Okay, so I am impatient.. Not to mention a worry wart with my fishies...

So when I found out I had to de-gas the large amount of c02 in my water OVERNIGHT..all I could think was ..what if I have an emergency???

After noticing that the Ph in water in my kitchen was 8.6, but the water in my bathroom tap was 8.5 I realised that just the water falling from taps that were higher up was making it lose .1

So armed with my trusty 2 gallon buckets I dutifully poured back and forth from one to the other 5 times (as high as you can whilst still getting it into the bucket) and low and behold I got it down as low as my water will go 8.1!! NO WAITING

So provided you know what your water SHOULD be (ie test in the morning after letting it sit out) then by my reckoning you should be able to work out how many pours will work for you!

Hope this helps any worry warts like my self out there

Just one question, where did the Co2 come from? did you add it?

Water companies can inject CO2 to lower pH, or it can be dissolved in well water. Generally when you gas out CO2, it increases pH cuz CO2 is acidic.

Well all I know is when I did the test for c02 on my water..put some in a jam jar..test for ph..shake the jam jar for 60 seconds..test again.. (Toothless recommended that I did this BTW :-) the ph went from 8.6 on the first test to 8.1 on the second..which meant that I had c02 in my water?

I have an under-house tank (everybody has them in Bermuda its the law) where we catch rain water to use for all our needs..it is about 20,000 gallons and I think "sludge" builds up over time in the bottom trapping c02..It is a concrete tank, hence the high ph.

Anyway sisnce I found this out, my poor fishes no longer have to suffer horrendous Ph Swings, which was making them very sick So I am very Happy!

Maybe I have something else in my water then? It definately LOWERS the Ph by degassing whatever it is Out?? help! now I AM Confused... What could it be then??

I was just reading up on bermuda and your water tanks.
http://www.bermuda-online.org/architecture.htm
So rainwater runs off the roof (which is whitewashed) and runs into the holding tank(s). Some lime leaches out of the roof paint and you may get heavy metals and other pollution if the roof is dirty or pipes from the roof are rusted or corroded or leaking. If galvanized piping is used in an older property, it will deteriorate and corrode internally due to the "soft" rainwater. You're supposed to disinfect the water using 2-4 ounces of bleach for every 1,000 gallons of water in the tank.

Here's another interesting article that says you may have a high bacterial count of e-coli.
http://www.mercuryexposure.org/index.php?article_id=214

I don't think I'll grump about our local water company any more!! LOL

You water conditioner has something that binds heavy metals right?

ok... so your water starts out soft cuz it's rainwater and the pH is so high cuz of the lime from the leaching of lime from the roof and concrete.

From what I understand, rainwater tends to soft (low in minerals), more acidic, not well buffered and contain lots of CO2. but you get splashing as the rain hits the roof and more splashing as it enters the holding tank which should gas out some of the CO2. The cement in the holding tank will raise pH cuz it leaches lime into the water. Dunno about the sludge at the bottom of the tank. How active it is in producing gasses, probably depends on how chlorinated you keep the water in the holding tank. If it's well chlorinated there shouldn't be many bacterial processes happening that would produce gasses. If it's not, you'll have a lot of gasses happening, the type depending on how well oxygenated the sludge area is. I also wonder how much fresh air circulates in the tank and how much water movement happens in the tank.

I still have no idea of why pH would decrease when you agitate the water. Either something's gassing in or something's gassing out when you shake it. but gassing CO2 OUT of the water should RAISE pH, not lower it.

WOW Betty!
I think you definately know more anout Bermuda's water catching than anyone I know! Want a job at Works and Engineering??

Thankyou so much for all your research!

Sorry... I have been enjoying my fish since they have got over their problems and haven't been keeping up with the forum :-(

We personally dont add bleach to the water tank as its big and gets a good turnover of use. We havent had any problems with e-coli thank heavens! So I guess it's still a mystery? I am still degassing the water of "whatever" it is and it is working like a charm.. There is plenty of air above the water in the tank. So maybe we should get it cleaned out? You are supposed to clean it every 5/6yrs but nobody likes to do it!

any way thanks again for all the hard work and investigating! If I learn any more about it I will let you know