[AquaticLife] pH change units?
Messing around with your pH is dangerous, especially if you are lowering it.. What you need to do is like Lenny mentioned, however, you not that your pH kit stops at 7.6 which means you’ll need to get a high range pH kit to get an actual measurement of the pH out of the tap. Measure the water’s pH from a sample right after it comes out of the tap. Retain the remainder of the sample for 24 hours, then measure the pH again. Note if it drops and by how much it drops. That will be the natural pH of your water. This is the pH level you would want to maintain in your tank
Now, here comes the hard part to understand, mainly because of the use and misuse of a term. That term is alkalinity. Alkalinity is not a term to be used when referring to pH. It is misused when you refer to a high pH level as being alkaline. It really is more base. Alkalinity is a measurement of the buffering capacity of the water, which is often related to the hardness of the water, but not always.
(This stuff is fun, isn’t it?)
Each body of water has a certain capacity to maintain its pH. When you add chemicals to try to bring down the pH, you are actually neutralizing part of this buffering capacity of the water. The problem is that if you add enough buffer neutralizing chemical, you can “break” the buffer, which will, in turn result in a catastrophic fall in pH value, one in which many fish will not survive, either from the rapid decline or the inability of the fish to carry out its bodily functions in such an environment. You will not know, until it is too late, how much it will take to break the buffer. Plus, this is a lot of work for you, since you will need to keep a close eye on the pH as the buffer tries to hold itself and the pH against the lowering agent.. As water seeks its own level, it also seeks to maintain itself.
The question is whether the fish, which you do not mention, can live in your water as it is. I know the books mention a certain pH range for many fish, and, frankly, much of that is wrong. Some rams, South American cichlids, are often found in water approach 3.0 on the pH scale, yet, you will not find a book commonly available that mentions this fact. Looking around a bit, the lowest recommendation I see for this fish is 5.0. While I have no experience, I am sure that the reverse is also true. This just goes to show that if you are merely keeping fish, they will tolerate a much wider pH range than is suggested in commonly available literature. If you want to more than keep fish, well, you will need to provide the proper conditions for growth and maturing the fish so they can be bred.
(Maybe shelties are less trouble Gregg . We now have 2 BC’s in house here.)
\Steve//
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
