Maintaining a pH of 7.0

[selvan777]

Cardinals are my main focus and, with this post, I hope to learn how to best maintain a pH of 7.0 without spending a whole lot of money or using RO. That is if I even decide to mess with it. I'm not so sure I can trust the tap water to be consistent with it's buffers.

My aquarium is just shy of three months young. I use raw tap water and add only API's Tap Water Conditioner before filling and adding Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium twice a week. I feed lightly in the morning every other day rotating from flake to frozen baby brine to flake to frozen blood worms and back to flake while throwing in a very occasional treat of some other type. I clean the gravel with pwc of 10 gallons (50%+) every two weeks. I'm only using API's Freshwater Master Test Kit (for now). My flora & fauna is as in my signature except that I've so far only built my Cardinals up to 9. They are all happy and growing nicely.

The pH in both my tap water and in the tank is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8. I'm interested in keeping a steady 7.0 reading.

My initial thought is to run the tap water through a colander filled with peat into the bucket when doing 2 week pwc's lowering the pH by 0.1 each time.

Thanks

Here are a couple reads I thought quite informative:
Adjusting pH in the Freshwater Aquarium - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish
GH, KH, and pH for the Advanced Hobbyist

 

[mfdrookie516]

if your ph is steady at somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8, dont mess with it...

 

[mgamer20o0]

your fish will adapt and be fine. steady ph does more for them then one thats always jumping. what kind of test kit are you using? 7.2-7.8 is kind of a wide range.

 

[selvan777]

I too thought that was a wide range and was thinking why they haven't yet developed one that would just display the results digitally in .1 increments. It would be good for those who are color blind too. Maybe there is but it's too pricey.

I'm using API's Freshwater Master. Man, I need glasses, I looked at it again with a magnifying glass and it's actually to 7.6, sorry.

I'm going to take your advise and NOT mess with it.

Honestly, it always was my thought from the start to not bother with water testing even. It seems to me our drinking water, fortunately for most, is kept at a good enough level of quality for any fish to thrive in provided a water conditioner is used and the fish are acclimated slowly, especially the ones that don't adapt too quickly.

 

[BigJim]

It's a good idea not to mess with the pH.

They do make fancy digital pH meters, but they're big $$$$. They actually make digital probes to test all your aquarium parameters, but the only people I've seen use them are the saltwater guys who have thousands of dollars sunk into their tanks.

 

[Blueiz]

I agree with your ph is fine..don't mess with it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Honestly, it always was my thought from the start to not bother with water testing even. It seems to me our drinking water, fortunately for most, is kept at a good enough level of quality for any fish to thrive in provided a water conditioner is used and the fish are acclimated slowly, especially the ones that don't adapt too quickly.

you do want to test it though... if its abnormally high or low, or inconsistant, then you can potentially have a problem... i test mine every two weeks, just to make sure nothing is going on with it, i wouldnt recommend testing any less frequently though

 

[selvan777]

Will do. If nothing else, knowing I can test my water at any time is comforting.

 

[Bigfoot1030]

Selvan777, you got some very good advice. I second everything said. There is no reason to adjust your PH for the average hobbyist.