Introduction
One of the chemical parameters you will have to measure when you have an aquarium with fish is pH. PH is a measurement of how acidic or alkaline your water is, and freshwater fish like various pH levels.
Some fish like it as low as 5.5 or as high as 8.5. So when you select the fish for your aquarium, make sure they like the same range.
What Is pH
As I mentioned before, pH is a measurement to determine how alkaline (basic) or acidic your water is. A pH of 7.0, found in distilled water, is neutral; it is neither acidic nor basic.
Water that has a pH lower than 7.0 is acidic, while water with a pH greater than 7.0 is basic.
The pH of the tap water where I live is 7.4, or slightly basic. When I let this water sit overnight, the pH drops to 7.0 because the chemicals dissipate and the water reacts with the air (carbon dioxide in the air will lower the pH).
Adjusting pH
Before adding replacement water to your aquarium you will want to know what the pH is. Usually when you sample your tap water for pH, it will be slightly basic but when you let it sit overnight the pH will drop to where it is neutral or 7.0.
If it is not at the desired level you need for your aquarium, you can buy chemicals that can lower or raise the pH for you. But make sure you follow the directions carefully or you might end up chasing pH.
If your pH is not that far away from what is in your aquariums water, you should consider adjusting the pH after you add your replacement water. If you are like most good Aquarist, you will replace 10% of your water every week.
As an example on how little the pH will change we will use my aquarium as an example. I have a 75-gallon aquarium and replace 10 gallons of water every week.
Here are the numbers used in my calculation to see how much pH changes by replacing 10 gallons of water, with a pH of 7.0, in my 75-gallon aquarium with which has a pH of 6.8.
- 10 gallons of replacement water with a pH of 7.0
- 65 gallons of water in tank with a pH of 6.8
- pH change in aquarium after adding replacement water is 6.862.
Using a free calculator I found on the Internet calculate the amount of pH change, you can see that the pH in your aquarium is only changed by 0.062. This amount of change should not stress your fish.
If your calculations show that the change in pH will be greater than 0.1, adjust your replacement water so that the change in pH in your aquarium will be less than 0.1.
Conclusion
If your aquariums replacement water is higher or lower than the pH in you aquarium, perform a calculation to determine the amount of change. If the change will be less than 0.1, then go ahead and add the water. If greater than 0.1 then adjust the pH in the replacement water so that the change will be less than 0.1.
Minimizing the pH change to less than 0.1 will decrease the stress of your fish.
If you want more information on how to keep an aquarium, download a free eBook, titled "15 Tips On Building And Maintaining An Aquarium", at http://www.squidoo.com/homefreshwateraquariums or at Your Home Freshwater Aquarium.
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