Safely Changing pH

[Jgeezer1986]

I have a 20g set up as a mollie breeder righ now.

I want to use i as a community tank and put the mollies in the 55g community.

The pH on the 20g is 7.5 and i use salt.

The 55g pH is 6.4, no salt and i do nothing to edit the pH. just where it lands

I would like to get the 20g to match the 55g so i can easily change fish from tank to tank to get what i want.

Im thinking of bringing the pH down .1 a week till i get to 6.4
Right now i use a tablespoon of salt per 5 gal. Can i just stop adding salt to the tank or is that going to cause problems.


ideas for the 20g later:
Planted tank with
10-15 neon tetras,blood-finned tetras and a cory cat
-or-
10 tigerbarbs
-or-
4-5 angelfish

Suggestions?

 

[BigJim]

What is the pH of your tap water? Let it degas overnight before testing it. If it's around 6.4, I'd blame something in the 55g for raising the pH. It's much harder to lower pH than it is to raise it. I'm not sure salt would cause a pH increase.

No angels in a 20g. The other options look ok, but I'd get six cories.

 

[HN1]

I agree with testing your ph from the tap. I'd skip the salt completely. It just really isn't needed (even for mollies).

No angels for sure. Also, tiger barbs get to be big, bulky, fast fish and need a longer tank IMO.

 

[Jgeezer1986]

The pH in the 55 is 6.4 because i use tap water in it , i know thats what it is.

I set the 20g to 7.5 and added salt for a completely different set up that didnt work out. It ended up as a mollie breeder just because thats what i thought would work the best for them tank permaeters.

I would not have done all that to the tank just to turn it into a breeder. That is why i want to back the tank down. dont see it necessary to do all that work for mollies or a community tank. I just dont want to change it all too drastically.

Sorry if the origonal post was a little confusing

 

[MartinBlank]

I think 10 Neons + 6 corys would work well IMO.

Another thread similar to this someone said that adding driftwood to their tank lowered their PH:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/cant-control-ph-129568.html

Don't know if this is true or a coincidence... do you currently have any driftwood in the tank?

 

[Jgeezer1986]

I think 10 Neons + 6 corys would work well IMO.

Another thread similar to this someone said that adding driftwood to their tank lowered their PH:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/cant-control-ph-129568.html

Don't know if this is true or a coincidence... do you currently have any driftwood in the tank?

I am not having a problem controlling the pH. I want to change it , but just want to know at what rate is safe. The 20g is 7.5 because i set it that way. The 55g is 6.4 because that is what my tap water is at and i dont want set it all the time. The 55g, i feel, will be more stable if i leave it at the same ph as the tap water

 

[BigJim]

I'd leave everything at your tap water's pH unless you have good reason to change it. If you're keeping discus or african cichlids or trying to breed difficult fish, I can understand changing it. Otherwise the fish will usually adapt to the pH with few issues.