Ph And Guppies

Hello all.. so first and foremost thanks to all of you for your help up to this point. I have had lots of great advice so far.


Info on my tank
55 gallon with fluval 406 with sponges and biomax. No live plants only fake. I've got temp set to 85 and my cycle is finishing up.

My tap water is super soft. I want to keep guppies and found out they don't really like soft water. My tap pH is around 7.6 and kh is 0 so I did some seat and got the advice to add crushed coral to filter. I did and it raised the kh to 4. But it also raided the pH to 8.2... and thought that would be fine. It's city water I have used dechlorinator and all and let my water sit for several days. So I decided to go visit the lfs near me and do some looking around. And started talking to the man who runs the place and he said no way to guppies and pH that high. And recommend me to take the coral out . But then my water would be soft again.

Also like I sated before I'm in the middle of my cycle and not sure if it's all the coral that's making pH high. Might it be the ammoina that I've been adding?

Now I don't know what to do..

 

7.6 is a fine ph for guppies. I would also take the crushed coral out, this will be more dangerous for the guppy. As the PH increases the toxicity of ammonia increases as well it’s ions become more established on the other end of the spectrum if you have a ph of 6.5 or lower ammonia will lose an ion and become ammonium this will basically lengthen the cycle but also ammonium is barely toxic to fish. I would take it out just on the basis of lower the toxicity of the ammonia. Plus 7.6 is a perfectly fine ph for most fish species. So my conclusion is take the coral out, and ammonia doesn’t affect the ph but he ph does affect ammonia toxicity.

 

But If I take it out my kh will go back to zero... Is that not as bad as pH being high??

 

Do you know what your GH is. That’s what primarily prevents massive ph swings. If you want to increase the hardness of the water to prevent ph swings without affecting the actual ph too much you can add the product seachem equillibrium this adds a healthy amount of minerals. People typically use it with RO/DI systems to prevent ph swings and hungry water syndrome. But I think it may work for you if you’re worried about ph swings. If you’re worried about creating a natural eveironment. Fish that have been breed in captivity(which most guppies have been) are able to adjust to a range of ph, GH’s and KH’s

 

Hmmmm.. I love look into the equalibriam. I'm assuming that I would have to add that at every water change...

What would be better for guppies??
Not having the coral and having a pH of around 7.6 and having a kh of 0 .Or having the coral and having pH around 8.2 and kh of 4... Thanks

 

Would I be better off to take the crushed coral out a d then add something like seachem akline buffer or seachem equalibriam?

 

I tend not to use chemicals if I can help it. So I don’t recommend the alkalinity buffer. A stable ph is more important than a ph in the optimal range. The problem with crushed coral and other additives like driftwood which lowers the ph is that it can sometimes lower or raise it too much which can lead to problems and cause an unstable ph. If I were to choose I would remove some of the crushed coral but keep a little bit in there if your gh is naturally low. And monitor the ph to make sure hat it remains stable. Ph swings can be very stressful and large ones are deadly to fish. Sorry about he late response was working 12 hour shifts this weekend and completely forgot to respond to this thread.

 

That's the problem. I have keep trout before in my water and pH did swing. When cycling. Hopefully since I'm doing the fishless cycle this time it won't be as bad. I took the coarl out this morning... If needed I may add a small amount into a media bag and drop it in the bottom of the tank

 

Then it’s most likely a GH problem. I would recommend getting equillibrium to raise the GH as the crushed coral only raises the carbonic hardness(KH) and the ph. Equillibrium adds in chemicals and minerals that will stabilize the waters ph.

 

GH is not what prevents pH swings. It is simply a measure of calcium & magnesium in the water column. KH keeps the pH stable. High KH = stable pH. I suggest leaving the coral in. High pH does increase the potency of ammonia, but that shouldn't be a problem in a cycled tank. Anyways, the nitrification process slightly acidifies water.

 

GH is not what prevents pH swings. It is simply a measure of calcium & magnesium in the water column. KH keeps the pH stable. High KH = stable pH. I suggest leaving the coral in. High pH does increase the potency of ammonia, but that shouldn't be a problem in a cycled tank. Anyways, the nitrification process slightly acidifies water.

will the 8.2 ph be to high for guppies though?

 

GH is not what prevents pH swings. It is simply a measure of calcium & magnesium in the water column. KH keeps the pH stable. High KH = stable pH. I suggest leaving the coral in. High pH does increase the potency of ammonia, but that shouldn't be a problem in a cycled tank. Anyways, the nitrification process slightly acidifies water.

Thank you for correcting me. I am just starting to learn abou the more advanced water chemistry things. I looked up some articles but apparently they were grossly incorrect. Do you recommend any to help me better my understanding on water chemistry in aquariums. Also I don’t mind scientific articles since I am interested in research so I know how to analyze them.

 

Thank you for correcting me. I am just starting to learn abou the more advanced water chemistry things. I looked up some articles but apparently they were grossly incorrect. Do you recommend any to help me better my understanding on water chemistry in aquariums. Also I don’t mind scientific articles since I am interested in research so I know how to analyze them.

Minnowette

 

will the 8.2 ph be to high for guppies though?

It's fine for guppies, though I just noticed the temperature of the tank. I'd recommend bringing it way back to 72 as that is the optimum temp for guppies.

 

Guppies like hard water and high pH. If they don't like the water they will start shimmying.

 

It's fine for guppies, though I just noticed the temperature of the tank. I'd recommend bringing it way back to 72 as that is the optimum temp for guppies.

I've got it that high cause I'm cycling my tank. Will def turn it down when I'm ready for fiah

 

Minnowette

In terms of an accurate and accessible article, I highly recommend this article on pH, GH and KH. It is mainly directed towards planted tanks, but even if one doesn't have plants, I find that there's a good amount of useful information that can benefit most aquarists.