Soft water in my tap

I tested my water PH and it is quite soft. It has a PH of 6.7-6.8. I used to have a water softener, but I bypassed it. I use bottled water from a pet store currently for my betta, however I want to use my tap water if it is possible to do so. The bottled water is very expensive and I also have to set up a much larger tank for some fish I am moving into my new house from my old one. Some people suggested that I use crushed coral or limestone to increase the PH. I’m not very familiar with doing that so if anybody could give me some directions on how to use them to buffer my water, I would really appreciate it.

 

Realistically, your tap is 100% fine for almost any fish on the market. I'd either use crushed coral as a substrate, or put a bag of it into your filter. Don't really mess with chemicals and such that raise PH - you'll do more harm than good.

Basically, for fish you want that you know like a high PH, get them locally, if possible. If you decide you really want some mollies, I'd either keep them in a brackish set-up or get some locally sourced ones so they're already acclimated to a low PH, for example.

 

Realistically, your tap is 100% fine for almost any fish on the market. I'd either use crushed coral as a substrate, or put a bag of it into your filter. Don't really mess with chemicals and such that raise PH - you'll do more harm than good.

Basically, for fish you want that you know like a high PH, get them locally, if possible. If you decide you really want some mollies, I'd either keep them in a brackish set-up or get some locally sourced ones so they're already acclimated to a low PH, for example.

Thank you for your input. Should I just drip-acclimate my old fish to get used to my new water, just in case?

 

You can! Or just water change the tank they're in by around 25% every couple of days. I don't think most fish are super sensitive to PH swings within reason. Even with my saltwater fish, I usually only temperature acclimate them.

 

If you think about it, the difference the water is from neutral is only 0.2. That’d be like the difference between 7.0 and 7.2. Hardly any. Bettas are hardy and won’t need to be drip acclimated but you can if you would like. Not sure about what other fish you have but if you want to be safe you can drip. As for your betta definitely don’t try to raise the pH because they like acidic water mine is in 6.4 and it’s about to be lowered more when I get a CO2 Kit for Christmas and he is very happy

 

That’s a huge relief. I was really worried that my water might have been unsuitable for fish. I’ll definitely drip my old fish. I prefer always being safe than sorry. Since Bettas like soft water, I just added an Indian almond leaf to my betta tank. I heard it helps with ripped fins, too, since he was sorta tattered when I got him. Thank you guys, and Merry Christmas.