PH Buffer, Die Die must. Period. Options

[CP]

>> How to prevent PH shock?
Need a pH pen to determine pH in both waters. Difference of +/- pH of 3 should still be ok.

Bro,
Do you mean 3 or 0.3?
+/- pH of 3 means pH 4 to pH 7 also OK. 1000 times acidity/alkalinity difference.

[CyberET]

hehehe.. pH 4.. fish almost dead liaoz

[desireless]

Bro,
Do you mean 3 or 0.3?
+/- pH of 3 means pH 4 to pH 7 also OK. 1000 times acidity/alkalinity difference.

Alamak ... too sleepy... yeah it is 0.3 not 3

At pH4.. not only die.. it becomes soured fish

[CP]

Me also newbie here..........

Hoi, you member ID 147 consider newbie then I ID309 consider baby ah??

Jokes aside,this is one thread that i have read over and over again yet still cannot 100% comprehend.
So to all people new to this hobby dont be too alarmed if you cant digest all those kH, dKH, hard water, soft water, ammonia ammonium transition,total hardness,bla bla bla .........just remember to buffer your water.That all.

[goldrush]

I like you cpiw

remember what I post on the very first page of this thread

PLEASE BUFFER SO AS NOT TO SUFFER (LOSS)


regards

goldrush

[CP]

I like you cpiw

Oh NO!!!
I already have a loving wife,happy family and 3 children!!

[goldrush]

Dear Newbies

On the subject of pH and what it has to do with my fish keeping?
Now first you don’t have to obtain a pHD to understand the basic concept.
Scientifically pH stands for the power of Hydrogen and it is use to express the degrees of acidity or alkalinity in the solution

Mathematically pH is a logarithmic scale from 0-14 with pH 0 to 6.99 classed as acidic,ph 7 as neutral and 7.01 to 14 as alkaline

Take water for example H2O
It actually contain equal amount of H and OH ions.Just bear in mind too much H ions are acidic and too much OH ions are alkaline
So in the event H ions are allowed to rise,the water becomes more acidic and pH drops.

Now because pH scale is logarithmic,each change of one pH unit is TEN fold( X10)
For example ,if pH drop from 7 to 6,it means the hydrogen concerntration and therefore acidity increases by 10.Supposedly pH drops from 7 to 5 then the acidity increases to 100 times!

Now the goldfish preference in pH would be in the range of 6.6 to 8.5 in order to maintain healthy growth ,tissue regeneration and reproduction, in short to survive
Now what makes pH drops have already been thoroughly explained in the previous thread so I’m not going to be drawn into this topic.But I would like to highlight one important aspect of pH and ammonia toxicity which is highly related and feared.

Now ammonia exist in 2 forms,freeNH3 and ionized NH4.Of these two free is regarded more harmful and the toxicity of ammonia is directly influenced by temperature and pH.

Now buffer is a chemical term to describe a substance of having the capability to maitain a steady pH.Now the pH will drop through usually insufficient partial water changes and increased carbon dioxide entry(respiration) which is usually buffered by the alkanity of water.Over a period of time,the carbonate which are natural buffer will be lost as it react with the acidic pollutants and form a new compound.This will cause a depletion of the buffering potential of the water,accompanied by unstable pH and affects eventually the health of your fish.
So if your basic filtration are inadequate to shoulder the biosystem requirement,we have to artificially introduce buffer in the form of NaHCO3(baking soda)to offset any discrepancy and maintain pH stability.Have you ever wonder while some LFS here have a female stocking filled with coral chips or its equivalent thrown in a limited filtration setup.That’s the reason.

In short pH is never a fixed value but continues to fluctuate in dynamism and measuring pH and monitoring its value gives us a rough guide of its alkalinity and indirectly the buffering capacity of your system

Hope you will understand its significant now

Regards

goldrush

[Bandit]

Thanks guys for the reply I'm begining to have a better understanding, but there are still some more queries.

1. If the used water in the tank is PH7, and the tap water measure is PH8 (assuming already buffer with 2 teaspoon of BS), how should I change the water without incurring PH shock to my goldfish, since the minimal shock is 0.3 or less.

2. Can BB built up inside my OHF, the white filtering foam if I change my water frequently but without changing or washing of the filter material for 2 mths.

[ranchu8]

Hi, my green water fluctuates between 8.0 (day time) to 8.9 (night time), presumably due to the algae. Do I still need to buffer with BS cos afraid my pH will rise even more? I tested Aqumedi's KH plus in some water and the pH could rise to above 11! There is some trace of ammonia (within 0.25ppm) in my green water. Is it usual to have this range of pH fluctuation (from 8.0 to 8.9)?

Thanks and regards

[CyberET]

hmm.. mine goes up to 10 at times

[clm2206]

Hi bros,

After reading a lot of posts about water quality, it is clear for me you have a mandatory rule: Always buffer your water!. No matter if it is baking soda (instant rise), coral chips (slow and uncontrolled rise) or whatever you use, if it is a pond or a tank, if it is CW or green water, it is a must to raise the kH. I will not discuss the obvious importance of having a stable pH through an adequate kH of at least 5°, but (probably I missed something) behind this rule underlies the fact that you at Singapore have a very low level of kH and hence an unstable pH.

In my case my tap average readings are

pH: 7.6
kH: 5°
gH: 22°
NH3/NH4: 0 ppm
NO2: 0 ppm
NO3: 0 ppm

These are readings stable throughout the year, so I assume in my case (at least 80 litres per sub-8 cms. fish, and at least 120 litres per fish above 10 cms.), performing at least 2 80% weekly water changes, there is no need to buffer the water at all.

Am I wrong?

Best regards,

Carlos

[CyberET]

sort of
your water is harder than what we get here, thus you can get away without buffering as it is already naturally buffered