Measuring pH- Post 2

Regularly monitoring the pH of your aquarium or pond water is just as important to the health of your fish as making sure it is at the correct temperature.  The numbers 1-14 are used to more easily represent and understand much bigger numbers.  Every number variance in the pH number means exponentially different amounts of acidity or alkalinity.  For example, a pH of 5 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 6 and a pH of 9 is ten times more alkaline than a pH of 8.  Therefore even small number variances mean much larger changes in the water chemistry.  Just as our fish shouldn’t be subjected to fast significant changes in temperature, salinity, and other water quality, we don’t want them to experience large fluctuations in pH either.  Fortunately, regularly monitoring pH is quite simple.  For less than $5 at almost any pet store or online retailer, you can purchase designated test kits for pH.  They are also included in most complete test kits that test for other water parameters as well.  They are typically in the form of strips that are exposed to a sample of your water, or a liquid that is added to a sample of your water, that you will then match the color of to a chart that indicates the pH.  Just simply follow the instructions, including all safety guidelines, and within minutes you’ll know your pH.  There are also electronic testers and monitors on the market.  While they are accurate and very easy to use and some can monitor continuously, alerting you of any changes, they can be costly.  Though they are great instruments, we recommend spending the money for one a little further down the line as you become more serious about aquatic hobbies.

Whichever method you choose, it is important to measure your pH at the same time each day.  For many reasons beyond the scope of this article, it is natural for the pH to have regular fluctuations from morning to night.  If you measure today at 6:00 p.m. and two days from now at 8:00 a.m., it may inaccurately seem as though you have a pH problem.  Also remember that electronic testers need to be calibrated, and test kits can go bad over time.

Now that you know what pH is and how to measure it, we’ll discuss what pH is right in general for different types of environments, and how to determine exactly what you want yours at.