Confused on cichlid tank readings

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In order to know your exact ph from tap water you need to put some in a cup and let it degas over night. That's your reading. Again, I'm still saying don't alter your ph
 
Okay ill do it in a second

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After your reading is 100% accurate and it's still below 7, let alone 6.5, then it's all up to you on whether you want to adjust your pH or not. Personally and just my opinion, 6.0 is low since cichlids need an alkaline pH level and should be buffered to 7.6 via baking soda (I prefer to stay away from chemicals that claim to buffer pH, baking soda IMO is more constant/cheaper/reliable), which will be more work; but it's something I can live with if it's better for my fish. Just because they're used to it and can survive doesn't mean it's what's best for them, same concept goes for every other pet. Also you need to take into consideration of future fish you'd be getting, the pH of the water they're living in at the LFS or online distributor is probably higher than 6-6.5, so the instant decrease in 1-1.5 pH would be a fatal shock to them as well even if you drip acclimate them.
 
SonicsDC25 said:
It's all up to you now on whether you want to adjust your pH or not. Personally and just my opinion, 6.0 is low since cichlids need an alkaline pH level and should be buffered to 7.6 via baking soda (I prefer to stay away from chemicals that claim to buffer pH, baking soda IMO is more constant/cheaper/reliable), which will be more work; but it's something I can live with if it's better for my fish. Just because they're used to it doesn't mean it's what's best for them, same concept goes for every other pet. Also you need to take into consideration of future fish you'd be getting, the pH of the water they're living in at the LFS or online distributor is probably higher than 6-6.5, so the instant decrease in 1-1.5 pH would be a fatal shock to them as well even if you drip acclimate them.
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He needs to properly degas his tap water to know his ph. Until then I wouldn't make any fish life threatening decisions
 
Yep, though even if he did want to raise it he'd only be able to raise it 0.05 or so per day until he gets his desired pH, then he'll know the amount of bicarb to add in his bucket during his weekly PWC to keep the pH constant. Hopefully by tomorrow his readings are a lot higher =/.
 
Thanks guys ill let you all know my tap water readings tomorrow, could the de-chlor affect the ph? Im using tetra pond safe?

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I have 11 large tanks that need de chloring so the tetra is £15 for 2 liters is the cheapest and i only need 5ml for every 40 gallons

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matthew_raw said:
I have 11 large tanks that need de chloring so the tetra is £15 for 2 liters is the cheapest and i only need 5ml for every 40 gallons

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Not sure what that converts to in us currency but prime is 32$ on amazon for a 2L jug

Nvm I googled it. Prime is 12$ more but it works for 20,000gallons which is about 76000L
 
Yeah 20,000 gall9ns for tetra its 10ml for 100 gallons i think

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Around 7 but there fry tanks and community tanks this is my only cichlid tank so thats why i am confused on the ph

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What's the confusing part?

No new fish and its a new tank just set up but i used all old media rocks and sand from a different tank theres 5 yellow labs 2 pinky ones and a pleco looking thimg that was in the cichlid section at m lfs. The results for today are
High range ph 7.4
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That old media you are using where did that come from? If you have an aquarium with a low bio-load & you just gave that media a big load aka your cichlid and that poop machine pleco you now have to wait for your media to catch up cause it just got shocked. It's like taking media from my fry tank and putting it in a 50g with that many cichlids and wondering why i have a mini cycle going on. If that's what im reading correct what you wrote

Dont feed for a few days and let the BB catch up which also bring what filter are you using? Doing a PWC will also bring up your pH depending on where your tap water is at& keeping your lvls from the API test in check
 
The media came from a heavily stocked 180l community tank with a massive bioload from big fish and im using a fluval 104 with the 4 sponges, ceramic rings, filter floss and bio balls. I used half the media from my big tank and half new in both. Also abit from my other tanks.

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So the media came from a 47-48gal tank & others. Interesting.... How big bioload fish you got in that big tank where the media came from? How big of an aquarium where the cichlids are at now
 
Theres around 30 fish including gouramis, a plec, gold barbs, tornado Barbs, corys, mollies, female betras, clown loaches that are going to be rehomed soon, red tail sharks, checkered barbs, rosie tetras, cherry barbs, lemon barbs, theres many different species in the community tank and the cichlids are in a 80l tank

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Would having too many cichlids in a tank stop fish from breeding? I have a few sunshines which have bred before, and i recently added a couple of red zebras, but one is very dominant towards the other male that bred with the sunshine would this usually stop them?
 
Im new to cichlids so cant comment sorry the above posters are very knowlagble tho hang on and wait for a reply hopefully they can help you

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