if you pluck it. When it drops naturally, the toxin is purged in the leaf dying stage while on the tree and the connection is sealed and dried before the leaf drops. driftwood-Driftwood is also a good alternative, however different driftwoods leak different amounts of acids. Also, it is not practical to keep changing your driftwood. peat moss-peat is also good, and besides lowing pH it also softens the water. Put the peat into a filter bag so it doesn't dirty the water. The bag can be put in your tank or in your filtration system. To accelerate the process, you can boil it like the way you make tea and use the solution by itself. pineapple skins and lemon juice-Be careful with these.. they can crash your pH if you're not careful. These can be picked up from beaches or from some fish shops. Be careful that you get pure sea shells that has not been laquered.

Answer 7

As the last reponse was test your tap water figure out if your tap water just has a high ph if so then there's no use in trying to lower the ph with the drops... it just makes for a very unstable ph balance and eventually your ph will rise up again because it's being buffered anyways it's useless.

do you have any rocks like limestone in there that are causing your ph to go up higher... certain rocks will rise the ph.

the only way to truely lower the ph is a Tap Water Purifier unit, takes the impurities out of the water for a better stable ph..

or just be happy with your ph and get fish that are custom to that

Join me at www.fishaquarium.org

Answer 8

Test the tap water. This is probably the source. If the fish are fine, which sounds like they are, don't worry about it. Most fish can adjust to a wide variety environments and adding things to change it tends to be worse than keeping it stable. There are buffers that can be added to bring it down but the fluctuation during water changes will be stressful for your fish. If the source of the high pH is the tap, just relax and let it be.

Answer 9

the pH up chmeicals work , the pH down will jump right back uop. check your water for GH/KH, and pH. if they're high, try adding Ro water every other water change, its available at walmart. test half RO ahlf tap and mess around until you find what you like, do the mixing in abucket, try to come up with a good ratio and start adding that to the tank. and less on the changes, 1g is more than enough. note no pH down chemicals, it can cause a pH shock killing the fish

Answer 10

Hi...most times it is just better to stop messing with the pH. You end up pickling your fish and it usually returns to what it was to begin with. If your fish don't mind the pH, just don't mess with it. All your fish sound like they are well. You don't even need a chlorine remover if your city doesn't add it to your water (believe it or not most don't!) You are doing a good job with just your steady fresh water changes...you might want to up it to 50% a week.