Learning the new world of water testing

[cgray]

How feasible is it tp lower your pH from 8.2 to something lower than 7.5 in a 135Gal tank? I sort of went about this wrong and didn't expect my pH to be that high. I don't want a bunch Cichlids.

 

[Meredith]

Are you testing your water right out of the tap? Also don't worry about lowering so much. Mine stays right around 7.8 and all my fish are very healthy.

 

[cgray]

Yes, right out of the tap. Mines around 8.0 to 8.2 or 8.4, I might of found out that I'm alittle color blind to these colors because it's so hard to distinguish between these colors. It's light like the 8.0 brown but redish like the 8.4!! What's my next step, you wrote that like I shouldn't of just measured it out of the tap!? What's this Proper 7.0 that I'm starting to read about?

How/Why are your fish healthy when you read about what your doing in books and it's the worst thing to do?

Aquarium Pharma. is the test kit

 

[BASSNMAN]

You may need to invest in a RO system. You can mix with tap water to get what you want. You can buy them off of Ebay for less than $100.

 

[cgray]

Well I just retested and it has the same pH as before, but I also tested my Brita pitcher just now and it's in the 7.4 pH range.

 

[Meredith]

Try letting a glass of water sit overnight and then test it. The ph will probably be a little lower than right out of the tap. As long as you acclimate your fish slowly most fish will be fine with a higher ph. Its when you start tinkering with the ph a bunch causing it to swing, is when your fish start having problems. If you want to try breeding your fish, that is another story. The ph and the temp. have to be just so.

 

[Blucat]

Use the brita pitcher.... i use it and there are no bad side effects