New 36 gallon bowfront..high ph?

[gunsmoke25]

Just got a 36 gallon bow front and new to having an aquarium. Have had it up and running for about two weeks. Have had 6 zebra danios in there for about one week. All still alive but just starting testing my water a couple of days ago and my ph won't budge off of 8.4. Been using api's ph down treatment but doesn't seem to be doing anything. Any ideas or suggestions? Oh and have one live plant that seems to be getting worst as the days go by. Here's a picture.

[earhtmother]

I'm sure others will chime in but here's my .02$ worth. Trying to adjust your pH with chemicals is a lot of bother and is REALLY not recommended. Most fish will live adjust to the pH they are put into and If you are buying fish from around you chances are that it is close if not identical to what was in their orignal tank anyway.

[earhtmother]

Your plant looks like an Amazon sword and they are heavy root feeders so a root tab may help it

[gunsmoke25]

Yeah I started off with one root tab under it then decided the other day to add a couple more under it to try and help.

[gunsmoke25]

Update:
Added 4 tiger barbs & a Raphael striped catfish

[flitabout]

Don't use chemicals to mess with your pH. Seriously you are looking at a recipe for disaster on that. You are better off to have consistent parameters. If it is really important to do it, you would be better off mixing your water with RO/DI water. But either way stability is the more important than the perfect pH. I have liquid rock for water and my pH is always high. Most likely you will want to choose fish that prefer harder higher pH waters like african cichlids or mollies.