Funkytown Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 The Q's keep rolling... What's the best wah to deal with "bad" pH if/when I get it? Fish don't like change (just like most people), so how is this done successfully? Is it just best to do weekly 25% water changes, and make sure the new water is appropriate? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 weekly 25% water changes are a must! along with gravel siphon the gravel, as it is a small tank amonia will biuld up quickly. you dont want that. If ur PH is too high and a water change doesnt fix it, go buy some PH down and read the intructions as to how to treat. Shae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 It also depends on why the pH is "bad". If it rises, or drops once it is in the tank you need to find out why. If you have high, or low, pH from the tap you need to think about what fish to keep. Limestone in the tank will raise the pH and peat in the filter will lower it. Much better than pH up or down stuff which is only a temporary fix and can alter the pH too quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_from_nz Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 when buffering ph I set up a solution of ph up or down (for up use sodium bicarbonate) in a clean bucket and use a bit of airline tubing as a syphon (with a knot in it so it runs slowely) this will give a nice slow adjustment I am a firm believer if the ph is wrong don't panic as trying to get it right over night is what harms your fish more than anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 First off 'bad' pH could be higher than desired or lower than desired - each situation will have different remedies, said remedies will fall into one of two catagories - temporary or long term. Brian - in answer to your question regarding the water change (ie 25% weekly at an appropriate pH) the answer is a definite yes. People will probably dispute the frequency (ie 25% fornightly) but given that your tank is small it's probably safer to do the more frequent water change (just because what would be a small descrepancy in the pH of a large tank can translate as a major change to a small volume of water - so better to keep top notch water quality). Not sure of your knowledge of pH, so just a little refresher: a numerical scale from 0 - 14, pH 7 is considered neutral, below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline (also called basic). Most fish will be happy enough at pH 7 or a little to either side. pH often (though not always) goes hand in hand with water hardness (in very general terms hardness is the amount of dissolved minerals in the water). Usually soft water will be acidic and hard water will be alkaline. Hard water will also have more buffering capacity (buffering capacity just being the water's ability to resist pH change). The natural tendancy of fish tank water (excluding other influences from wood/gravel/ornaments) is to become more acidic with time (ie between water changes). As hinted at above, decorations that you place in the tank can influence the pH: Wood (if it is going to have an influence) will make the water more acidic - you should be more alert for this possibility if the water starts taking on a yellowish/weak tea sort of colour as this means the wood is leaching out chemicals and the pH is very likely getting affected. Leaching doesn't mean that you should pull the wood out or anything, just that you should keep an eye on the pH. I haven't had any problems with leaching from the indonesian/malaysian hardwood bits of wood though. Gravel/rocks (if there is going to be an influence) are most likely to increase the hardness and pH of the water. Things to avoid are sea shells and limestone. As far as determining if a rock is suitable the generally mentioned test is to put some acid (eg vinegar) onto the rock and see if there are bubbles evolved (bubbles should either be getting created or growing, often there will be bubbles of trapped air on the rock getting tested, these shouldn't be mistaken for bubbles from the acid dissolving the rock). I would recommend that you get a pH test kit. I probably wouldn't worry about getting a water hardness test - you'll probably want to do a couple of tests starting out, but many LFS's can do this for you (some may charge a couple of bucks for this). I would suggest that you test the ph of your tap water and also see about getting a hardness test done on it - as this lets you know what you're working with. (I'm not sure if all of Auckland is on a single supply, if it is then hopefully one of the other Aucklanders may be able to give you the numbers for tap water). As far as fixing problem pH - if the water is too acidic: - temporary fix is to use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), should be pre-dissolved in a glass of water to avoid fish trying to eat the granules as it goes in. - a more permanent fix is to add limestone chips or crushed shell/bird grit either to filter or to the gravel in the tank. Adding to the filter is probably the better solution as if you overdo the amount you can easily remove some without having to use tweezers to pick it out of the gravel. A convenient way to put it in the filter (does depend on the filter, but from what I've seen of the aquaone tank filters it should work fine) is to put the shell etc in an old stocking or similar. If the water is too alkaline: - temporary fix is to use pH down from the LFS or some form of commercial acid (probably sulphuric or hydrocholoric would be the best choices, wouldn't recommend phosphoric as the resulting phosphates could cause algae problems) - a more permanent fix is to add a pouch of aquarium peat to the filter. Both of the temporary fixes should be used with care - you don't want to make too extreme a change to the tanks pH, probably only 0.1 or 0.2 of a pH point a day. Both of the more permanent fixes wont make an instant change, more a gradual thing. You may only notice a problem pH when trying to introduce new fish (ie they die) - this is because of the extreme change in pH from what they were use to and what you're trying to put them in. The reason that the fish already in the tank may not be (apparently) affected is that they started off in a 'good' pH and then there was a gradual change to the 'bad' pH which they were able to adjust to. Sorry if a slipped too heavily into lecturer mode again this is all IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkytown Posted January 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Sweet as! Thanks for that monster of a reply! I liked science at school, so pH isn't completely foriegn to me. Very good post. Thanks heaps! Its good that baking soda is a suitable alkalizer, is Acetic (sp?) acid (ie. vinegar) inappropriate to use to lower pH? This is all hypothetical at this stage for me...of course. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I'm not 100% sure about using acetic acid - I'll have to do some reading/digging and find out. The reason that I haven't considered it is because I have access to the stronger acids and also it seems a little sacreligous or something to use vinegar in a fish tank - all you'd need then was the chips :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkytown Posted January 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 ...it seems a little sacreligous or something to use vinegar in a fish tank - all you'd need then was the chips :lol: That was a good one! :lol: We yanks aren't too fond of vinegar on fish tho, so I won't have problems with using Acetic acid. Citric acid on the other hand... Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.