Ph 8.2

[NekoOo]

Our tap/aquarium water tests at 8.2 ph. We've added driftwood to help naturally lower it, to no avail. I'm not really concerned with the ph because I've read a lot about how, so long as the ph is stable and at safe levels, you shouldn't really worry about. It's more important for fish to be in stable ph levels than to try and change it. My dad disagrees and insists we need to get the ph lower by any means necessary.

What should we do??

 

[librarygirl]

Aw, sorry. That must be hard. At least you know you're doing what you can for the fish. You could test some distilled water for PH and show him the tube and be like "see, the PH is lower!" Not that I condone lying or anything

Have you shown him the research and information you've found online about PH and fish? If not maybe you could print some out and let him read it.

 

[bud29]

Aw, sorry. That must be hard. At least you know you're doing what you can for the fish. You could test some distilled water for PH and show him the tube and be like "see, the PH is lower!" Not that I condone lying or anything

haha I like the way librarygirl thinks

I do recommend printing off some things you found and then showing him.

Or, just tell him, "If you want those bala sharks, there is a nice 125 gallon tank over there that will make a fantastic home for them." Everyone likes another tank

That's what I told my dad when he wanted outrageous stuff for my tank. "Yeah, we can get those, but you pay for the tank big enough to hold them." That shut him up.

 

[NekoOo]

To be fair, he pays for the tank but I maintain it. I don't want to maintain a disgusting overstocked tank that doesn't please me in any way.

 

[NekoOo]

And am I right about the ph? That stability is more important than trying to lower it with chemicals and the like?

 

[bud29]

You are correct. The majority of fish such as tetras, even though they prefer slightly acidic water, will adapt to alkaline as long as it is steady. pH lowering products wear off and cause a pH fluctuation which is more harmful than a high pH. The only instance when you should use these lowering products is when your pH is extremely high, such as 8.6 or above.

 

[NekoOo]

You are correct. The majority of fish such as tetras, even though they prefer slightly acidic water, will adapt to alkaline as long as it is steady. pH lowering products wear off and cause a pH fluctuation which is more harmful than a high pH. The only instance when you should use these lowering products is when your pH is extremely high, such as 8.6 or above.

Thank you for confirming and explaining why the ph meds are bad!

 

[hpiguy]

My Ph is 8.4 out of the tap and 8.2 after a day. I have wood in some of my tanks and it drops to 8.0 at the lowest.

I have all the normal aquarium fish, danios, cory cats, tetras, shrimp, snails, gouramis, mollys, etc. No issues at all. In fact, some breed, like my Black Skirt Tetras and of course the mollys breed like rabbits as always.

The fish stores, having a constant circulating system, get their water right from the city tap and do not treat it aside for chlorine removal, so all the fish for sale are used to a high Ph anyway.

You'll do more harm than good trying to constantly lower the Ph of your water to neutral. You'll be adding lots of chemicals and each water change you make or each top off will alter it closer to original again. Causing big swings. The big swings are what hurts fish.

 

[bud29]

Also, if your dad is totally and completely set on lowering the pH and won't listen to anything, your best bet would probably be adding a tiny bit of peat moss to your filter. It lowers the pH and doesn't wear off as fast as the chemicals. But, it really is unnecessary to do anything. My tap pH is about the same as hpiguy's and I don't add anything to lower it.

 

[NekoOo]

Well now I wish I hadn't badmouthed my dad in this, otherwise I could show him this and be like "see!!!!"

 

[hpiguy]

The edit feature works wonders.

 

[NekoOo]

The edit feature works wonders.

LOL brilliant! So going to do it.

 

[NekoOo]

Hehe, my edits suck but my dad can usually take stuff like this with a grain of salt.

 

[bud29]

To be fair, he pays for the tank but I maintain it. I don't want to maintain a disgusting overstocked tank that doesn't please me in any way.

Man, I wish my dad paid for my tanks!

 

[NekoOo]

Man, I wish my dad paid for my tanks!

Lol well I was determined to get a tank with or without his funds and was in the process of getting a job, but he stopped me cause he wants/needs me to go to college full time. So we kind of struck up an agreement that he'd pay for the tank so I could go to school and not deplete my saved money for college.

We talked, and he's decided to withdrawal from the aquarium fully except for funds. It's all in my hands...not really happy about it but hopefully my dad will see the end result and be satisfied. I wanted a partner in this hobby but I guess no one including my dad is willing to put in so much effort researching and doing stuff correctly. :\

 

[bud29]

I wanted a partner in this hobby but I guess no one including my dad is willing to put in so much effort researching and doing stuff correctly. :\

You still have us......

 

[NekoOo]

You still have us......

Yep. Without you guys I wouldn't be able to do this at all. I need the support and part of what I'm looking for in the hobby is to be apart of a large community of like minded individuals. So thank you all for that!

 

[bud29]

Yeah I think I would have gone bananas if I didn't find this site full of people who have the same interests as me. Where I live, fishkeeping isn't a very popular thing so nobody wants to hear me talk about my tanks....

 

[bobc4d]

my pH is 8.5 and I leave it as is. I have Platy's, Tetra's and Cory cats in my 36G and a Betta in my 10G, the high pH doesn't bother them. As others have said, don't mess with it as that will cause more harm than good.