No fish yet, is pH okay??

[Phishhead46]

Hello everyone!

Fishless cycle is almost done! My pH is currently at 7.8. (It was 8.0, but I did a partial water change and brought it down). I am doing one final major water change before adding fish, which might bring it down a tad. My tap water is on the harder side...

-So is 7.8 to high? What should it be at? What can I do to bring it down if it is too high?

(Im making my 37 gallon a community tank, with guppies etc)

Thanks guys!

 

[flitabout]

That is just fine. As long as it is above 6.5 and belpw 8.5 you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Fishguy1111]

Personally, it depends in the kind of fish. African cichlids like high ph, while SA fish like low, but if its a community tank, I would lower it to 7.3 or so

 

[Khuligirl93]

Trying to change pH and keeping it at a stable level that it is not naturally can be difficult. Consistency is the most important thing, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Fishfur]

I'm with Kuhligirl. Trying to change the natural pH of your tap water is extremely difficult, and fish do much better with stable, if not exactly ideal, parameters, then they do when the parameters keep changing.

To accurately fix pH to some arbitrary level, most use RO or DI water and a remineralizing product to bring the KH/GH and pH up to whatever values are needed. That's an added expense and effort you don't need to go through unless you want to keep fish that simply do not tolerate hard, alkaline water, and there are not that many of those.

Many of the South American fishes that come from black water, like Angels, do just fine in hard alkaline water, so don't worry that your pH is not 'perfect'. Perfection does not exist in nature, so I really can't see why we should expect it in our tanks either. Stability the single most important thing.

 

[Coyne]

My pH is in the 8.2 - 8.4 range and my fish are healthy.

Im curious how a water change lowered your pH. Is the water from your tap lower than the water in your aquarium? If so, then something in your tank is increasing the pH. Id find out what that is.

Also, adding peat to your filter and/or driftwood to your tank will help lower your pH some (nothing drastic). Some higher end substrates will also lower your pH.
But, as the last couple posters stated, stability is the most important thing.