How does ammonia affect ph

Angelfish do well with a pH from 6. These are just a few examples of how bio-diverse the aquatic life can be in the aquarium, and this is just a single water parameter. Most of us in the fish keeping hobby are at least vaguely familiar with pH in the aquarium. There is, however, another water parameter that has a very close relationship with pH, but is much less understood.

KH is also referred to as alkalinity, not to be confused with alkaline on the pH scale. It is for this reason that aquarists use the term basic when referring to the pH scale instead of alkaline, and use the term alkalinity in reference to KH.

Having a low KH will cause more fluctuations in the pH of the water, which can cause what is referred to as pH shock. Saltwater aquariums have a naturally high KH, but safe KH levels for freshwater should be 4.

If water KH is low in the aquarium, regular water changes will help increase these levels. Having higher KH is definitely healthier for fish. The pH will have more stability and be much less likely to crash. Understanding the concepts discussed will help ensure proper water conditions for the specific species of fish that are being kept. Test strips and kits are relatively inexpensive, and can help any hobbyist achieve long term success.

Once again, depending on location, tap water can vary substantially from one location to another. If your tap water does not have the pH range you desire, try some of the natural ways discussed to raise or lower the levels.

If at all possible, try to stay away from chemicals to alter the pH levels in your aquarium; the risk definitely outweighs the reward by doing this. PH should be checked at least every 3 or 4 weeks to adequately monitor stability in your system. PH plays such a vital role in the ever important nitrogen cycle and overall quality of the water in a system.

Many hobbyists overlook this parameter when cycling a system and it can be costly. Understanding the cycle, and more importantly, how pH affects the cycle, is going to make keeping an ideal environment for fish possible. Published: December 11, By: Chewy Editorial Published: December 11, By: Chewy Editorial Updated: March 18, By: Chewy Editorial Published: August 15, By: Chewy Editorial Updated: January 20, View all in be inspired. View all in be generous.

What is pH? In any new aquatic system, aquaponics or aquarium, the first few weeks of operation are the most difficult. But some problems can go beyond cycling.

The biochemical engine of any closed recirculating aquatic system is nitrification. Nitrification is a win-win sequence of chemical reactions in which microbes convert ammonia into less reactive - and less poisonous - nitrogen compounds. Ammonia is the primary form of nitrogen waste in aquatic systems; fish excrete it and organic waste decomposition produces it.

Nitrification does have a side effect. The importance of a stable pH in aquatic systems is also common knowledge. The acidity or basicity of water affects everything from fish respiration to the availability of nutrients and minerals for plants. And hydrogen ions drive pH down - make it more acidic. This is why aquariums tend to become more acidic over time, and one reason they require water changes. Most fish ponds have sufficient alkalinity.

Furthermore, liming does not address the root causes of high ammonia concentration; it only shifts the distribution of ammonia from the toxic to the non-toxic form by moderating high pH in the afternoon.

Most of the ammonia excreted by fish is taken up by algae, so anything that increases algal growth will increase ammonia uptake. This fact is the basis for the idea of fertilising ponds with phosphorus fertiliser to reduce ammonia levels. Therefore, adding phosphorus does nothing to reduce ammonia concentration because algae are already growing as fast as possible under the prevailing conditions.

The highest ammonia concentrations in fish ponds occur after the crash of an algae bloom. Fertilisation, particularly with phosphorus, may accelerate the re-establishment of the bloom, but most ponds have plenty of dissolved phosphorus and other nutrients to support a bloom and do not need more.

Algal growth and therefore the rate of ammonia uptake by algae in fish ponds is limited by the availability of light. Anything that increases light increases ammonia uptake. Theoretically, dense algae blooms in shallow ponds will remove ammonia more effectively than the same dense blooms in deeper ponds. On balance, however, there are probably more benefits associated with deeper ponds eg, ease of fish harvest, water conservation, more stable temperatures, reduced effect of sedimentation on interval between renovations.

Obviously, deeper ponds contain more water than more shallow ponds. Therefore, at a given feeding rate, deeper ponds should have lower ammonia concentrations because there is more water to dilute the ammonia excreted by fish.

In reality, deeper ponds do not usually have enough water to significantly dilute ammonia when compared to the large amounts of ammonia in constant flux between various biotic and abiotic compartments in ponds. Furthermore, deeper ponds are more likely to stratify and the lower layer of pond water the hypolimnion can become enriched with ammonia and depleted of dissolved oxygen.

Ammonia can be flushed from ponds, although pumping the huge volume of water required to do so in large commercial ponds is costly, time-consuming and unnecessarily wasteful. It is also deceptively ineffective as an ammonia management tool. The ammonia concentration after pumping gpm continuously for 3 days equivalent to about 8 inches of water will be 0.

Instead of simply running water through a pond as in the example above, now assume that about 8 inches of water is discharged from the pond before refilling with well water. In this case, the decline in ammonia concentration will be slightly greater to 0. The difference in the two flushing scenarios is related to the blending of pond water with pumped water before discharge in the first case.

Just as paddle wheel aeration creates a zone of sufficient dissolved oxygen concentration, pumping groundwater creates a zone of relatively low ammonia concentration adjacent to the water inflow. The effectiveness of this practice is questionable because it does not address the root cause of the problem and wastes water.

Flushing ponds is not only ineffective, but highly undesirable because of concerns about releasing pond effluents into the environment. Common aquatic bacteria are an essential part of the constant cycling of ammonia in a pond ecosystem. Some people believe that ammonia accumulates in ponds because the wrong kind or insufficient numbers of bacteria are present. If this were true, adding concentrated formulations of bacteria would address the problem.

However, research with many brands of bacterial amendments has consistently given the same result: Water quality is unaffected by the addition of these supplements. Standard pond management creates very favourable conditions for bacterial growth. Bacterial growth and activity is limited more by the availability of oxygen and by temperature than by the number of bacterial cells.

Also, the most abundant type of bacteria in many amendments and in pond water and sediment is responsible for the decomposition of organic matter. Therefore, if bacterial amendments accelerate the decomposition of organic matter, ammonia concentration would actually increase, not decrease. Another kind of bacteria in amendments oxidises ammonia to nitrate. Adding them will not reduce the ammonia concentration rapidly because the bacteria must grow for several weeks before there is a large enough population to affect ammonia level.

If the dissolved oxygen concentration is adequate, adding a source of organic carbon, such as chopped hay, to intensive fish ponds can reduce ammonia concentration. Organic matter in fish ponds dead algae cells, fish fecal solids, uneaten feed does not contain the optimum ratio of nutrients for bacterial growth.

There is more than enough nitrogen for bacterial growth so the excess is released to the pond water. Incorporating ammonia into bacterial cells packages the nitrogen into a particulate form that is not toxic to fish.

The down side of this approach is that it is hard to apply large amounts of organic matter to large ponds and the effect on ammonia concentration is not rapid. Furthermore, aeration will have to be increased to address the demand for oxygen by large quantities of decomposing organic matter.

Certain naturally occurring materials, called zeolites, can adsorb ammonia from water. These are practical to use in aquaria or other small-scale, intensive fish-holding systems, but impractical for large volume fish ponds.

Some shrimp farmers in Southeast Asia have tried making monthly applications of zeolite at to pounds per acre. However, research has demonstrated that this practice is ineffective at reducing ammonia concentration in ponds and it has now been abandoned.

In theory, adding acid such as hydrochloric acid to water will reduce pH. This can shift the ammonia equilibrium to favour the non-toxic form. However, some species of fish prefer water with a high pH. They include African cichlids and all saltwater fish. In water with alkaline or basic pH, ammonia is much more toxic. On top of this, water for these fish often contain powerful buffers -- pH-stabilizing minerals -- requiring meticulous aquarium maintenance.

By Robert Boumis. The pH of Ammonia Pure ammonia actually has a basic or alkaline pH. Sources of Ammonia Ammonia comes from several biological processes in the aquarium.

The Ammonia Cycle In a healthy aquarium, bacteria break ammonia down into less toxic forms.