New aquarium owner

[Buck16]

Hello,
Thank you for accepting my membership! Im excited to learn even more about taking care of these awesome (tricky) animals. So far i have struggled with some PH issues. I have it between 6.9 and 7.4 but it keeps going up. I would like advice on helping to stablize it. I just did a water change yesterday and thought I had stabled the PH. It tested good all day and I even had them run a full test at aquarium store which came back good. So I (my husband) added some fish...they all seem happy and healthy. But I checked this morning and Ph was getting high again. I have managed to get it back right at 7.4...and it has seemed to stay there. ( all fish still seem happy) eating, pooping, and swimming. How can I help keep PH balanced? I have thought about adding some drift wood?... Ive been told to do another water change and use distilled water? (I didnt think i was suppose to do a 25% water change until it had been a week) any advice appreciated. Would like to get ahead of problem so to not harm the fish.

 

[SaraB]

Things that can lower Ph are Driftwood, Indian almond leave, peat moss. If you don't want tannins in the water (safe but makes your water look brown) you have to soak your driftwood ahead of time.
Also what kind of fish did you get?

 

[Buck16]

Thank you so much for answering. We got platties and mollies. I just left aquarium store. They gave me some almond leaves. And they recommended some aquarium soil? Have you heard of that before? He said it would work like driftwood but helps with balancing

 

[SaraB]

Soil is something you would have to put in before anything else. Unless you want to start over it's a little late for soil. Indian almond leave will also leave tannins but honestly I think it gives it a more natural look. You might be ok with starting off with just 1 in there and seeing how much it helps.
Platies and mollies are both livebearing fish so they may enjoy a harder water.
What size is your tank? They are going to have a lot of babies so it would be good to have a back up plan.

 

[King Fisher]

Is your tank cycled?

What is your pH from your tap water after setting it out for 24 hours?

There's nothing wrong with 7.4 pH. Is it going higher than this? Fish adapt to pH.

You can do frequent water changes, even daily, but I wouldn't if it's solely for pH.