A Ph Of 7.6

[Ferg1985]

Hi all,

I'm in two minds what to do really. My main tank has had a consistent pH of just under 7 and I've no problem with that, the fish have always been happy it would seem. Yet my smaller tank (75l) has risen to 7.6. The current stock for that is just my rosy barbs, the CAE and 2 cories and they all seem healthy (I'm presuming it's been a gradual change to a slight alkaline level). I've part changed two of the filter media recently so wondering if that would have altered it whilst they establish? (Ammonia, Nitrite have stayed at 0 and Nitrate's are fine). I'm considering adding 1 school of fish to the tank to complete the stocking, thinking along the lines of a danio or raspbora and both would be fine with that pH tolerance? Either that or some Green tiger barbs. Reading online I've seen that they'd all be ok with this pH, but should I aim to reduce it a tad anyway to reduce the chance of upsetting the cories?

Thanks for any help.

 

[coldcazzie]

no. Messing with it will cause more problems than it will fix.

However an investigation into why it has risen would be prudent: what decor do you have?

 

[markandhisfish]

nope dont play with your ph , its too difficult to keep stability . 7.6 isnt that bad really , fish are quite adaptable . my ph is about the same as yours and i have kept ( and all thrived ) all sorts of fish ranging from general community fish to discus ,rams and now mbuna. from my experience 7.6 is what id call a "happy medium" ph . not ridiculously high nor overly low . people get far too hung up on the whole ph thing imo , the best ph for ANY fish is a stable ph

there are obcious exclusions such as wild caught discus or other wildcaught blackwater fisdh from naturally very soft water . these will have a much harder time acclmatising , but with the vast majority of tank bred fish you should be fine .

edit: sorry half asleep lol i just read your post again . i missed the part about it rising . i agree with cazzie that investigating the reason for the rise would be a good idea

 

[Aqua Tom]

7.6 is not a bad Ph level but lets try to establish why your Ph has risen like that.
It is somthing unique to that tank so we can narrow it down to probably 2 things. Substrate or Decor. If either of these are different to your other tank then Bingo, we have a winner.

Tom

 

[Ferg1985]

I'll keep an eye on it, perhaps it won't rise any more it is just strange for it to change recently (given that the other tank hasn't).
There is no difference to how they're set up, the only difference being that the main tank has redmoor wood in it and the one upstairs has a resin root ornament but the tank upstairs has never had any real wood in it, and the plants and rocks have been in the tank for 16 months.