Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 09:56:00 UTC
The $10 pH meter I ordered on eBay arrived. I immediately tested my tank to find it's pH is 8.6, then my tap water to find that it's 7.4, and then some water in a bucket that I mixed up a few days ago for a water change, which was 8.3. At first I thought maybe the meter was just junk, but I found this video on YouTube...
So it's apparently not a terrible meter.
It comes with two packets that you can mix with distilled water to make a specific pH in order to calibrate it. I mixed them both up and it measures them accurately so it apparently does work. So then how am I able to take my tap water at 7.4, add hydrocholoric acid, and end up at 8.3?
To solve that mystery, I mixed up some new water and tested the pH at every step of the way:
...and then, after letting the pump stir it for like an hour, it's up to 8.3.
I think just being stirred is raising the pH. I put some fresh tap water in a beaker and let it stir with a magnetic stirrer for an hour, to rule out my pump having anything to do with it. That water is now up to 8.7.
So... IDK what to do about that.
Though your aquarium fish may prefer a particularly pH in their native environment, it is much more important to have a stable pH than to have a specific value for your pH. Adjusting the pH in your aquarium can be dangerous to the fish as swings of just 0.3 in a day can be deadly. Therefore, unless you have a specific reason for doing so, it is better to acclimate the fish to your tap water’s pH than to adjust your pH to fit the preference of your fish.
Well, that was my previous philosophy.