aaronj_27 Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 does any one else have trouble getting the ph down to neutral in brisbane tap water? my tap water is 5 at best any ideas/ suggestions to bufer it ? what do you use? cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANCISTRUS Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 I would be suprised if it is 5. (7 is neutral) If so I wouldnt drink it. :urgh: I think you mean a higher figure. Ph down, peat. bog wood will reduce Ph. You need to aerate it to get accurate reading. Down myway the tap water is around 7.8 but it does fluctuate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frinkie Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 Depends on where abouts you live in brissy, it does vary from 6.5 - over 8 depending on where you are. Oh and I agree with the above post, if ur ph is 5 i'd be buying another test kit just to make sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whiteknight Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 amazes me the diferent ph u guys have there , does the water come from diferent water supplies? Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayton31 Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 mr knight i think its due to ....some areas have new water pipes some areas have old pipes but my water is 7.2ph iv cheacked it once and neva cheaked again no need to as long as ur constant with ya fishys they will be right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronj_27 Posted December 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 ok so got another kit and its 6 ish maybe 6.5 any one know how else to make the water more alkaline( basic ) ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briztoon Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 What part of Brisbane do you live in aaronj_27? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronj_27 Posted December 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 city near south bank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presto Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 my water use to be perfect for africans now its droped in ph so i have to use buffers to get it up.. the water companys r working with the buffer companys i reckon lol.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishHeadSoup Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 sheesh ay well i live in annerley like litterally spitting distance from u and mines always 7.8??? one would assume we would be on the same water supply no???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebun_88 Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 I've have lived in Indooroopilly/Taringa area for the last few years and the water has had a pH of about 7.4 (+- 0.2) and is moderately hard. It is my understanding that the pH of water is increased ex treatment to reduce corrosion in pipes. Also, I was in the Rocklea Markets Fish shop and they had a sticker saying caution, check water as it has changed (prompting me to google, coming up with this thread and recheck pH, been awhile since I did a change ).. I haven't noticed any change anyway. I did have trouble too getting my tank down to 7.0 (always hovered at about 7.4) - but I was also weiry of too much ph down buffer... That was until I started CO2 injection for plants last week (diy yeast method) and it has nicely brought it down to stable 7.0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebris Posted December 31, 2009 Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 just my opinion but stable ph is usually more important than chasing "ideal" ph...... Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy111 Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 good point Steve. alot of fuss is about getting a right PH level for a fish. as for instance a PH of 6.5 for discus. but what if the discus has been raised in an aquarium with a PH of 7.4. I know my tap water is around 7.4 - 7.6 and if i buy fish from a LFS or what not i just ask what PH they keep their tanks at. The worst thing you want to do is bring home a fish that has been raised in a tank with a very alkaline PH and put them into your acidic tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyD Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 well at carina the water out of the tap is crap like it reads 10ppm for nitrite and ph goes from like 7-8.5 whenever it feels like.lol i dont drink it and need double dose of prime just to bring it close to good for the fishies. as for buffers i use a buffer to get 7 and sumtimes i need a LOT if you get my drift.lol got told it had sumthing to do with the type of pipes used i.e copper, plastic...etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Hi aaronj_27 Have you tested your tap water recently.....? 5 is a very low reading for tap water....if I got that reading I would suspect a contaminate in the pipework....or test kit I wouldn't put it in any of my tanks......even my "Wild" bettas that Love soft acid water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebris Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 good point Steve. alot of fuss is about getting a right PH level for a fish. as for instance a PH of 6.5 for discus. but what if the discus has been raised in an aquarium with a PH of 7.4. I know my tap water is around 7.4 - 7.6 and if i buy fish from a LFS or what not i just ask what PH they keep their tanks at. The worst thing you want to do is bring home a fish that has been raised in a tank with a very alkaline PH and put them into your acidic tank. Well to expand on that Billy, you should always climatise the fish to temp as well as ph. I do this by the floating bag method but add a little tank water to the bag over a 45min to an hour process. My tank runs a 4ft sump so airation of the water is ideal to do this over such a long period of time. BUT, you must watch the fish and if they are getting stressed in the bag, make the descision to release in said tank or put in a hospital/quarantine tank and bring the ph to where you want it over time. I do quarantine my fish where I feel nescessary, but depends where you got the fish............. JMHO Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lach Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 i live just outside of brisbane and we have a different water source bout 6.8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuworld Posted January 20, 2010 Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 If anyone is interested here are the water quality statistics released by bcc from july 2008 to june 2009. They are not area specific and represent the entire area covered by the council, I have only included aquarium related parameters. LOR – Limit of reporting, column 4 – compliance with Australia drinking water guidelines. As far as your problem with low pH goes, I would suggest testing a neighbouring properties pH to verify the precision of your test kit. If your house is connected to a water softener a pH 5 is plausible, if the fill point was in the laundry. Total chlorine mg/L <LOR to >6 Yes Free chlorine mg/L <LOR to 5.6 Yes Nitrate mg/L 0.017 to 1.09 Yes Nitrite mg/L <LOR to 0.59 Yes Alkalinity mg/L 43 to 96 NA8 Aluminium mg/L 0.01 to 0.5 Yes Calcium mg/L 16 to 37 NA Chloride mg/L 21 to 232 Yes Conductivity uS/cm 240 to 934 Yes Hardness mg/L 68 to 210 Yes pH pH unit 7 to 8.5 Yes Potassium mg/L 2.1 to 5.9 NA Sodium mg/L 16 to 100 Yes TDS mg/L 156 to 598 Yes True colour PCU <LOR to 4.5 Yes Turbidity NTU 0.05 to 13 Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazydude99 Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 what would my pH be? I live in mansfield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 I was there about 2 years ago or so, and it was pretty consistant at around 7.6 Then again I used to test it before doing water changes, and sometimes it was a bit out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
