Killer ph?

[Lokkzer]

My tap water is about 8.2 ph. I know that we look for stable ph as opposed to perfect ph. But will a higher ph hurt or shorten the life of my fish? It's a fw tropical tank.

 

[rich311k]

That is not all that high, fish do adapt well and you will have little trouble from PH. A few pieces of driftwood will modify it a bit. Go with your plans and dont worry about it you, it should make little difference.

 

[43Gallons]

That is not all that high, fish do adapt well and you will have little trouble from PH. A few pieces of driftwood will modify it a bit. Go with your plans and dont worry about it you, it should make little difference.

Yeah, I second that. Fish will adapt to whatever pH your water is. Most of the bred-in-captivity fish are kept in pHs around 8.0-8.6, so no worries.

 

[elaine5182]

My bristlenose plec died and it was said to have been caused by high range ph level of 8.2.

 

[rich311k]

I know folks who have kept rams and discus in water that hard. You said in your other thread you have bad water. What is wrong with the water?

 

[bcurlacher54]

so would a high ph kill a regular plec? i plan to have one in my cichlid tank and the ph is really high.

 

[rich311k]

Lots of people keep plecos in African tanks so they will do fine in a higher PH.

 

[AquaOne]

My bristlenose plec died and it was said to have been caused by high range ph level of 8.2.

Mine too, but unknown to me at the time (in my earliest fish-keeping) our LFS changed to local tap after years of buffered water which I had also adapted to. My ph 6.4 was far too acid for the BN plec which was used to ph8.0

 

[Lokkzer]

I know folks who have kept rams and discus in water that hard. You said in your other thread you have bad water. What is wrong with the water?

Well, bad water was easier to say than explaining that my water is hard and got a high ph. But I am asking now because I am trying to get a bn pleco and peppered cories and I had thought that they might not do good in waters with high ph.

 

[jcolon]

Well, bad water was easier to say than explaining that my water is hard and got a high ph. But I am asking now because I am trying to get a bn pleco and peppered cories and I had thought that they might not do good in waters with high ph.

That's really doing to depend on the pH of the LFS water compared to yours.
If theirs is in the same range as yours, there should be no pH issues for the fish ... they will adapt. After that you can slowly soften the water to your desired pH level ... again slowly. It's drastic pH changes like when a LFS has 6.4 range pH and then we introduce fish to 8.2 range pH that you start asking for trouble.

 

[AquaCheatah]

putting fish thru that much stress can sometimes stun your fish
or just make them a bit sluggo for a while

altho like the others have said
yes they do accustom to the ph lvls
in your tank this may take a long while
but in that time you may risk of losing him

i dont really much tend to hear that yea yea you can put them
in with out trouble at all but thats a risk you eat and lose cause its
your dough and they really dont know your tank like you do
cause your there and they are not even if my lfs says so
its hard to take the word cause you dont really know if its
sick or getting sick ph imbalance would just kill it

you can really balance your ph with proper ph by api
(idk why i am not making money advertising products)
its easy and no side affect for your fishes and
while the powder devolves and goes in your filter
your fish will have that super glow for a while

so if anything research the ph lvls of all your fish
pick a number from the product and use it
from there on they will adjust to that powder lvl ph

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Well, bad water was easier to say than explaining that my water is hard and got a high ph. But I am asking now because I am trying to get a bn pleco and peppered cories and I had thought that they might not do good in waters with high ph.

One thing I'd like to suggest, when going from a LFS (anywhere really) having a low pH compared to what your norm might be (high pH) is to drip acclimate them over a long duration (1 hour). It's really quite easy and dripping 1 to 1.5 gallons over that time period will allow your fish to slowly adapt to what is essentially a new environment (water parameters). I DA all my fish (inverts too) and have never had die off due to pH shock.

If you haven't done drip acclimation, let me know and I can run you thru it.