High pH During Cycling

[FishFixation]

I am in the middle of cycling a new 6 gallon aquarium. I checked the pH, and it is 8.2. I'm worried that this is a) going to be bad for my beneficial bacteria, and b) going to be bad for the plants which will be arriving in the mail today. The pH of my tap water is 7.6.

The other water parameters were as follows:
ammonia: 0.25 ppm
nitrite: 5 ppm
nitrate: 40 ppm

I added more ammonia this morning to get the levels back up to ~4ppm. Could that be raising the pH? Is ammonia basic?

How high a pH can plants tolerate? How about fish? I have some API "pH Down" drops that I'd rather not use if I can avoid it... is there a better solution? A buffering powder maybe?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BigJim]

Don't worry about it. Ammonia is basic and will raise your pH. Don't mess with pH adjusting chemicals. They'll cause your pH to yo-yo which stresses the fish more than 8.2 pH. Not sure how the plants will take it, but unless you've got some delicate plants, I don't think they'll mind much. There may be an initial die-off while they get acclimated, but that happens a lot of the time when you transfer plants anyways.

 

[jsoong]

No worries about the plants either. your usual hardy aquarium plants will be fine in pH of 8.

Plants, however, do metabolize ammonia directly ... you might find that you have to dose more ammonia to finish your cycle.

 

[har-2109]

When you tested tap ph did you leave the water to stand for 24 hours to get a true value?

If you did then there could be some rock in your tank increasing the pH, or it could be down to the ammonia.

 

[FishFixation]

I tested the pH of my tap water after letting a bowl sit out over night, and it turns out to be 8.0. I guess there's my problem. Not much that I can do about that, is there? Stupid well/spring water.

I'm glad to know that the plants will probably withstand it just fine, but I'm concerned about how fish and especially red cherry shrimp are going to fare...

 

[BigJim]

RCS are pretty tough. I'm pretty sure they actually prefer more basic water.

 

[jsoong]

Most inverts need a bit of hardness in the water for the shells, so your water is prob better. At any rate, water around our area is 7.8-8, and the lfs keep all sorts of fish & inverts without doctoring their water. So I don't think you would have problems either, as long as you properly acclimatize the livestock if they come from water with different parameters.