mitch

my waters pH is 6.5, i want to bring it up. I have wardley 3 in 1,7.o ph and product called cycle. should i use these or get stuff just to adjust ph.

Lucy

Cycle contains the wrong kind of bacteria and won't cycle your tank.

A stable ph is more important. Adding stuff to raise or lower it results in inconsistancy.
Most fish can adapt to your ph. I'd suggest you just leave it alone and acclimate your fish slowly.

Ghostfish

I have no experience with raising pH, but have heard crushed coral works. Your pH may be fine as is however. Stay away from the artificial stuff. It will make the water pH level unstable. Adding crushed coral to the substrate should give a consistent, steady pH.

fishchick

I have to get the product to lower my ph , which made my water cloudy , but did the job ! now i have to let them test the water again !

Lucy

If you add chemicals to adjust your ph, every time you do a water change, your only going to have to adjust it again, which leads to inconsistency.

clinton1621

I think we need to make a sticky on this with the proper way to raise and lower ph levels, so people realize that you cant just adjust your ph.... it doesnt work that way, you have to alter the waters hardness to affect ph, using chemicals or powders to lower it is ONLY TEMPORARY and it will go back up! This constant up and down is much much worse than just having a high ph or low ph to begin with!

Lucy

The question comes up often, that's probably a good idea.

Randall

This is true,stable is always better than too high,or too low.

pepetj

Mitch, you have ideal pH for some interesting fish species (e.g. Discus, Angelfish), what were you considering for stocking? By the way, Welcome to fishlore!

Don't use the product Cycle. That is a BAD product. It contains a type of bacteria that handles ammonia but it is the WRONG kind of bacteria, not the one that if introduced to the tank will thrive and stablish colonies (self-sustained) but a type that requires your money (purchasing cycle for every water change) for constant re-introduction. As a matter of fact, as far as I know, that product prevents the naturally ocurring nitrifying bacteria to establish in tanks it's used.

Go fishless cycle, it will take no time (say 2 weeks) and you'll have the oportunity to change your mind over and over about stocking, plants, substrate, etc. And, get you ready for MTS.

If you do some reading, and for me that's one of the wonderful things about fishkeeping, you might find that you don't have a problem, but a blessing! Use the search tool in this page, you can look for threads or posts with any subject.

Did you know that if you have pH under 7.0 Ammonia is way less toxic to fish? -some say it's non toxic, it's called Ammonium. I wish I had your pH! I'm bringing down pH, carefully, slowly, from 7.7 to 6.8 for my Angelfish tank. But that's another story.

I don't use chemicals that offer inmediate results, those agents are dangerous. If you want to keep fish that need higher pH (e.g. African Cichlids), you can safely raise it with crushed corals. Do some research, learn form others -I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the help, company, know-how, and joy I found in fishlore. I can even let my tears out for fish I have lost in this place.

Get yourself a good test kit, the ones that uses liquid reagents for testing. It's ok to use strip test for checking or screening purposes (I use them).

PS We love pics here, so upload some and share your experience with us

Pepe
Santo Domingo

clinton1621

Crushed coral and limestone will both raise your hardness level, which is the only way to raise your ph and keep it there safely