The Puffer Forum

my test kit came today and i tested my water, everything is fine except my ph?

its an api Fw test kit, and the gsp is in a 65l tank by himself

ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - <5
ph - 6

is this too low?

i will be changing him over to a 130l tank in a few weeks, am setting up next few days and will slowly be changing it to brackish with marine salt.

will the marine salt slowly bring up the ph? and not to worry and bother trying to add stuff to bring up ph?

Ideal is 7.5

I would say it is to low or very low, I hear that a crushed coral works good for bringing ph up

Yes, the salt will bring up the pH. What is your tap water?

my tap water is 5.5 ph =/

Do you know that is more acid than urine? I'd talk to your water supply company about how unhealthy their water is. I hope you're not drinking that!

5.5? are you on well water? or tapped into a hot spring? A bath in that would make your skin tingle!

You using digital reader for that? Otherwise I'd try another test kit.

lol we do drink and bathe in it, no problems with it

i had a tropical tank a few yrs ago, and used this water, and no adverse affects..

i will retest water, and get my bf to read results

nb we tested water again, and tank water 6, and tap water and boiled water in kettle 5.5

i dont understand, i might take water sample to lfs and ask them to test for ph tomorrow.

put some ocean rock in the tank - that may help bring it up a tad

5.5 is a little low (6 would be better) but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

i would be surprised if was the test kit, its brand new and doesnt go out of date til 2012

but will get ph tested for tap and tank water at lfs tomorrow

if same, will add some marine coral sand, and slowly add marine salt to tank to bring ph slowly up and make to brackish

seem best idea? dont want to add chemicals to bring up.

puffer is doing very well.

baking soda?

but someone else would have to input on that idea

lfs told me baking soda too - bit by bit - but it may not stay at that level - thats why i suggested some ocean rock - that could buffer it well /?

I would rather see you use crushed coral or aragonite sand to give you a more stable pH than baking soda.

Okay, I will - as I frequently am - be the dissenter. The pH does not matter a bit to the fish - they cannot read external pH. This does not however mean that your water is good or proper for the fish. Only a few fish can prosper in such water, and that definitely does not include a GSP. The problem is not the pH, the problem is the rest of the water profile, which does not include the pH. The problem with your water is manly little no buffering, no alkalinity, but secondarily little or no hardness and being generally mineral-poor. The TDS of your water is likely close to that of Amazon blackwater during flood. That is quite unusual. Are you from a peaty area? We do have few areas in this country with such water, but very few. England has them in a number of areas, and I would suspect that Ireland might as well.

Fish need some minerals routinely, many of these they get from their diet, but if the water they are in is extremely mineral-poor - very low TDS (total dissolved solids) - the osmotic pressure of the water can be really hard on the fish.

The fish you have is from an estuary or bay - the area where waters rivers, streams, bogs and marshes flow into the sea, with large enough tidal mixing areas to have daily and seasonal variation in water hardness (primarily calcium and magnesium ions content), alkalinity (mainly carbonate and bicarbonate ions), salinity (sodium and chloride ions), and in TDS (total dissolced solids, meaning all the already listed ion plus lots of other ions). Your fish was likely born and grew in such relatively high TDS, high alkalinity, high hardness, and detectable to high salinity, and relatively high TDS - in short, water which is intermediate between routine freshwater and seawater. Your water is much closer to rainwater - it is not really close to any other surface water.

Are you planning to move the fish into at least brackish water? If so, the new tank can be set with aragonite sand or gravel. That alone will help. If you do plan to do this, you can go on and buy the aragonite now, bag it in mesh bags, and age the puffer's replacement water with the aragonite - every little bit will help. If there is no room for such aging, get at last some of the aragonite you will use later and keep some mesh bags of it in the puffers tank - preferably directly in the filters flow.

You could also use the products which are used to reconstitute RO (reverse osmosis) or RODI (RO water plus deionization) water for tank (your water is close to RO) use such as RO-Right or Equilibrium. I don't know if those particular products are available to you, but something comparable should be. I know that such are available in the UK, so they may be to you as well. Please do not take the word of the LFS for such, check in with us here - you will get better information.

When you do move the fish into the larger tank, with preferably aragonite substrate (which need not be deep - 1/2 to one inch is plenty), and add some level of marine mix to the water before it goes into the puffer's tank, you will have no such issues. You could consider getting a smallish container of whatever marine mix you plan to use later and add some small quantity to the water now and routinely at partials (pre-mixing is really needed). After that you will have no water problems at all. The pH will be higher as well, but that is not what the fish cares about or needs - it is the minerals. Whatever you do, do not allow the LFS to sell you any buffers - they do more harm than good. They lack stability. Marine mix in solution is stable long-term - that is what the fish needs.

HTH