So, my tap water appears to have a pretty high ph. I tested my 3 day old (currently fishless) tank today and the ph was through the roof high. I have added a piece of driftwood to the tank, and since there aren't any fish in it yet I went ahead and treated it with some chemical ph-down. From what I've read, though, this stuff is maybe not the best thing to use once you have fish in the tank as it can cause too-extreme ph changes? Is that correct?

So I guess my concern is, that every time I do a water change and clean the tank, I'll be putting back in that same tap water with the high ph. Is this something I'm going to have to really worry about? Is there anything to be done about it?

How high is through the roof high? With driftwood you may see a slight drop, but not enough to make a difference.

Test your water again after the ph down and I bet you will find it is back to where it was. Could take a couple of hours. This usually happens because of the buffers in the water. This is why it is not good for the fish because of the ph swing.

By through the roof I mean that it read as high as the test could read. I didn't see the number when the fish store guy tested it for me, he was just all "holy cow, that's high!". I picked up a ph test kit while I was there. I added the ph-down early this afternoon, and I just now tested the water again and it's still reading as high as the test can read (dark blue 7.6). I guess, now that I see the actual number, it could be worse, eh? LOL

In any case, I really don't want this to be an ongoing problem. What are my options for getting my ph to an acceptable level, and am I in for trouble every time I change my water?

I can't get to my API color chart at the moment, but did you test with a standard ph test kit? If so, you could actually have a higher ph than what read and you need a high ph test kit. My water pegs the low ph test kit, but reads 8.2 on a high ph test kit.

I guess it's a low ph test. It'll be a few days at least before I can get out to pick up a high test kit (nearest store is 20min away in the city). I sure hope this isn't going to be a huge pain in the rear, after all the money I've already put into getting this set up

High ph is not the end all to everything. Many of us have and most fish tolerate it although outside what would be considered "optimum" for their particular species.

Maybe you can take another sample to the LFS and have them give you the actual number.

7.6 isn't bad at all...if that's where it sits.

Do not, I repeat, do not use the pH down or other chemical products. They are a recipe for disaster. Your tank will be more suseptable to crashes and they will occur.

If your water is really "holy cow that's high!" high, then you may want to start looking into using Peat plugs or similar. Knowing that everyone's description is always different, I kind of take it like it's well over 8. But again, without the actual number, kind of hard to give solid advice.

Have them also give you numbers for GH and KH as well.

Thanks for that James. I'll see about stopping into the petstore with another water sample, maybe tomorrow. I was in town today, but it's pouring rain and I didn't feel like dragging the three kids out of the car in that nasty weather LOL Despite what the fish store says (granted it's just a chain store, so I'm well aware they'd love to sell me tons of bottle of this and that), I've been reading a lot online and most people are of the opinion that as long as the ph level stays steady, most fish will be fine with a higher ph, so that gives me hope!

Very true. Just depends on how high we are actually talking about.

In Reply to your Post Re: High ph:


Hi there I used to have PH of 8 and higher, but now it is 7 - 7.1PH

I also have Drift wood and i'm now using Sera Peat granules in my filter also, which can be purchased online, or at your local fish store.

To stop the fluctuating PH of water changes, I have a another small bag i put into a bucket to soak for a couple of days to lower the PH, before putting the water exchange into the Aquarium.

It's a very good product and it keeps it very stable in conjunction with the drift wood !
its quite cheap also depending on the size of your tank it will last a very long time.

If you are stuck with high ph look into fish that like a high ph. Others will tolerate it well if it is not too high. What size is your tank?

snail, it's a 33 gallon tank.

Here's where I'm at. I picked up a wide range ph test kit, and the water is currently sitting somewhere between 7.5-8 (colour's too dark to be 7.5, but too light to be 8 on the chart). While at the pet store, I found some peat granules, which I currently have stacked with my other filter media in my filter. I figure I'll let that run through for a couple of days and see if it doesn't make a difference. Thanks robert_jun for the suggestion! Thanks to all your opinions that most fish will tolerate a slightly higher ph, I'm not so worried about getting that perfect 7.0 or whatever. Hopefully this will help me get to at least a comfortable number.

As a funny aside, my (only available)(chain) fish store has two guys who work in the fish section. One guy has been there for quite a while and really knows what he's talking about. The other guy is considerably younger and obviously doesn't have as much experience. When I went in today, the younger guy was working. The peat granules I found were loose in a box and made for the fluval filters. After not finding any myself, I asked him if they had any made for the Aquaclear filter that I have. They didn't, so I picked up a package of the mesh bags that most of the filter media comes in and said I'd just put the peat in there. The fish guy tried everything he could to convince me that I could ONLY use the peat in a fluval filter, because that's what it was made for, while simultaneously trying to get me to buy several different chemical concoctions he assured me would lower my ph better than the peat. Sheesh! I'll need to make a real effort to only stop in when the other guy is working!

I have the Fluval peat granules in a mesh bag in a Aquaclear filter on one of my tanks.

Personally, I'd be ecstatic with a ph of 7.5-8. My ph out of my tap is 8.2. CO2 is the only way I can get below 8.

As long as it is under 8 I dont think it's that bad. You might not want to keep the real acid loving fish but there are plenty that will do ok, some that will love it.

I wouldnt mess with the PH if its under 8.0 as many fish in the hobby are captive bred and do just fine in regular tap water. I have angels breeding in water with a PH of about 7.8 to 8.2 and the babies are growing and looking just fine in the same water.