Is high PH going to be a problem?

[Ender]

I have a 46G planted tank that I've been running through a fishless cycle and am ready to add some fish (finally!).

When I first got the idea to do the tank, I tested the PH of my tapwater and was ecstatic when the test came back a near-neutral 7.2. I didn't test for PH as I ran through the cycle but did over a week ago when I was ready for the fish and was shocked at the 8.0 that I saw.

My gut reaction was to assume that there something in my tank that was raising the PH but it only took a little searching before I let a bucket of water outgas for 24 hours and found that tests on that water came back at 8.0...big swing I think but I've repeated it 3 times this past week hoping I was doing something wrong with the test.

I want a "nice" community tank and have sworn off chiclids. I would like tetras and gouramis. My question is, are my water parameters acceptable and "moral" for tetras and gouramis.

Water specs-
8.0-PH (steady for at least a week and same as outgased tap)
5.5-KH; 5.0-GH; 78.7-79.3 water temp (lights out/lights on)
0-NH4; 0-NO2; 20-NO3 (hey, fishless cycling really does work)

I was going to start with a smallish school (6) of tetras and graduate to a couple of gouramis and maybe a second school of tetras (don't want a huge fish load).

Let me know what you think...I understand the pitfalls of adjusting PH (especially down) and would like to move forward without adjusting PH but also don't want to be mean to the fish.

 

[Sum22]

Yes. Stablity is better than trying to get you pH to a specific number. Most fish are used to living in water conditions that aren't the same as their natural enviroment. Plus, many fish are tank bred, so they are more acclimated to the higher pH water conditions than their wild counterparts.

 

[Purrbox]

Since you aren't aren't talking about keeping Discus or another fish that requires softwater, and you aren't talking about breeding fish, there really isn't any reason to mess with your pH. Just leave it alone, and your fish should be fine.

 

[Ender]

Thank you

Ok thank you for the advice...I just didn't want to be mean to the little fishies.

Thanks again.

 

[haykay]

yep.. no worries just avoid fish like Discus that really are picky about ph.. leave it be and have fun, you may just need to take more care or a bit longer to acclimate fish to your tank.. I add 1/4 cup of water to the floated bag every 5 minutes till the bag is full, then dump half of it and do it again, and if they are from a very different Ph I will fill it up as mentioned again and dump (total of 3 times getting full) then net and release!

 

[FishEggs]

if you're going to add driftwood or co2 that will bring the ph down a little bit. i started out with a 7.8-8.0 ph and then put some driftwood in and it went down to 7.6 and then started using co2 and it's 7.4 now.

i find that the drip method works really well to acclimate the fish to higher ph and kh water. plus it doesn't involve floating a dirty bag in your tank.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

When I first got the idea to do the tank, I tested the PH of my tapwater and was ecstatic when the test came back a near-neutral 7.2. I didn't test for PH as I ran through the cycle but did over a week ago when I was ready for the fish and was shocked at the 8.0 that I saw.

My gut reaction was to assume that there something in my tank that was raising the PH but it only took a little searching before I let a bucket of water outgas for 24 hours and found that tests on that water came back at 8.0...big swing I think but I've repeated it 3 times this past week hoping I was doing something wrong with the test.

Thats the exact results that I had from tap and tank testing. Holds steady 8.0 in tank except I did add driftwood that lowered it to 7.6. But after a few weeks it came back to the 8.0.

Either way like everyone else said just acclimate slowly and most all fish will be just fine. I called all the LFS's in my area and they have the same water PH so I'm not as worried about it as I was at 1st.