ph problem

[hotskate]

okay well i have had this problem for about 1.5 weeks now my ph is basicly at 7.2 -7.6 and i pu the ph down in the tank and didnt work so i did a water change and 2 days later checked the ph and still same problem what do u think? i have 2 cory cats 7 green tiger barbs 2 danios and 1 bristle nose pleco 2 iradesint sharks and thats basicly it???????? what shall i do

tia

 

[Allivymar]

Have you checked your kH and DH? If you don't know your water hardness and buffering levels, you may be adding pH down for nothing. In fact, I would stop adding it pH down. You may wind up crashing the tank. Why are you trying to lower the pH anyway? If the fish are doing ok, there is no need. Its better to have a stable pH then to try and make it "perfect".

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Allivymar is 100% right. Unless there is a very specific reason/need to lower your tank's pH level, a STABLE pH is by far more important than having the "perfect" pH value in your aquarium. The vast majority of tropical fish available to us are farm raised and many generations removed from their native waters. Because of this, most fish readily adapt to whatever water conditions they're kept in. However, no fish can deal very well with fluctuating pH levels- and attempts to alter it will almost always result in shifting levels.

The levels you describe (7.2 - 7.6) are perfectly fine for the fish you've described. Just keep up your water changes, don't worry about tinkering with the water chemisty, and enjoy the fish!

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

Most fish can do fine in a ph range of 6.5 to 7.5 so unless they are looking unhappy I wouldn't give it much thought.

 

[hotskate]

ok thanks

 

[Terry]

hotskate

There is nothing wrong with your ph, if you are really worried about your ph ask your lfs what there ph is.
I bet that there water wont be much different from yours, if you start to tamper with your ph. When you buy new fish you might find that they will die.

This is because you have change the ph from what is in your area to what you want and there might be quite a difference. Most lfs in the UK leave there ph alone so that there customers don't have ph problems when they get the fish home. You will find most community fish are somewhere in the 7-8 ph range and your fish will adapt very easily.
If you was to make a biotope tank of a area of the world then i would say yes to changing your tanks ph, but when you have a general community tank you might have fish from differant parts of the world living in one aquarium. You can't have a differant ph for each type of fish so you have to acclimatize them to one ph.

I hope i explained that OK, sometimes i have trouble writing down what i mean to say.