Question: PH...questions and Axie care

[NathanF]

Ok so I've only ever owned completely terrestrial salamanders before and I just aquired 3 Axies. Where I live we are on well water that is not treated by the city. I had been told by a neighbour that the well water in are area has a perfectly neutral pH of 7.0 and that the natural salts in the area are ideal for aquatic animals.

I didn't trust him haha and love my 3 Axies way too much in the week that I've owned them so I bought a pH test and tested the water anyway. The tap water here has a near neutral pH of 7.1 and I left my water to sit for 30 hours before setting up my tank. After one day with the axies in the water the pH level is now 7.8- 8.0. What would cause such an increase in just one day and what is the best way to keep the pH of my water 7.4- 7.6???

Also what is the best way to clean an Axie setup with a sand bottom? I obviously can't siphon the bottom like you can with a gravel bottom, without losing a bunch of my sand.

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

[carsona246]

You do siphon the sand like you would with gravel, you just hover it above the sand just a little bit and everything but the sand will be sucked up. if sand does get in the bucket, it'll stay at the bottom when you dump the water, and you can just pour it back in. I had a huge ph crisis a few years back when my dorm room replaced a water heater, but that involved the ph dropping pretty rapidly after a day. It did that because it had a low buffering ability. I solved my problem by adding crushed coral to my filter, but that does raise your ph a bit, so that might not be the best idea. Do you happen to have a kh/gh test kit? That might help you figure out what the problem is. I would advise against using products like ph down though. They tend to cause rapid fluctuations in your ph, which is more dangerous than high/low ph. I honestly don't know much about adding driftwood, but I do know that it is supposed to steadly lower your ph, and keep it stable.
Long story short, I would monitor your ph over the next few days and make sure it isn't fluctuating too much. If it stays stable, a high ph really isnt that big of a deal. Stability is more important than getting the perfect ph. Although I suspect if your ph rose that quickly you have a low kh/gh.

 

[NathanF]

Well I know the water is quite hard...with high amounts of calcium. So much so that we can't even find a product that keeps the calcium in the water from making all of our dishes white when we use our dishwasher.

I had read in a number of places that harder water was much better for Axies then soft water and that above average amounts of calcium were all right. Could the hardness of my water and the high calcium be the problem and how do I properly deal with that???

Thanks for the input by the way

 

[carsona246]

I was actually thinking that soft water might be an explanation. Soft water tends to fluctuate more, while harder water stays at a more stable ph. If the ph in the tank stabalizes I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Kaysie]

A pH of 8 isn't anything to worry about. Hard water actually buffers against pH changes.

As for water softening, look into hydrogen peroxide water softeners. They're awesome.