Yet another Newbie Ph Question

[HokieNav]

I've had a 38 gallon tank up and running for about 3 months now. Nicely cycled, Ammonia and Nitrites steady on 0, Nitrates held under 20-30 with biweekly 30% water changes. Ph is steady in the mid-6's.

However, the other day as I was cleaning up the vials from testing the water I noticed that as I dumped the vial containing the Ph test into the sink with the water running that it turned bright blue. Thinking to myself that was rather odd, I decided to test the Ph of my tap water. After digging out the "high range" test kit, it appears that the water out of the tap is around 8.0.

Before I do another water change (I'm due for one this weekend), is it going to be harmful to the fish to pull out 10 gallons of 6.6 Ph water and replace it with 10 gallons of 8.0 water from the tap? In doing all of my research, I understand that a stable Ph is more important than the "right" Ph. Should I consider putting something in the tank to try to raise the Ph so that water changes are less of a shock? If so, what? Would smaller volume, more frequent water changes be warranted to help keep a more steady Ph?

Or, is this much ado about nothing?

Thanks so much for your help. *celebrate

 

[unwritten law]

If what you have been doing is working... don't try and fix it. Adding chemicals to "stabilize" it will just make it unstable.

 

[homebunnyj]

You could let a container of tap water sit out for a day and then test the pH. If it's closer to your tank pH, you could let water set for a day before a water change. Or, conversely, you could look at your tank to determine why the pH is so much lower -- driftwood, maybe? or are you careful to keep your tank clear of dead organic matter?

I think you'll be fine with normal water changes, maybe up to about 20%, but I haven't done the math to determine how much that would change the pH, you'll have to do that part yourself. However, as noted above, if you haven't killed any fish to date, you're probably gonna be fine.

In the event that you decide, after careful consideration and research, that you want to raise the pH of your tank, you can do that by adding some crushed coral to your filter media chamber or by adding a rock containing limestone, for instance, or some shells to your tank. If you do one of these things, however, you should probably monitor the ph of your tank for a few weeks.

If you have a planted tank you will want to gather more information before messing with the kh/gh/ph as those factors my affect your plants' health.