Help With Ph And Hardness

[lefty07603]

i have a 10 gallon and just got a 55. i tested my 10 and all the nitrate and ammonia levels are perfect. but my ph is 8.5 to 9. that seems way too basic. i have a guppy and 3 fry in the tank. they all seem very happy. my water is also verh hard. how do i solve these problems? and what fish can withstand these conditions? thanks in advance

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Hardness and pH do not have to be in sync with each other, you can get soft alkaline water or hard acidic water.

Many common livebearers like Guppies thrive in hard water, so you have no problem to solve. Soft water fish like those from the Amazon area would not do too well in such setups, in which case mixing Reverse Osmosis water (bought from fish store or you can buy your own unit... but they produce a lot of waste water) with tap water can work, alternatively only filling your tank with remineralised RO water water is another option. But any changes to the water hardness must be a gradual thing over a number of weeks, suddenly changing the water chemistry will lead to death.

By "perfect" do you mean 0? What about nitrite levels, which will cause short term toxic issues at concentrations far below the 300mg/l for nitrate?

Other general community fish that thrive in hard water include Blind Cave Tetras; X-Ray Tetras; Lemon Tetras; Red Eye Tetras; False Penguin Tetras. In their own setups, the same can be said of fish (mainly cichlids, but there are some catfish and the odd characin) from Lakes Tanganyika and Malawi.

 

[lefty07603]

thank you! but isnt it ideal to have neutral water? i have very basic water. and yes all ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are 0! may soundstupid but could i use lemon juice to lower the ph gradually?

 

[phantomlink]

some people aim for "basic" water with a PH of 7 and average hardness, but it matters on your area and where you get your water. I have harder water in my area, at least I believe I do because I've seen people breed cichlids not far from me but my south american fish do fine. Most fish these days can adjust to most water types, there are ways to change your PH or hardness but most people will tell you its best to leave your water how it is, no matter what you do to it it will most likely revert back to its original form in time. Even experts at changing PH dont like to do it

 

[Essjay]

There is nothing magical about neutral water. Very few streams/lakes/rivers have neutral water.

You say you have hard water so the chances are you also have a high KH. If this is the case you will find it hard to alter your pH as the minerals that are measured as KH buffer the water against pH changes. If you add acids to lower the pH, the most likely result will be that your pH will drop, then rise again back to where it started. This yoyoing pH is not good for the fish.

You also have to take the hardness of your water into account. Even if you did manage to get your pH to stay at 7.0, you should really only keep fish that like hard water. These fish usually prefer a basic pH as well.

 

[lefty07603]

okay thank you guys so much for help! anyone can give a list of fish that like hard water? i also appreciate the list of tetras given byN0body of the goat!

 

[CezzaXV]

As well as those N0body wrote, livebearers are a good choice as previously mentioned. These include guppies, endlers, platies and mollies.

As others have said, 7 is not the magic number for pH. While neutral, most fish actually prefer a pH one or two points above or below this, depending on the species.

I have kept guppies in my very soft water, and while I believe they were happy and healthy, they did not live to their full life span which is why I did not replace them. I would not recommend keeping fish in a pH that is radically different to what they prefer.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

thank you! but isnt it ideal to have neutral water? i have very basic water. and yes all ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are 0! may soundstupid but could i use lemon juice to lower the ph gradually?

If ever you decide to lower pH use peat in your filter rather than lemon juice. But, you'd be better off with the fish mentioned above than messing with pH.

 

[lefty07603]

understood! okay great! i will just choose fish acordingly. i love community! evryone just wants to help!