# Ph in new tanks around 8.5



## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

I'm looking to get it closer to 7-7.5. I've done nothing but add tap water treatment. It is city tap water. What can I do to bring it back to a normal range. And when I add water I was thinking I should add distilled water over tap. Can anyone chime in?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Just keep mixing distilled or ro water till you get it to what you want. You will have to do the same thing when you do water changes.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

I keep seeing RO, but i have no idea what it means. I've tried looking it up with no success.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

reverse osmosis. You can buy that at a lot of lfs.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

Ooh, good call. Thanks for that tip. RO looks like a good idea, is it something you can over-do?


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## TypeYourTextHere (Apr 20, 2011)

I have the same problem. My tap water is at about 8.5 but after awhile (about a week) it levels out at about 7.5 I am not exactly sure why this is, but it seems to do so pretty constantly.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I know people that uses ro to the point that the tank is 1 part tap and the rest is ro


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

nasomi said:


> Ooh, good call. Thanks for that tip. RO looks like a good idea, is it something you can over-do?


Over-do is subjective to some point. I don't really see that happening for you. For your two tanks, you may need to get a RO system. You'll probably need a 50/50 mixture. The worst thing to do is not do water changes because you don't feel like going and getting more water or it cost too much.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

I'm thinking I want to do water changes with distilled water vs tap. It's relatively cheap if i do 25gal at a time per tank once a month. Is there a disadvantage of doing this?


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Your tap water evidently has a very high mineral content. This high a ph is fine for Brackish water and Roft Valley Chiclids but not good for most Rainforest fishes. To lower the ph you need to make water changes with Distilled or RO water. Since you have no fishes you can make big water changes. When you add water to replace that that has evaporated, use demineralized water to prevent your tank from becoming the Dead Sea.


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## hank (Apr 11, 2011)

TypeYourTextHere said:


> I have the same problem. My tap water is at about 8.5 but after awhile (about a week) it levels out at about 7.5 I am not exactly sure why this is, but it seems to do so pretty constantly.


Tap water has a certain amount of CO2 in it. What is your tap water when it is out gassed? You really don't give enough imformation about your tank, such as what type of hardscape, your substrate.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

I don't know what hardscape is, i don't know what tap water is when it is out gassed. my substrate in one is sand and the other is rock. The sand tank was establsihed and has good bacteria, the gravel tank is just out of storage and cleaned so it's still developing.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

take a cup of tap water, let it sit for 24 hours then run a barrage of tests on that cup of water it will give you those results of what your gassed off Ph is.
Hardscape is rocks and wood, basically Hard decor.

I use STRAIGHT RO water in my angel/ram cichlid tank and my discus cichlid tank with no ill effects just alot of spawning. The Ph with the discus is Co2 controlled at 6.4 and my angel/ram tank is straight RO at 5.8 ph. My tap water is 8.8ph. 

You can use peat,some woods and then chemicals to get the Ph down. Peat I have no experience with, Wood I use Oak,Mopani and Manzanita and sometimes cypress to keep my Ph stable and either add a new piece to get it lower or just leave it.

here is a great article on Ph adjustments
Adjusting pH in the Freshwater Aquarium - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

If you don't have fish yet it might be easier just to choose fish that like or do okay with a high PH. Many fish will be okay with that water, it won't be so good for discus, neon tetras or rams for example.


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

I would recommend investing in a RO/DI system. It will be able to save you a lot of hassle in the long run. I got one for my tank about a year ago and haven't looked back since. I have found that you can cut down on sickness by using this water because you can control EXACTLY what goes in your tank. One thing you will want to consider if you do start using solely RO water, is that there will be absolutely no minerals in the water. You would need to supplement any vitamins and minerals artificially, but you would not have a Ph problem anymore.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

I think that's a good idea. Otherwise I'll be spending $50+ per week in water change buying gallons of distilled water. an RO/DI system would pay for itself in a month. I'll have to figure out what those vitamins or minerals are that i'd need to add though.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

Wait I thought RO/DI didn't do anything to the ph level...


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

RO/DI water should read a ph of 7. but you should test regularly to be sure it is where it should be


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

How do RO/DI systems work? The ones I look up don't have a pump on them. I figured they'd just go in line with the pump after the filtration process, but they say gallon per day instead of gallon per hour.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

nasomi said:


> I'm looking to get it closer to 7-7.5. I've done nothing but add tap water treatment. It is city tap water. What can I do to bring it back to a normal range. And when I add water I was thinking I should add distilled water over tap. Can anyone chime in?


chime chime *old dude

All my tanks both FW and salt including my Fw with a peat moss substrate have a pH of 8.4-8.8 using the api high range test kit. Yet even fish who are supposed to have pH lower the 7 do just fine and live for years.

pH rises as pH lowers.

edit woopsies that doesn't make sense. here is what I meant to say.

PH rises as carbon dioxide lowers. With my planted tanks the thriving plants consume the carbon dioxide raising the pH. that can hardly be harmeful to the fish.

I would be more worried about using chemicals to change that environment.

but still just my .02


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

But I read that blood parrot cichlids will die at such a high ph. And at $25 a pop i'd rather not find out the hard way. Has anyone had experience with this?


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

No experience with those fish but high pH is a result of low carbon dioxide.

I find it hard to believe that would be harmful to fish


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

You have to hook them up to a pressurized water line (i use an adapter and hook it to my sink). They work much slower than you would expect, Mine puts out around 60gpd and works by first pushing the water through a sediment filter then forcing water though a VERY small membrane(around 1/2 a micron). By doing this only the water molecules are allowed to pass through. i dont know how to explain the rest of it in a clear way, so i messaged a filter expert haha have to wait and see what they say.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

Ooh, so I wouldn't cycle the water already in the tank, just would just put it in line from the sink. It has the ability to withstand the pressure generated from the sink to slow hte process down?


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

I hook mine to the sink and fill a clean trashcan with water for my water changes that way i can test and mix my salt and do any dosing i need to do with all the water for the water change. they will take the pressure as long as you dont have insane water pressure. if you start looking into them you can see what pressure they are rated at to make sure you wont have any problems


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