ACK!!!

I admit to not testing my pH often. It was always the same and I had an extremely high kH to keep it the same.

Tonight I bought some ghost shrimp and I was almost done acclimating them to the pH. My pH is normally 8 so I checked the pH of the shrimp container and it was 8.3! I immediately checked the tap and it was wayyyy low at 7.5. I checked my qt tank that I was borrowing water from and that was 8.3. I checked my tropical tank and that was 8.1. Two days ago I did a huge clean out in that tank, replacing 100% of the water because the driftwood made it disgusting and there was a lot of blue green algae. What happened? I don't even have a kH test anymore..

For the short term problem, what pH should a acclimate them to? I got a bucket ready with dechlorinated tap water but then I'd have to acclimate back down to 7.5. Maybe I should do a water change on my qt tank (I did a partial water change on that tank 2 days ago so its pretty clean) and use the old water for the shrimp?

I went ahead with the shrimp plan except I took 1.5 gallons out of each tank. The qt and main tank are both 10 gallons so I am worried about replacing the water with a pH that low. I really hope this just happened and it wasn't this low two days ago when I did a 100% water change on the trop tank. Those poor black neons...they are acting fine as ever though. My first original 2 lived through my uneducated days of dosing huge amounts of pH down into the tank, only to have it rise back up in the next few hours.

I just tested the tap again and now it is 7.4 or lower. 7.4 is as low as the high range test goes, so I will test low range tonight.

I'd say the tap water just happened, otherwise the pH in your trop tank would be lower than 8.1 after a large water change.

General rule of thumb is too allow an hour of acclimatising for every point of pH difference. So if you need to do another water change while your tap pH is low, make it a minor change and add the new water gradually over a period of time.

Okay I was too tired last night, so I tested the pH again this morning. The pH from the tap is 7.2 now? How long will it take to go back to normal? If I do small frequent water changes on my tanks I don't think it will be much of a problem...but what about my betta? He lives in a 3 gallon with no filter, so he needs 100% water changes weekly. His pH is 7.9 right now by the way.

M'kay I just ordered a gH and kH combo test kit from Big Al's. Shipping was almost as much as the price x_X My sister thinks I'm a lunatic for being upset over a pH drop, and my dad doesn't even believe that it dropped that much that fast. I think he thinks my AP test kits are just toys

Kissy, I have 0 kh in my tap water so my ph always crashes without help, I use crushed coral in my gf filters to keep it stable.

But I just wanted to let you know what I do with my betta tank since it has no filter either and requires 100% changes. The ph difference in my case is not quite as great though, so not sure if you could do yours this way too. My tap water comes out at 70-7.2 and after it sits out for a day it drops to 6.6-6.8, which it does in the betta tank too. I usually let the water sit out so it matches,l but when I have to do an immediate 100% change I put the betta into another container with the old tank water, then every hour I take about 1/2 a cup of old water out and add in 1/2 a cup of new so the ph adjusts gradually. Once the ph is the same as the new tank water I put Mr. Betta back in. It is time consuming but if it is only a temporary thing for you then maybe it'll work. Of course I am no expert, but this method seems to work.

EDIT: LOL, somehow I missed Annette's post which says the same thing I just did, sorry about that!

Okay I've been keeping a pH log.

Tapwater
6/2: 9:30pm- 7.5
10:00pm- 7.4
6/3: 7:30am- 7.2
6/4: 11:30am- 7.5

I kept a bucket of treated tap water out...
Bucket
6/2: 9:30pm- 7.5 (fresh from tap)
6/3: 7:30am- 7.6
6/4: 11:30am- 7.9

So I think if I age the water for 2 days then it will reach where it was before. I'll have to see. kH kit pleeeaaasseeeeee come here soon ._.

Kissy

It sounds like there is a fair amount of dissolved CO2 in your tap water, when you have that it drives the Ph down a few points like you are seeing, to speed things up use an airstone and airate the water for a few hours to release the CO2. a Ph of around 8.2 or so after airation shows you have decent levels of carbonates and if you check the Kh look for around 4 or 5 DKh for stability if it is lower add some bicarb to bring it up to something around 7-8 Dkh or 130-150 ppm.

Kevin

How does CO2 get into the tap water? If this is the problem, will it return to normal soon?

"How does the CO2 get in the water?"

the utility company puts it there to control Ph! it is deliberate. I'm certain if you leave the water in a bucket for a few days while being airated your Ph will probably settle around 8.0-8.2.

cheers

Kevin

Stupid utility company! Don't they understand that fluctuating pH hurts fishies! I consider myself lucky I caught it when I did. I'm glad I only have smaller fish tanks now.