# City water pH



## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

Is anyone testing their tap water? The pH coming out of the tap seems to have gone down from 6.50 to 6.00. Anyone else noticing this recent drop?


----------



## mysticalnet (Apr 22, 2010)

I test the water everyday, it always varies from 6.0 to 6.5, sometimes even a little higher depending on the time of the year, you can say the city water is roughly 6.3 for most of the time.


----------



## hondas3000 (Apr 22, 2010)

that explain why I had my tank on drip system and the ph is around 6.0. Normally it should be 7.0 now I have to add crush coral to raise my ph to 7.0. I'll need to do a test on my water tomorrow to make sure.


----------



## MananaP (Apr 22, 2010)

just did test now in surrey at my place it's 7-7.2


----------



## hondas3000 (Apr 22, 2010)

MananaP said:


> just did test now in surrey at my place it's 7-7.2


lol, you do a water test @ 1am?


----------



## MananaP (Apr 22, 2010)

hondas3000 said:


> lol, you do a water test @ 1am?


Oh you don't know how it is? hahahaha.... Well i need to do several test when i do water changes with sensitive shrimps that cost 400 each...


----------



## jkam (Apr 21, 2010)

my water is always about 7.0-7.2 right out of the tap


----------



## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

it depends on where you are in the system. Coquitlam gate water (surrey, coquitlam, port coquitlam ...) is buffered with sodium bicarb to raise the pH and protect pipes to some extent. this is a weak buffering and does not affect hardness all that much. the further out in the system you get typically the weaker the buffer is. this however has so many variables, its staggering. In general expect water with a slightly acid pH and extremely low TDS (2-7 on average)

Seymour and Capilano watersheds now utilize the Seymour one filtration plant. This plant uses sand filters to minimize the need for chlorine addition (which is minute when compared to most municipal water supplies) additionally they add lime to the water to buffer it and increase the TDS to around 20-25. despite this te water is still VERY soft!

I remember about 10 years ago when water out of the tap had a pH of well below 6.0 Usually around 5.5! which was perfect for the apistos I was keeping but hell for the plant tanks. 

here in upper coquitlam the tap pH is typically around 6.7 according to my digital meter


----------



## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

jkam said:


> my water is always about 7.0-7.2 right out of the tap


Mine is 7 coming out of the tap too


----------



## jkam (Apr 21, 2010)

wow I just tested my ph out of the tap and it has dropped to 6.0ish.

That's probably why one of my tanks crashed to below 6.0 this week....


----------



## keitarosan (Apr 21, 2010)

MananaP said:


> Oh you don't know how it is? hahahaha.... Well i need to do several test when i do water changes with sensitive shrimps that cost 400 each...


you have a shrimp worth 400 each??????  man! did you win the lottery or you missed a dot there on the numbers?


----------



## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Makes me wonder how the heck my tank pH levels off at around 8.2!!  Good thing I bought some buffers over the holidays.


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

Surrey/Cloverdale/Langley border:
Mine has tested 6.8 to 7.0 - steady - steady for over a year now - tested again yesterday:6.8


----------

