Water Ph Help!

[t57spikes]

My tank is 35 gallons and has now been set up for about 4 days and I have began to cycle it with 4 zebra danios. I plan on doing a water change every 2 or 3 days depending on my ammonia readings and so on. My current Ph seems to be stable at 7.8, i am using tap water with a dechlorinator. I have read that a stable Ph out of the "perfect" range is better than a fluctuating Ph so i was wondering if my 7.8 will be fine since it seems to be stuck there. If i plan on lowering it some it seems through a lot of reading that the "Ph down" chemicals are a waste of money and lower it for a short time until it rises back to its natural state, and the only way to truly lower Ph is to use an ion filter on your tap. We recieve purfied drinking water from Culligan, so I was wondering if I do a 25 % water change with is about 8.75 gallons on my 35 tank and i used 10 gallons making it about a 30% water change and i use 5 gallons tap water and 5 gallons purified water will that lower my Ph to a good range as long as every time i change water I do half and half. The fish would still get the beneficial micro nutrients from the tap and I would get the added benefit of a good Ph by using the treated water, or will mixing them cause it to lower and then spike back to 7.8?

[MICEY]

you could keep African rift cichlids
or you could put peat in your filter it will soften the water and acidify the water

[jvann]

Well, the first thing to remember in this situation is that during the cycle, the pH is going to drop a considerable amount, and then will fluctuate up and down.

Once you cycle, then worry about your pH. What is wrong with a 7.8 pH?

Sent from my 831C using Aquarium Advice mobile app

[t57spikes]

Originally Posted by MICEY

you could keep African rift cichlids
or you could put peat in your filter it will soften the water and acidify the water

So peat moss inside of the filter will help in lowering the Ph? how long will it last?

[t57spikes]

Originally Posted by jvann

Well, the first thing to remember in this situation is that during the cycle, the pH is going to drop a considerable amount, and then will fluctuate up and down.

Once you cycle, then worry about your pH. What is wrong with a 7.8 pH?

Sent from my 831C using Aquarium Advice mobile app

So I need to mainly consider my Ph after my cycle is complete? 7.8 is considered high I thought, and also on the CO2 chart that you use KH and Ph a 7.8 doesnt even register within CO2 parameters. Also, i want some angelfish with prefer 5.8-7 gouramis which like 6-7.5 some platys 7-8.2 zebra danios 6.5-7 and loaches 6-6.5 so overall my Ph seems a little high with the platy being the exception.

[BBradbury]

Originally Posted by t57spikes

My tank is 35 gallons and has now been set up for about 4 days and I have began to cycle it with 4 zebra danios. I plan on doing a water change every 2 or 3 days depending on my ammonia readings and so on. My current Ph seems to be stable at 7.8, i am using tap water with a dechlorinator. I have read that a stable Ph out of the "perfect" range is better than a fluctuating Ph so i was wondering if my 7.8 will be fine since it seems to be stuck there. If i plan on lowering it some it seems through a lot of reading that the "Ph down" chemicals are a waste of money and lower it for a short time until it rises back to its natural state, and the only way to truly lower Ph is to use an ion filter on your tap. We recieve purfied drinking water from Culligan, so I was wondering if I do a 25 % water change with is about 8.75 gallons on my 35 tank and i used 10 gallons making it about a 30% water change and i use 5 gallons tap water and 5 gallons purified water will that lower my Ph to a good range as long as every time i change water I do half and half. The fish would still get the beneficial micro nutrients from the tap and I would get the added benefit of a good Ph by using the treated water, or will mixing them cause it to lower and then spike back to 7.8?

Hello t...

You don't need to be concerned with pH, hardness or any of that. It's not important to a healthy tank. Fish you get at the pet store are easily able to tolerate a pH in the 6 to 8.5 range. You just need to maintain a constant water chemisty.

Since you're cycling your tank with fish, you need to test the tank water daily. If your test shows a trace of either ammonia or nitrite, you remove and replace a quarter of the tank water with treated tap water. In a month, you'll get several tests with no traces of either of the above forms of nitrogen. The tank is cycled.

Add some stems of Hornwort to the tank. It's a good backup water filter. Just drop some individual stems into the tank.

Keep it simple. This way, there are fewer things to remember.

B

[jvann]

Originally Posted by BBradbury

Hello t...

You don't need to be concerned with pH, hardness or any of that. It's not important to a healthy tank. Fish you get at the pet store are easily able to tolerate a pH in the 6 to 8.5 range. You just need to maintain a constant water chemisty.

Since you're cycling your tank with fish, you need to test the tank water daily. If your test shows a trace of either ammonia or nitrite, you remove and replace a quarter of the tank water with treated tap water. In a month, you'll get several tests with no traces of either of the above forms of nitrogen. The tank is cycled.

Add some stems of Hornwort to the tank. It's a good backup water filter. Just drop some individual stems into the tank.

Keep it simple. This way, there are fewer things to remember.

B

Exactly. My semi-aggressive tank is 7.8, ideally I'd like it at 7.5-7.6, but beggars can't be choosers. It's been stable at 7.8 with crushed coral.

As long as the fish are slowly acclimated to the water chemistry, they can tolerate a lot more than you think. Plus this is food for thought:

In the wild, the pH is never constant. When it rains, it goes down. Rain water has a pH of about 5.0-6.0. Leaves, wood, anything else that falls into the water also lowers the pH because if it's tannins.