What is pH?
Power of Hydrogen, abbreviated as pH, is a scale used to specify how acidic or basic a solution is. a solution having a pH of 7 is considered neutral, i.e. it is neither acidic nor basic in nature. At room temperature (25℃), solutions having a pH of less than 7 is acidic in nature. Similarly, solutions are basic if they have a pH greater than 7.
How pH affects fish health?
Most of the fishes absolutely love a neutral pH (pH 7), but it is a little bit hard to maintain a neutral pH in a working tank. Therefore, our objective must be to maintain a pH of 7 to 8.
Over time, the pH of your fish tank will drop, becoming acidic in nature. Acidic water has many lethal affects on your fishes. Some of those effects are:
- If the pH of your tank drops below 6, the nitrification bacteria that you have added to keep your ammonia at check, will start dying off. This causes the parameters of your tank to get messed up, increases Ammonia and nitrites. Eventually your fishes start dying.
- Mucus (or slime) production increases if there's an acidic condition in the tank. This mucus protect fishes from diseases caused by pathogens. But excessive mucus production causes choking of gills, feed consumption is also lowered, growth of the fishes stops, eventually the fishes die after struggling for a few days.
- Fishes also feel stressed in an acidic water tank. Stress is accompanied by the release of the hormone cortisol, which is responsible for having a negative effect on growth, reproduction, and digestion. Chronic stress will also lower the ability of the immune system allowing parasites, bacteria, and fungi to infect a stressed fish and cause disease and death.
Similarly, if the pH of your fish tank is very basic, then there are few adverse effects too:
- Higher than advised pH causes damage to fish skin, gills and eyes. Juveniles are affected more since they cannot cope up as much as adult fishes.
- Higher pH also causes Ammonia toxicity.
How to measure pH of the fish tank?
• You can find out the pH of your fish tank by any one of the three processes mentioned below:
- Digital pH meters
- pH test strips
- Test kit
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| After performing the pH test |
Digital pH meters are very easy to use but they're reliable only if you're using branded ones which may be costlier. The pH test strips give instant results too. I'd like to suggest to use pH test kits, they may require a little bit more effort but they're the more accurate comparatively. I use test kits, where we have to match the colour of the water after adding the test chemical.
How to control pH?
‣To increase pH, use Calcium carbonate powder or Dolomite powder 25 grams/1000 litres.
‣You can use soft organic acids, to decrease pH up to desired limit. I personally use juices from lemon or other citric fruits.
TIP: Do not change the pH of your fish tank all of a sudden. This sudden pH change causes a massive shock to the fishes.