The pH in my tapwater has changed. Anything I can do about it?

[chrono1081]

Hi guys,

I've been cycling my tank for a month and a half now and I think its nearing completion, however I've noticed when doing water changes that my pH is a lot lower than it used to be.

Here I retested the water from my tap and it went from 6.8 to 6.4. Will this do anything bad to my cycle? Should I try and raise it or is it a good level? (If so, how should I raise it? I know everyone recommends against using pH Up.)

I plan to have a shrimp and maybe a few neon tetras or a few guppies. Its a small tank, only 8 gallons.

 

[alia258]

The fish you want prefer a neutral Ph of 7, so I'd suggest finding something to bring the Ph up.

 

[okapizebra]

Fish will adapt to most pH's, so I wouldn't worry about it. I do not know if it will affect your cycle, though. If the cycle is complete, I wouldn't do anything to mess with the pH. It'll only stress out the fish.

 

[alia258]

You have to be careful though, because the guppies and such at the fish store are used to a pH of 7 and so you need to slowly introduce them to the lower pH

 

[okapizebra]

How do you know the pH of the fish store's water? It's probably not perfectly neutral. As with any fish, you have to acclimate them to your water chemistry.

 

[jetajockey]

The fish store's water is going to depend on the water system they are on. I agree with okapizebra.

Did you aerate the tap water before testing it?

 

[alia258]

Haha dudes I know the stores Ph because I tested the water my guppies came in, silly faces! and yeah, the chemicals and such in your tank probly aren't used in store aquariums tanks and so they need to be acclimated. Stores don't even use medications —.—

 

[jetajockey]

Haha dudes I know the stores Ph because I tested the water my guppies came in, silly faces! and yeah, the chemicals and such in your tank probly aren't used in store aquariums tanks and so they need to be acclimated. Stores don't even use medications —.—

Chances are you guys are probably using different fish stores, though, so just because yours is a certain pH doesn't mean everyone's is.

Another generalization, every store does things differently, some swear by pH adjusting chemicals, some don't, some use salt and throw meds at everything, some don't.

 

[Hobgob]

Haha dudes I know the stores Ph because I tested the water my guppies came in, silly faces! and yeah, the chemicals and such in your tank probly aren't used in store aquariums tanks and so they need to be acclimated. Stores don't even use medications —.—

Sorry your wrong about the medications. Maybe you need to find better lfs's. The ones here put nfs on the tanks that stand for "not for sale" because they are sick and need meds. They then treat them till they are healthy. You can't say what one store does is the same as another.

Now as far as ph goes. It's fine to be at 6.4 or what ever it is(I think we only know the tap water). All the needs to be done is acclimate your fish. Not just float them in a bag. That will only acclimate the temperature and not the water params. You can YouTube drip acclimation to find a good system

 

[alia258]

Every lfs near me is either ich filled or has unattractive fish or is very overpriced

 

[chrono1081]

Thanks guys for the suggestions so far. I'll look up the drip method and see what all is involved. I think my fishless cycle is almost over so I plan on getting fish really soon.

Everyone will have a heart attack with what I'm about to say but I'm going to grab my fish from Walmart. Petco and Walmart are the only two places even remotely within hours of me to buy freshwater fish.

Walmart, as much as I dislike the place, actually has really clean tanks with healthy looking fish.

Petco on the other hand has sickly looking fish (a neon I got there had neon tetra disease) and several times I've gone in there to buy boxed crickets and every single box had nothing but dead crickets (today, 7 boxes, all crickets dead), and today I saw a dead turtle floating in the tank.

Not to mention the fish tanks are very poorly kept with scum all over them, some so bad you can't see whats even in the tank. Not sure if all Petco's are like that but the one in Altoona PA is.

 

[alia258]

My petco is very ich, ick, and velvet filled, so I stock the med that covers all of those but might switch to freshwater salt for a little more simplicity. The petsmart has a mildly bad reputation but I think they have a new manager because the fish health has gone up in there. They house lots of juvie plecos in their tanks to keep scum off them, and they have great looking albino cories, which are juvies and I want them!

I've always used the float for ten minutes, add a cup of water for and hour or two method (yes, I make it up) and its my own way of doing the drip method, and works like a charm!

 

[Mr.Pleco]

My walmart got rid of fish years ago before I had tanks. If you are really worried you get get some crushed coral to bring your pH up.
Or just use the drip method when introducing fish

 

[librarygirl]

Your PH is fine, I wouldn't worry about it. The PH out of my tap is 8.4 and then it gasses out to 7.2; my fish are fine. For a while I was even aerating water in buckets to drop the PH before putting it into the tank thinking the PH difference would kill them, but I've since started using an automatic changer right from the tap and did a very large water change and the fish were fine.

However your water may be fairly soft with a PH that low (depending on KH and GH) so your PH may be prone to drops. Because my water is very soft (KH is 1 and GH is 3) I do two 25-30% water changes per week to keep the PH stable and I have a few pinches of crushed coral in my filter.