Shifting pH of city water

[babblefish1960]

I know that this is something that is very difficult to grasp and accept, but we had grown accustomed to the way in which the water from the tap had been a very high reading in pH values.

It had been very near a pH of 9.0, I say "near" as this was the highest reading our test kit was capable of determining, therefore I am only guessing at what the true value would become.

Wednesday of this week would prove a theory about the ever changing water coming out of the pipe from the Ottawa River. The reading this day showed the water right out of the tap to be none other than hovering between 7.0 pH and 7.5 pH.

Well now, doesn't that just fry your biscuits and put a wrench in the works? Of all the surprises from Parliament Hill lately, it was disheartening to see you couldn't even trust the value of water to remain the same.

We thought we would check it again, as we had been experiencing some chlorine gas off that could only be described as guessing from our city fathers over unknown elements in the water more recently.

This recent reading was discovered regarding the acid nature of our tanks and how, with water changes usually reliable in bring up the pH, was not this time around. At least not by much.

Only time will show if this recent change will remain as a fixture, or if it is merely a passing hiccup in the geological sense from a very fluid body of water this time of year.

For years I always pondered the why of the February plant problems, I may have found one of the culprits.

[beowulf]

This is weird, when I lived in Dollard des Ormeaux (a suburb of Montreal) the water comming out of the tap was a constant 7.0.  Ottawa is a big city you would think that there would be some consistency to the water quality.

[RedFish]

It is helpful that you posted this, I was reading older threads last night.
On the weekend I set up one of my small tanks (fully cycled) at my sister's apartment downtown.   We did a partial water change and put 4 neons into it.   3 promtly died the next day.   I told her to have the water tested at her lfs and the ph was off the scale.

So we are looking into alternate water sources, or letting the water sit for a couple of days, whichever works.

[bitterman]

I tested the city water here in bells corners with APW's ph meter last spring and it was comming out about 10.6 after sitting over night it would fall to mid-high 8s.

Bruce

[BigDaddy]

Hmmm... I will put my tapwater to the test today with my digital unit and post again... at least it will be good info for people on this side of the river.

[darkdep]

After all the mass deaths this year reported on the forums, I'm seriously considering installing some kind of water tank to pre-test/treat water before it goes into the tanks.

[mila]

I'm testing it now, Bank & Walkley area.

From tap:        9.5
after 5 min.:    8.8
after 10 min.:   8.1
after 20 min.:   8.0
after 30 min.:   8.0
after 60 min.:   8.0
after 2.5 h.      7.9
after 6 h.         7.8
after 10 h.       7.8

I don't see much difference from last time (6 months ago).

[beowulf]

Wow this is crazy!! Like I said I ues to test in Montreal and it was always 7 or very close.  Is the city doing something weird here?  I am going to test the tap water here also.

[babblefish1960]

That is interesting Mila, as you and I seem to have been on the same pipe before, which is why I was so surprised it was coming out so near 7.0 pH. I guess I have been re-routed or something.

Darkdepness sir, that would be a wise move, then you know what you're putting into your tanks, I just know it is hard for fish people to have a tank for water that has no fish.

Wulfie, I don't think you have too much to worry about over there, the other side of the river only uses the old dihydrogen oxide and it acts much more reasonably.

[beowulf]

That is interesting Mila, as you and I seem to have been on the same pipe before, which is why I was so surprised it was coming out so near 7.0 pH. I guess I have been re-routed or something.

Darkdepness sir, that would be a wise move, then you know what you're putting into your tanks, I just know it is hard for fish people to have a tank for water that has no fish.

Wulfie, I don't think you have too much to worry about over there, the other side of the river only uses the old dihydrogen oxide and it acts much more reasonably.

For now but in a couple of more months I am off to live in the darkside so....

[normc]

Most municipal water systems raise the PH to reduce corrosions on the water system, also at low PH chlorine etc will react with organics to produce unpleasant byproducts.

[darkdep]

I'm thinking I'll probably resort to a (new) garbage can, with a pump of some kind. 

[Nerine]

I spoke to a woman at the city...call 311 and speak to someone about water! it's great! she even gave me a name and number to call after hours in case something happened with my water again.

she explained that the ph will shift in the city from time to time, most people don't notice it, but those who keep fish notice everything! I actually talked to her for about 20 minutes about fish keeping and the impact of city water, she was very very helpful. The ph in the city does normally stay around 9. She gave me an exact number but I lost my notes!! She even went into detail about how much chlorine, chloramine etc they use in treating the water. It was very helpful to know what they do with our city water

[babblefish1960]

It is definitely coming out of the tap at 6.5 pH, I keep forgetting to check yesterday's water,  but this doesn't bode well as the tank pH is definitely a lot lower already.

[BigDaddy]

I'm measuring 6.7 out of the tap over here... I'll check the same sample in the moring.  That a little lower than usual, it typically comes out at almost dead on 7 from the tap on this side of the river.

[darkdep]

6.5??  Whoa.  Time to test the water in Kanata. 

It's interesting that the city seems so helpful with water information for us.  That is very cool.  I wonder how feasible it would be to build a formal OVAS-City relationship where we could get regular water reports and post them here.

[Cobault]

I noticed the PH change in the water right away, it affected my Discus fish big time, it's now close to three weeks and they havn't recovered fully, very sad.

[mila]

Update after 1 day:

From tap:        9.5
after 5 min.:    8.8
after 10 min.:   8.1
after 20 min.:   8.0
after 30 min.:   8.0
after 60 min.:   8.0
after 2.5 h.      7.9
after 6 h.         7.8
after 10 h.       7.8
after 24 h.       7.8

[babblefish1960]

I know we once had the same numbers Mila, I don't understand the differences now, it has been about a week now and I still haven't checked the next day. The only thing I know is that we just had some massive hot water boilers and pressure pumps changed.

[babblefish1960]

I checked all the numbers again with a fancy shmancy new fangled electronic pH device, borrowed of course. It came out of the tap at 7.5 and stayed that way for nearly an hour, no change.