pH question in new tank

[dieanna]

Everything looked good to go late last night, so I transfered the entire 10 gallon to the 55. All the fish look good this morning and are, for the most part, back to their normal behavior. The pH this morning in the tank is about 8.0, maybe a touch higher. My tap water is 7.2. Should I be concerned? I have some pH down, should I give the tank a dose? Will it end up working itself out if I leave it?
:?

 

[malkore]

I would throw the pH down in the garbage right now. those products are temporary fixes..and pH down is nothing but an acid that lowers pH.

8.0 is fine for 99.9% of fish species. What I would do is get some tap water, put an airstone in it for 12 hours, then test the pH. You may have a lot of CO2 in your tap water, and that will lower the pH until the CO2 out gasses from teh water (hence the use of the airstone). if after 12 hours your rested tap pH is 8.0, then you have nothing to worry about. if it's still 7.2, or at least below 8.0, then we need to look at 'what is in the 55 that is raising pH'. likely it's a limestone rock. Got any decorative rocks in there? What did you use for gravel? (some gravels are designed to raise pH and hardness, like Seachem's Onyx sand/gravel)

 

[dieanna]

I don't really have any decorations in the tank yet. Only the ones I've taken from the 10 gallon. I used the same kind of gravel that was in the small tank, plus, I transfered the gravel over. I've had an airstone in the tank for almost 12 hours. The fish have been i there for about 8 hours. Thinking about it now, I had the same problem when I started the 10 gal up. It lasted for about 2 days, maybe 3, then went away. After that, I didn't have a problem.

 

[malkore]

I would still test the tap water after resting it. Otherwise keep tabs, and make sure ammonia doesn't increase. Ammonia is a base, so increase ammonia would increase pH in the tank...visible in tests early on, and later visible in the fish in a bad way.