Okay, I'm a tard. I know nothing about pH beyond what I learned in HS chemistry. What's ideal for Fluffy, my little ryukin, and his white cloud and oto buddies? I tested last night at 7.5, which I know is pretty close to neutral. The weird thing was, my tap water tested at 8.0! The test kit is less than a month old... its the Tetra test kit from Big Al's. When I use a conditioner (not often cause I usually set my water out) I use Tetra Aquasafe... I assume that since they're from the same manufacturer that it's not throwing my test results.

I could give you a whole lesson on pH, but far simpler, perhaps, is a referal to a very nice page on the net. Then, if you have further questions, this board will help a lot. You pH of 7.5 is fine for goldies. So is the 8.0. A consistant pH is far more important that a specific number (as long as it is within a particular range).

http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html

Thanks, Daryl. You rule.

Is 8.0 even normal for tap water, though? I thought that was REALLY bizzare. Also, is a jump from 7.5 to 8.0 a big change?

Hi there

GF are pretty hardy when it comes to pH. As Daryl said though, its better to have a CONSTANT pH for them even if its a little lower or higher than *normal* than for you to be trying to get it to be normal and having the pH swing all over the place....thats what GF DON'T like.

my pH ranges anywhere from 7.8 to the more usual 8.0-8.4 and my fish are perfectly happy.

A pH shift of 0.5 (7.5-8.0) is pretty significant in chemistry terms because the numbers for pH are to the power of 10 (Isnt it?) but I wouldnt worry too much unless it is swinging all the time. I would worry more about whats in the tank rather than the difference between the two.

In my opinion, I would rather have a higher pH 8.0, than a lower one of 7.0!!

Hope this helps

It does help a lot, thanks. However, why would you rather have a higher pH?

Many Chinese breeders claim that the higher pH prevents many viral and parasitic diseases.

I think what she is saying mostly is that it is better to adjust your fish and tank to the pH that you have, rather than artificially adjusting the pH to something else. This can get difficult, sources have changing pHs at times, and, depending on how well your water is buffered, changing the pH can be very difficult. Since goldies can do well in a fairly wide range, I would leave it alone and buffer it to that value.

My pH comes out of the well at so far above 10 that I cannot read it. But, as the water degasses, it lowers. You may want to test yours right out of your source, and then cure a batch, and retest. You may find the results to be dramatically different.

Thanks, Daryl. I always have water sitting out to dechlor, so I'll test that tonight. The water that tested 8.0 was straight out of the kitchen faucet.

I wanted to put a small piece of driftwood in the tank. I know that will lower the pH; should I just skip the driftwood then?

If your water is well buffered, it should cause very little difficulty. I would definately take a look at your KH and GH as well as your pH if you can. If your water tends to be "hard" you probably have sufficiant buffer. You just need to make sure there is enough that anything like slight water source changes, driftwood and other decorations and fish load (nitrogen cycle changes) do not change the pH. With a good buffer, these things really can do very little to the pH. Just get in the routine of checking it!

Your water has a pH of 8 right out of the tap probably because it is undersaturated with CO2... when you put it in your tank it equilibrates with the atmosphere (CO2 goes in the water) and the pH is reduced.

Like Daryl explained in the Amquel article, nitrification and other microbial activities also lower the pH

I discovered last night that my buckets of water that I leave out are reading between 7.0 and 7.5 (closer to 7.5). So yeah, I think the CO2 was an issue. s'all good. As for hardness, I will test today and see. I have a hunch that the water is pretty hard. Most of my county is on public well water, and there's tons of minerals and stuff in it. I will double check though.

Thanks again, you guys. You're the best! B)

Make sure you check the KH like was mentioned before. It is the the most important thing that keeps your Ph stable.
The reason most people like a higher ph is because it is more beneficial for you filtering bacteria (nitrobacter and nitrosomonas). Also remember that the higher the Ph the more toxic ammonia will be too the fish.
Without proper buffering your Ph is going too bounce all over the place which is one of the worst things for fish especially if you get the dreaded crash.