Ph and you (formally Ph myths debunked)

Orion

Ultimate Fish
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Feb 10, 2003
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#1
This is a re-write of my previous pH article. A majority of the information is the same, but with a different view from me.

Please feel free to comment on this, as I look forward to the feedback. I'm very open to critique of my spelling and grammar, as well as other mistakes that I may have made. I only ask that if you correct me on my information, that you do so in a constructive manner so that I can make the proper changes if need be to the article.

As always, enjoy!
 

Orion

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#2
There are many myths about pH that abound in today’s society. From what’s best for a certain species, how to change it, how to keep it stable etc… With this, I aim to debunk and demystify some of the more popular myths about pH to help those new to Rift Lake cichlids have a better understanding. And who knows, maybe even teach some of the older dogs some new tricks on the process. Believe me, you don’t have to be a chemistry whiz to be able to figure this stuff out.

While this article is written more to the tune of Lake Tanganyika, one of the Rift Lakes in Africa, I hope that even for those not interested in the Rift Lakes, that they will be able to take away a better understanding of what pH is and how it affects our fish.

As we all have been, I was a newbie once. Standing in awe at the LFS looking in wonder at all the products available to me. Thinking “Wow, fish keeping can’t be that hard, just look at all the nice, overly priced chemicals that the wonderful company’s have made just for me.” Well, guess what. There are more products on the market today intended to part an inexperienced aquarist with their money that those that are useful. Aquarium companies exist to make money. Your Local Fish Store (LFS) is there to make money. Do you really think that they can survive on the sale of $.99 danios alone? Nope. That’s why they make, and often sell some very useless products. The water where you live has a natural pH, and any attempt to alter it is an effort in futility without being armed with the proper knowledge and know-how.

Lake Tanganyika
Yeah, I’m a little bias to this lake of all the rift lakes in Africa. This is where I find that the most amazing fish live. Lake Tanganyika has some of the most widely diversified cichlids found anywhere on Earth. While this lake is not the only place in Africa, or even Earth, you will find fish from this family, the species here have been isolated for millions of years and have evolved to take over the lake, and remains its rulers. The pH of the lake has been recorded above 9.5. Most of the Lake also has very hard water, with General Harness (GH) in the high twenty’s, and Carbonate Hardness (KH) in the high teens/low twenty’s depending on the location of the water sample tested.

I have kept cichlids from Lake Tanganyika for some time now. At first I was more than happy to do my part to replicate the natural water conditions from which the fish came from. Then I became lazy, and thought that it wasn’t necessary to do this, that my fish look fine, seem healthy and are breeding. Remember, surviving isn’t always thriving. Keeping your pH high for Rift Lake cichlids is, in this authors opinion very important, and luckily isn’t a difficult task to do, but it does take great patience, and a willing mind to do it properly. It is certainly not for those ‘Lazy’ hobbyists among us.

But before we go much further, we need to learn exactly what all these numbers, strange abbreviations, and test kits mean. Why are they important to us, but more importantly, why are they important to our fish.


What is pH?
PH is the measurement of the acidity and alkalinity of a substance. For the purpose of this article, we will stick to the pH of water. The pH scale goes from 0-14. 0 is very strong acids, where 14 is absolute alkalinity, and 7 being neutral. The pH scale is what’s called a logarithmic scale. Meaning that each whole increment is 10 times more, or less than the next or previous unit. So a pH of 8.0 is 10 times more alkaline than a pH of 7.0. And a pH of 6.5 is 5 times more acidic than 7.0. Here we can see why acclimating a fish to a new pH slowly is so important.

KH and GH
What does these numbers have to do with pH? A lot! This is the measurement of the hardness of the water. Hardness is the measurement of the degree of dissolved minerals found in water. The more dissolved minerals, the harder the water. The less, the softer the water.

Unlike the pH scale, which is universal, hardness can be measured in two ways. Degrees (dH), or parts per million (PPM). These are the most common ways to express hardness, with measurements in degrees being most common and widely used among aquarist. This table gives a brief look at what is considered ‘Soft’ water and ‘Hard’ water.




The kH of an aquarium can often times be related back to the pH of the water. The higher the kH, the higher the pH. But please keep in mind, that this is not always the case. The kH is actually the measurement of the waters alkalinity. This alkalinity measurement can tell you about the water’s buffering capacity. The higher the kH, the more able the water is able to withstand addition of acid compounds into the water, keeping the pH stable. In soft water you are less likely to find such a buffer, and the pH can change much easier, for the good or for the bad.

Now don’t look at this as any soft water tank is doomed for failure if the owner tried to keep rift lake fish because it is not. This is very far from the truth. All this tells you is that if you have soft water, you are going to have to pay extra attention to water changes and what goes into the aquarium. Putting the extra time and effort into your tank can often give you an even greater sense of accomplishment once done. Driftwood for example is a very popular decoration for aquariums, but it does have to ability to alter the pH. It does this because driftwood can release tannin into the water. This tannin is acid based and can lower the pH of an aquarium, though most of the time not enough to worry about. This is why most Rift Lake set-ups are seen without real driftwood. (The effects of driftwood on pH is highly dependant on the natural KH of the water.) Other decorations not labeled for aquarium use can also release minerals or even toxins into your water, again altering the chemistry. Unless you know for sure that something is safe or not for aquarium use, its best to just not use it at all.

Planted tanks are becoming more popular in the aquarium hobby for many reasons. And the most common fish one is likely to see in these types of tanks are species of fish that come from South and Central America. Why? Because some planted tanks require additional nutrients and gases to grow to their full potential. Co2 (Carbon dioxide) is often injected into a planted tank. Co2 will create a chemical reaction once in the water that will reduce the pH. The water volume and amount of Co2 being injected determine the reduction in the pH. This is a big reason of why you will not normally see many hard water species living in planted tanks with Co2 injection. If you like planted tanks, and like Rift Lake cichlids and would like to mix the two, don’t worry. All is not lost.

A lot of commonly found aquarium plants do best in soft, acidic water. However there are some that actually do better in the hard alkaline water that rift lake cichlids thrive in. And Co2 injection is an option, not a necessity, with a planted tank. Some species of crypts, vallis and anubias to name a few can do quite well in a hard water tank with no additional Co2 injection. But I’m not going to get into the how-tos of planted tanks. I’ll leave that for another author.

Before you try any plants in your Rift Lake tank, you need to research the plants just as you would research your fish. Make sure that you can provide them with their basic needs, and they will reward you for years to come. Also it’s generally not a good idea to keep plants in the same tank as any herbivorous species. Before you know it your nice beautiful bed of Vallis can be ate to the ground by a hungry group of Tropheus. Many things need to be taken into account to keep a happy, well-balanced tank.
 

Orion

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#3
You want me to do what with my water?

I want you to test it!

No hobbyist sound be without a good test kit. While you may not use it on a daily basis, it’s always in the fish’s best interest for you to have one on hand and know the parameters of your tank.

There are many different types of testing kits available for the hobbyist today. One of the most common and most accurate in this authors opinion are the drop tests. These test come with a glass vial used to measure out a pre-defined amount of water (usually 5mL), bottles of testing solution, and a color chart to read the results. This is an easy to use test, its cheap to buy, and can last quite a while depending on how often you use it, and can be the most accurate for the price. The testing solutions can, and do go bad after a while, and it is probably best to replace them at least every two years to ensure that you get the most accurate results.

I have never used the strip tests. These are strips that you dip directly into the water and it gives you instant results. I have never heard anything good about these type tests. Also for the money VS. the amount of tests you get, they are extremely expensive.

Electronic testers are in my opinion the easiest and most accurate out of all the methods. But, are also some of the most expensive to get started with. They use a calibrating solution that sets them to a common pH that then compares your water with the known pH to give a result. You just turn it on, stick the testing part in the water, and get instant results.

Testing should be done at least weekly when establishing a new tank. As the tank matures, you can adjust the frequency of the test to suit the needs of the tank. Some people faithfully test weekly, while others (myself included) may only test once every few months.

It is always a good idea to keep track of the results of your tests. Not only pH, but other water parameters as well such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and hardness. This helps determine how often you should test, and how stable your tank really is. Also one needs to keep track of the pH of the water out of the tap. Chlorine and other chemicals affect this reading, so to get an accurate measure, it is best to take a bucket of tap water and let it sit overnight with a bubble stone in it. The air stone helps to eliminate the chemicals that are used to treat your tap water, and thus making the reading more accurate. Let the bucket sit for at least 24 hours, and then take the tests.

I have a variable pH from my tap. Seems that during the winter months, my pH will rise, and during the summer months it will drop. Although I really do not know why, my guess is this is because of the different amount of chemicals the water treatment plants uses, and the turn over of the lake where we get our water supply. Unfortunately, even at the highest reading, my tap water is unsuitable for my cichlids. I buffer my tank, so it is important for me to keep an eye on this so I can adjust the dose of buffer that I add when doing a water change.

So what is the right pH to have? Depends on how much work and effort you want to put fourth into your tank, and what your tap water is. If you don’t want to involve yourself so much in adjusting the chemistry of the tank water, then keep fish that are best suited to your water.

pH and your fish

How does pH affect your fish? What should it be at? These my friends are questions best left to the experts, and I am far from one, but I will attempt to give my new worldview on this subject.

The first article I wrote of this nature was very similar in content, some places identical, but with one big difference. At the time I did not believe that it was necessary to have a high pH. I listened to what others with much more experience that I had to say on my views, and took it upon myself to further increase my personal knowledge of this.

Many leaders in the cichlid hobby would suggest that a pH of 7.5 is the bear minimum that any rift lake species should be kept with. Now I am not in any position to argue with them, but I would say that the higher, the better. When I started buffering my tank over a period of weeks, I could really tell a huge difference in the fish. They were more active, showed better color and ate with more gusto than ever before! The higher my reading rose, the more improvement I saw with my fish. My eyes were opened to a whole new world.

Before I had thought that just because my fish were breeding, eating well, and seemed healthy, that all was well with my tank. I didn’t think that it was absolutely necessary to buffer. I was wrong big time. Why should your fish only survive, when they can thrive!

The most important aspect of pH, is keeping it stable. This is best accomplished by performing regular water changes. When water evaporates, only the H2O molecules leave the tank, meaning that the minerals and pollutants are still in the tank. If you have a 40-gallon tank, and you loose one gallon due to evaporation, now you only have 39 gallons of water, but the minerals and pollutants of 40. Dissolved solids and minerals are what make pH and your water alkaline. The more that are dissolved in the water, then the higher your kH is going to be. So if you do not perform regular water changes, the pH will increase for a time. But before you get excited and think you’ve found an easy way to increase the pH of your tank, let me elaborate a little on this. As the minerals build up, so does the organic waste from your fish. This waste is an acid base. So once enough of the acid is built up in the water, it is going to eat away at the kH, or buffering capacity, of the water. Eventually the tank is going to experience a dramatic pH drop and this can mean the death of all inhabitants in the tank. No sight is sadder than to see a once proud and beautiful fish scum to the effects of bad water quality and end up dead, or with disease and sickness.

What’s more important? pH, kH, or gH? That’s a question that I cannot give a straight answer too. GH is general hardness, and is more of guideline for saying how hard ones water is. As I said earlier, kH and pH are often times related, and more so when the hobbyist uses buffers. As a friend of mine recently said that rings so true “ Take care of the kH, and the pH takes care of itself.” The fish seem to show more improvement when the kH and the pH are raised as opposed to only the gH. So I tend to lean more that the Carbonate hardness and pH is much more important than the general hardness.

Breeding and other considerations

Most Rift Lake cichlids are easy to breed given the right conditions. And when I say conditions I am not speaking only of the water chemistry, but it does play a very important factor. The ratio of male to females, other inhabitants in the tank, tank size, and the way the tank décor are setup is also important in the breeding successes, or failures, that you may have.

Despite the fact that quite a few aquarium fish have been breed commercially for hundreds of generations, some Rift Lake cichlids still retain the need to have water conditions similar to that of the Rift Lakes to successfully breed. This being said, I have successfully spawned several Tanganyikan cichlids in water buffered to better replicate lake conditions, and also spawned the same species with regular un-buffered water with a lower pH. But this too brings up many questions. Who’s to say that just because the fish spawned in softer water, that the same brood would not have been larger, or healthier if the parents had spawned in harder water with a high pH & kH? Does the fry that came from softer water have less of a chance of growing up to be a wonderful adult specimen? What other effect to the health of the fish, unseen by the human eye, are taking place on the inside? To my knowledge, the long term effects of keeping a Rift Lake cichlid in soft water is not yet known.




Buffering your tank water is not difficult to do. Nor does it have to be an expensive and time-consuming process. While there are several commercial buffers available for use, there are also home remedies that are just as good, and much cheaper. The biggest piece of advice I can give someone who is interested in buffering his or her tank is to not get into a hurry, and do it slowly.

Tanganyikan cichlids are unique in many different ways from not only other fish, but other cichlids as well. Even those from other Rift Lakes in Africa. These fish deserve the very best that they hobbyist can give them. If you ever get the chance to watch a female shell dweller keep her fry close to her shell, or see parents leading their young around the tank foraging for food, or watch in amazement as a female broods her eggs in her mouth until they hatch, you’ll quickly understand why the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika have found a permanent place in many aquarist’s hearts and tanks.
 

fish_chic

Large Fish
Oct 30, 2006
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florida
#5
Orion Buffering your tank water is not difficult to do. Nor does it have to be an expensive and time-consuming process. While there are several commercial buffers available for use said:
so what are the different home remedies you can use to buffer your tank. oh and why do you buffer again.
 

papyrus

Medium Fish
Mar 12, 2007
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#6
Orion,I know this is off-topic,but I love that cats' lime green"wig".For some reason it recalls, Anna Wintour,...the expression on the face is priceless.-D
 

Sep 26, 2007
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Australia
#7
Dear Orion,
I really liked your article on pH it's very informative. There was just one thing I picked up and that was the definition of pH itself. While it is a measure of degree of acidity or alkalinity it is actually a measure of percentage of Hydrogen in your water as in [p]=percentage and [H]=Hydrogen. The more Hydrogen you have the more acidic and likewise the less acid you have the more alkaline your reading will be. That's why you'll put in more minerals,trace elements and salts or what have you to make it more alkaline; The more hardness there is the less likely it is for the pH to end up acidic because you have less Hydrogen overall. Just a thought from my old grade 12 teacher in Chemistry...Loved your article...
 

Orion

Ultimate Fish
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#8
Interesting, can't say I've ever heard that before. May have, chemistry sure isn't my strong point so back in the day it may have went in one ear and out the other :). When researching for this I tried not to get to far into the details of the chemistry part to try to keep it as simple as possible (more for me than anyone who might read it lol). But thanks for the additional info!
 

Dec 27, 2008
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#9
I wondered about the strip tests. I have been using them and they sure are expensive. I'll try the big kit that covers everything and uses vials and solutions.
My strip tests have been showing a gradual change from "kinda hard water" with moderate buffering capacity and neutral PH to lower buffering capacity lower PH and harder GH. My nitrites have stayed at 0 and only once has my nitrates showed 20 since my tank was established. I do regular 20% wkly water changes and clean my gravel with each water change.
I've changed my routine a little and started changing out 10% 3 times per week and cleaning my gravel still once a week. I've also moved my fry out since they're free swimming and eating flake food. I've also got some chemipure i was going to use for my new 55gal tank but I thought maybe I should put it in my established tank to help stablize ph.
If that doesn't work, I'll move some of the fish out. My tank is not over stocked right now, but once the mollys, corys and pleco grow bigger it will be. I have a 29 gal with 3mollys, 3 platys, 4 corys, 1 pleco and a clown loach. I love my bottom dwellers! But I have too many.
I got the clown because of snails that came with my live plants. I like snails but these little buggers reproduced like crazy. My clown loach has kept them at an acceptable level; enough to keep feeding him but not take over!
So, in addition to more water changes and chemipure, I will move the pleco into my 55 gal once it is established, and move the platys into a 10gal that isn't being used. Hopefully doing all this will keep the PH from crashing once these fish grow bigger.
What do you think? lol!
 

#10
Hello Orion,

This is my first post on your board. Thanks for the informative article.

I guess in a way you could say that I am blessed. That is because I live in a place where the natural water conditions are just right for raising African cichlids; i.e., it is hard and alkaline, and I don't need to spend large sums of money for buffering agents, etc. Furthermore, my aquarium rocks and substrate are free, because they exist all around me, being as I live on an island which is in large part constructed of limestone, coral rock, and sand. I literally got everything in my back yard! :)
 

1077

Large Fish
Jun 4, 2009
175
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0
#11
so what are the different home remedies you can use to buffer your tank. oh and why do you buffer again.
I found a formula or recipe that's inexpensive and works well to boost alkalinity for fish such as cichlids and livebearers who prefer(need) ,hard alkaline water to do well in the long term.
One teaspoon Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
One Tablespoon epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)
One Teaspoon Marine Salt (sodium chloride and trace elements)
Per 10 gal of water. Check the pH and adjust as necessary. Note the one table spoon of epsom salt as opposed to teaspoon of others. Was shared by gentleman by the name of Fenner at Wetwebmedia, Aquarium, Pond, Marine and Freshwater Fish, reef tanks, and Aquatics Information