steenbergen

Hello, I have a 112 gallon aquarium and my pH is around 8.0-8.2, and i have researched alot on web and it has said that a stable ph is better that the right ph, this i believe but, the fish i am looking to keep are angelfish, bala sharks, dwarf gouramis, zebra danios, rummy nose tetras, and some clown loaches. All these fish thrive best in ph of around 6.5-7.2, so i wanted to acheive a ph of around 6.8, but I read that that can be very hard to do because it would be hard to keep the ph stable. So would it be better for me too keep my ph the same, or should i try and change it so my fish will do better and maybe even breed. Any suggestions or comments would be nice. I was thinking of using peat moss and maybe Seachem Acid buffer to get to that ph level but i am not sure if i am wasting my money and if it will work. Thanks for your time and sorry about the long comment.

steenbergen

Hello, I have a 112 gallon aquarium and my Ph is around 8.0-8.2, and i have researched alot on web and it has said that a stable ph is better that the right ph, this i believe but, the fish i am looking to keep are angelfish, bala sharks, dwarf gouramis, zebra danios, rummy nose tetras, and some clown loaches. All these fish thrive best in ph of around 6.5-7.2, so i wanted to acheive a ph of around 6.8, but I read that that can be very hard to do because it would be hard to keep the ph stable. So would it be better for me too keep my ph the same, or should i try and change it so my fish will do better and maybe even breed. Any suggestions or comments would be nice. I was thinking of using peat moss and maybe Seachem Acid Buffer to get to that ph level but i am not sure if i am wasting my money and if it will work. Thanks for your time and sorry about the long comment.

sgould

I have similarly high pH water and have had no problems with angelfish or zebra danios. I do not think the other fish you mentioned would have trouble adapting either, though I do not have direct personal experience with them.

steenbergen

thanks for your comments they give me courage mine will live too

sgould

Good luck!

Butterfly

As long as you acclimate them slowly they will be ok. If you are buying them locally they are probably already in a ph similar to yours.
Carol

Butterfly

Hope yu don't mind that I merged your threads. When the same basic question is asked in two or more places it's hard to get good answers all in one place
Carol

inari

If for some weard reason they do start having problems try things like RO or distilled water in place of 1 normal water change. I know when I had a high pH that really helped me out alot. Also (though i wouldn't advise it unless u have to) but there is an item out by seachem called regulator (i think) that will help keep ur pH around 7.0 the nice thing about RO water that i've heard is that u can dial it into ur special needs>

Good luck!!

~Inari

Luniyn

Yes as Inari mentioned RO water can be nice (if you can afford it) because it is basically a blank slate. It is so soft that you have to add a buffer to it in order to make it useful and can dial it in to your specific needs much easier. The down side is it's expensive and not always available locally. It's also not totally necessary in freshwater environments as in "most" cases the fish will get used to your pH. The problem with a high pH is that it normally goes hand in hand with water that has a fairly high buffer (KH reading). Because of this, adding the normal amount of chemicals to drop the pH won't seem to have any effect. What you are actually doing is basically running up against the buffer. So you add more chemicals, and more and more until all of a sudden you get a sudden plummet in your pH and if this happens with the fish in your tank, you will most likely have just killed all your fish. So this is why most people say leave the pH alone and just let the fish get used to it over time. Leave the messing with the pH to the seasoned veteran, and even then you will find a lot that don't play with it .

inari

Yeah like Lunyin said messing around with the pH can screw with your tank....trust me on that. Also if it's of any real concern try using distilled water, It's identical to RO and much cheaper. But if the rest of your water is fine then I'd just leave it be.

Gargoyle

Test your tap water as well to see what kind of PH you are getting out of the tap.

Adding C02 will drop your PH as well.. But it is best to only do that if you have plants in the tank.

Another thing to try... Do you have bubbles in your tank ?? You know air stones, bubble wands or similar items introducing 02 into your tank ?? If so and they are on a high level try turning them down.. Heavy 02 concentrations will also raise your PH level.

Just some thoughts..