# can lava rock affect ph ?



## mechanic_joe (Dec 4, 2003)

Hey all,

Since my tank water has fully stabilized and cycled, I've notice my ph starts to slowly rise between water changes (5 - 6 days, a rise from 6.8 to about 7.6). Could this possibly be caused by my addition of lava rock to my filtration ? Should I even be concerned ?

Thx

Joe.


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

I dont think it does... did you add anything els to the tank?


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## mechanic_joe (Dec 4, 2003)

Hey Peacock, the only other thing I've recently added (well, changed) was my gravel from black to natural, other than that everything has remained the same. Perhaps my gravel has something in it that could affect my PH ?


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2004)

mechanic_joe said:


> Since my tank water has fully stabilized and cycled, I've notice my ph starts to slowly rise between water changes (5 - 6 days, a rise from 6.8 to about 7.6). Could this possibly be caused by my addition of lava rock to my filtration ? Should I even be concerned ?


I don't know why that's happening so slowly. It would make more sense if it happened all at once as soon as you added the new water.

This can happen when your tap water has a pH much greater than your tank water. It could also happen when you dilute the amount of nitrate in the water, because some of the nitrate excists as nitric acid (HNO3), which lowers your pH.

This is just a guess.

What kind of gravel did you add? Epoxy coated?


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