Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdcad!amdahl!ames!nrl-cmf!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!yale!Ram-Ashwin
From: Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu (Ashwin Ram)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: pH
Message-ID: <24944@yale-celray.yale.UUCP>
Date: 11 Mar 88 16:54:46 GMT
References: <3ac595db.c998@apollo.uucp>
Sender: root@yale.UUCP
Reply-To: Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu (Ashwin Ram)
Organization: Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Lines: 33
To: henry_k@apollo.UUCP (Keith E. Henry)
In-reply-to: henry_k@apollo.uucp (Keith E. Henry)

I don't know the answer to your question, but if it's any consolation my pH also
did the same thing when my tank was new (I had pretty much the same setup as
yours).  After a couple of months the tendency of the pH to rise disappeared.
Actually now my pH tends to drop (because fish waste is acidic), but doing water
changes takes care of that.  I am very reluctant to add any chemicals if I can
help it.

I did notice that adding water conditioners like Amquel or Start Right tends to
increase the pH over time (if you leave a bucket of new tap water with Start
Right in it, the pH steadily rises by upto .5 or more over 2-3 days).  I don't
know why this should happen.  Any clues?  I think if you add a chloramine
neutralizer to water which doesn't have chloramine, or chlorine neutralizer to
water which doesn't have chlorine (e.g., water that has already sat out for a
while), the pH will rise because these chemicals are reducing agents.  Again, I
am very reluctant to add chemicals that neutralize something I don't have in the
first place.

I would strongly recommend you get real plants instead of plastic ones.  I
too started with plastic ones and slowly I replaced all of them.  Fish love
real plants -- they hide in them, they nibble them, and so on.  In addition,
plants help the natural ecological balance of your tank a lot.  They absorb
nitrates and other fish crud and carbon dioxide, and give off oxygen.  Read a
book (e.g., Ines Scheurmann) on various kinds of plants and which are good
ones for your setup.

I'm also posting this to alt.aquaria in case someone knows the answer to my
water-in-a-bucket question.

-- Ashwin.

ARPA:    Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu
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BITNET:  Ram@yalecs