# low hardness but high PH



## slothking (Jul 13, 2014)

Hi everyone. 

I have a 350L community tank with basic plants and some assorted fish (5x gouramis, 2x tigerbarbs, 2x loaches, 2x salmon tails, 3x small pleco's, 3x brisstlenose and 2x red tailed sharks), The issue I have at the moment is that our water from the tap has a high PH (anywhere from 7.7 - 8.2) but very low hardness. Adding hardness generator to the tank results in VERY high PH. We have a giant peice of drift wood in the tank to attempt to keep the PH down, but that seems to also be softening the water too much. 

Help! Im worried that by adjusting everything we are stressing out the fish more then it is worth


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

If your plants are happy with your water, ignore it.

For the most part, your fish will be fine adjusting to a wide range of pH and hardness. It's far more important that your pH and hardness are stable.

If it's affecting your fish and plants, your best option might be an RO/DI system. Otherwise, CO2 injection might help bring your pH down, but then you're opening a whole new can of worms.

That said, high pH and low hardness is an unusual combination...

Test the water from all your faucets (bath tub, bathroom sink, kitchen sink, etc). I'm suggesting this because I live in an apartment where my bath tub and kitchen sink have the same hardness, but for some unknown reason the bath tub (and only the bath tub) has a pH of around 8.2-8.5, while the rest of the unit's faucets sit around 7.2... I try not to think about it when I shower :\

Point is, you might find water from other faucets suits your needs better.


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## Trenna (Jun 28, 2014)

What, precisely, is your KH?


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

Do you have hard water and use a home water softener? If so, they work on the principle of ion exchange. The plant delicious Ca++ and Mg++ get replaced with Na+. The Carbonate Hardness (kH) can be VERY high, with no real gH. If you have a water softener and it's feasible, then source your water prior to it hitting the softener.

A high Carbonate hardness will try to pull your pH up to about 8.3. If it's very high, then there likely isn't much you can do other than use RO water. Most fish can adapt, and like has already been said. Stable pH is much more important than ideal.


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## slothking (Jul 13, 2014)

Hi. Thanks for your help! 

Using a kh test kit it normally needs one or two drops. It's very soft. We don't have water softeners here in Australia. It's just a weird combination. Interestingly it affects one of our tanks more then the other two. I've tried to beef up the hardness this week and the PH has stayed fairly stable. Still high, but level 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Trenna (Jun 28, 2014)

How do you mean it affects one tank more than the others? What happens? 

How long does it take for the pH to drop, and how far does it drop? 

What are you adding? Are you putting in something to raise the KH or the GH or both? 

I'm really new here so I'm not sure I can help a lot, but the one thing I'm experienced with is very soft tap water.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Have you tested for ammonia or other substances that lower ph? (I can't remember other substances that have low ph off hte top of my head)

I say ammonia because I tested some top soil for a dirted tank that i had soaked in water for a few hours and it was off the charts in ph and ammonia but gh and kh were around 3-5.

Good luck!


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## Douglas Ingram (Apr 1, 2010)

Have you checked to see if there is something inside the tank system that is raising the ph?


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