Reasons for Freshwater pH Levels to Be High

The pH, or percent Hydrogen, of water is simply a measurement of the level of the acidity in water. Although many fish can thrive in a variety of pH levels, some fish require a very particular, if not an exact, pH. A pH value is measured on a scale of 1 to 14, with 7 being neutral; therefore anything with a pH lower than 7 is acidic, and anything with a pH higher than 7 is basic. Having a tank with a high pH could mean death for your fish. There are many reasons why the water in a fish tank may have high pH levels.

  1. Incorrect Uses of Water Conditioner

    • Many people bring home their new fish tank and fill it up with water straight from the tap, then set the water out overnight to naturally condition the water. Many remember this trick from childhood, but as the quality of water degrades, water treatment facilities pump in heavy chemicals such as chlorine and chloramine, a derivative of ammonia. While most of the chlorine will evaporate out, the chloramine levels take much longer to dissipate. Setting out a tank overnight now is no longer a suitable solution, and additives and water conditioners drive pH levels up. Many times, too much is added, or not enough. Always make sure to read the directions and follow them precisely according to the exact size of your tank.

    Over-Changing the Tank's Water

    • The No. 1 cause of finding an elevated level of pH in fish tanks is when the fish owner is constantly over-changing the water. Changing your water out completely destroys the natural ecosystem that the tank creates every second of every day. You should never change out more than 1/4 at a time, to maintain consistency in the pH level.

    Substrates

    • To fill fish tanks and to decorate them to look more like underwater scenes, many people use various types of gravel, sand, limestone, coral or similar types of bedrock to cover the bottom of the tank and set up the foundation for your tank. Using any type of a substrate such as these can affect your pH level. Crushed coral should never be used in a freshwater aquarium, because it is guaranteed to increase the acidity, raising the pH to undesirable levels.

    Changing Levels of pH Too Rapidly

    • Keeping a healthy pH means fewer burials at sea.

      There are a variety of products and additives that you can be put into the water to change the pH level of the tank's water. The addition of water conditioners can change pH if too much or too little is added to the water. One of the more commonly recognized brands, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, offer products to test for pH and other hazardous conditions in your water including hardness, nitrite level, nitrate level and carbonate hardness. Once the test strip is finished processing, the results will reveal a reading of the pH of the tank. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals offers a product called pH UP, which will alter the acidity level. The problem is that many who people try to correct their water change the water too quickly, causing shock in the fish and instability of the overall ecosystem of the fish tank.