ph, water hardness

[tractorholic]

I have a couple of tanks that have fish in them, and I tested the water and found I have some very hard water. (8.5) as a new to the testing and such game, how do I get the water back down to withing the range that it should be, and how do I keep it that way? Would sure appreciate some good advice from you folks.

 

[librarygirl]

It's a bit high but should be fine where it is. Fish can acclimate to pretty much any PH and trying to mess with it can cause more problems. This question was posted recently and had a good reply you might want to read: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/ph-value-165110.html

 

[adadkins1]

I agree with librarygirl, a lot of people make a big deal about pH when it isn't that important. If you were dealing with wild-caught fish, then it would be a different story, but captive bred fish can adjust to just about any pH. Where many people get in trouble is when they read "If you are keeping 'fish A', then your water should be a pH 6.0". Then they start adding all of these chemicals to try and help the fish when it is only hurting it.

In short: A pH that is a little high, but stable is better than one that is fluctuating due to attempting to reach the optimum pH with chemicals.

 

[jcolon]

It's a bit high but should be fine where it is. Fish can acclimate to pretty much any PH and trying to mess with it can cause more problems. This question was posted recently and had a good reply you might want to read: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/ph-value-165110.html

+1 with librarygirl ... who put it much more succinctly than my pH-value reply last night

 

[bruinsbro1997]

IMO it's a little higher than I'd want it so definitely no discus if you were planning on it, but other than that most fish should be okay. If you REALLY want to lower it, I'd just use peat or driftwood. But it shouldn't be nefcessary.