Water parameters.

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wendy fm

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Jul 8, 2017
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Vermont
So my nitrates and nitrites are good, but my water tends to be hard, between neutral and alkaline. If my fish seems healthy and happy should I try to get my ph. To neutral? I have a Molly,Swordtails and a Cory cat.
 
Livebearers like it hard. And cories are fine with it. I've got pandas in 8 right now and they're spawning. Changes in ph are more trouble than they're worth and really not necessary unless you have wild caught/F1's
 
Hard water tends to be alkaline, mostly due to the presence of calcium and magnesium which act as a buffer to decrease the acid ions in the water. The pH measurement is only a very general measurement of hardness. You need a TDS (total dissolved solid) meter to measure hardness by ppm or similar measure.

That said, your water is probably fine. I'd never recommend trying to change the pH of your water unless there is something seriously wrong with it. If your fish are happy, that's what counts.
 
Nope, leave it alone. The vast majority of freshwater fish are highly tolerant to a wide range of ph values.
 
The biggest thing with Ph is keeping it stable. If it's generally around 7.8 and then the next time you test it it's at 6.5, there's a problem and you're stressing your fish. Also, if you have pretty hard water and very low ph (or the opposite), check and see what might be going is going on -- high nitrates, co2, low oxygen, overstocking... just look it could be nothing, but it's pretty unusual.
 
Thanks for the reassurance, I figured everything was fine,but it doesn't hurt to ask.
 
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