help with ph levels

[Bambithegirl]

Hi Guys. Had such a bad experience at the LFS today. Wanted to test a sample of my water for gh ph and nitrates (i only have ammonia and nitrite kits at home) and everyone was clueless. After 5 minutes the guy had emptied all of the containers and when I asked him what the readings were he said they were all 'fine'. I asked him what colours the water was and he said clear, after which I insisted he do another test for nitrates and he only used bottle 1 drops and never even knew there were 2 other bottles. Oh dear. Long story short, my nitrates are sky high which is fine as I will be doing a big 90% WC today and changing my gravel for pool filter sand. But Im worried about my PH. It is 8.4. WIll that also come down with a big water change or should I add PH down, which is a powder form buffer i got from the store. Thanks for the constant help!

 

[BBradbury]

Tank Chemistry

Hi Guys. Had such a bad experience at the LFS today. Wanted to test a sample of my water for gh ph and nitrates (i only have ammonia and nitrite kits at home) and everyone was clueless. After 5 minutes the guy had emptied all of the containers and when I asked him what the readings were he said they were all 'fine'. I asked him what colours the water was and he said clear, after which I insisted he do another test for nitrates and he only used bottle 1 drops and never even knew there were 2 other bottles. Oh dear. Long story short, my nitrates are sky high which is fine as I will be doing a big 90% WC today and changing my gravel for pool filter sand. But Im worried about my PH. It is 8.4. WIll that also come down with a big water change or should I add PH down, which is a powder form buffer i got from the store. Thanks for the constant help!

Hello Bambi...

Aquarium fish are pretty adaptable and most will do fine in most public water supplies. You just need to treat the tap water to remove the chlorine and chloramine the city people put into the water to make it safe to drink. These chemicals are toxic to aquarium fish.

A stable water chemistry is more important than trying to maintain a particular chemistry. Water changes of roughly half the tank's volume done weekly will keep the water properties stable.

Do a good job of keeping the water clean and the fish and plants will do fine.

Just one reporter's opinion though.

B

 

[Delapool]

More fun with your own set I reckon.
What's your tap ph - it will mainly reflect this.

 

[Fishperson]

By the way if you plan on buying an API test kit (which you should ) then you should buy it on Ebay or Amazon instead of in stores, it'll save you $20.