Is it worth tinkering to improving my water conditions?

[gfink]

I have a low light tank, no CO2.
These are my tank values.

pH 7.6 (pretty stable, but a little high for fish and plants)
KH 2 (little low for fish and plants)
GH 3 (little low for fish and plants)

Right now, I plan of leaving the water as is because it is low maintanance. However, if there is some significant advantange to improving these numbers, I will consider doing it. Please offer your insight on the questions below.

I know a stable pH is better than a perfect pH for fish. How is this higher pH effecting my plants?

How about the KH and GH? How do these numbers effect my plants and fish?

 

[Tiffi]

Don't worry about your ph too much. You have a very low kH, which keeps the ph stabile. I am afraid that if you start playing around with your ph it just might go up and down.

Most aquarium plants (if not all) don't care much about the ph. And in your case it is still pretty close to neutral anyway.

If you still want to do sth. to your ph to change it you would have to raise your kH at the same time , too.

 

[TankGirl]

This is an excellent question, and one that more people should ask, IMO.

I believe you should treat your fish and your plants, not your test kit. In other words, if your fish and plants are happy (there is no reason in the world you should not be able to keep an extremely broad range of fish happily on your water just as it is, same for plants) then carry on and be happy you don't have to tinker. If you see signs of trouble in your fish that do not seem to be related to anything in particular, or if your plants are suffering, then you start narrowing down the causes and the values you list could be addressed.

I'd continue to test for these things as they can change as the tank ages, but otherwise keep up with water changes and you are good to go.

 

[gfink]

What are some symptoms to look for in the fish and plants? Here are two odd things I've seen and can't attribute to anything else:

Gouramis have much shorter feelers that when I originally got them. I haven't witnessed any nipping. Maybe this is a sign of distress?

Watersprite and java moss originally grew like crazy. Months ago I trimmed back 2/3 of the watersprite, and removed a handful of javamoss. Since then, they both harly seem alive. I have only seen minimal growth. However, my other plants seem to be alright.

 

[Tiffi]

Those symptoms, that you describe have nothing to do with the water value.

Your gourami might get a little shorter feelers, because somebody is nipping on them or whatsoever.

Your plants probably just don't grow that well anymore, because they need some fertilizer. How much watts do you have over your tank?

 

[Jchillin]

I know java moss can suffer from temps over 81d. If your remaining moss isn't growing (branching out) or turning brown, it may be just the temp. Also, check your NO3 values. Plants will need a constant 10ppm for sustained longevity in a low light tank.

 

[TankGirl]

I'd be suspicious of aggression between the gouramis as the most likely cause of the feelers being shortened. Next I'd have a look at water quality, which could mean high nitrate for prolonged periods, or the presence of nitrite or ammonia. It could even just be from high levels of DOCs in the water from debris collecting on the bottom or otherwise a PWC schedule that is inadequate. I would hesitate to implicate pH, GH or KH in that problem.

Definitely check your temperature, as Jchillin suggested, also. If your plants were thriving before, with these same water conditions, I'd look for something that might have changed after the pruning. Also, sometimes excessive pruning can alter the balance of an aquarium in terms of the amount of nutrients that were being absorbed by the plants are no longer being absorbed, and an aggressive pruning job done all at once could have even caused nitrate to rise. Often you'll get an algae bloom when this occurs, especially with the fish load you have, but I am not sure why they would suddenly fail to thrive following a pruning.