High Ph

[CWBMS]

Being a new to the world of keeping fish and sifting through the numerous help topics here which I may add are extremely helpful and informative.
I can not see anything on high PH. Do I take it this is less important to fish and plant life as a low PH? I see a PH of 7 or 7.5 is good. But what happens if it is 8 or over... is this Depremental to life in the tank? What causes the PH to rise ( my tap water is 7.4.)

In anticipation of some informative replies I thank you all

 

[superjonboy]

Is it a brand new tank set up?

If it is a ph that high helps to mature the filter more quickly.

John.

 

[CWBMS]

Is it a brand new tank set up?

If it is a ph that high helps to mature the filter more quickly.

John.

Yes it is a new tank

 

[waterdrop]

Being dealt a particular pH by where you live is not really bad or good per se. It is just something that needs to mesh with your goals as an aquarist. Ideally, you should incorporate it into the planning of those goals, as it is easier in the long run to avoid the few species that might have a particularly hard time with your type of water.

One good thing to get in mind if you are very new to this is that here in the beginners section you will see lots of discussion about pH and about various types of water hardness but whenever you are reading these, its important to separate whether its water that's being optimized for bacteria (in fishless cycling) or whether it has to do with the eventual running and maintaining of the finished tank. They are two very different things.

For a beginner, getting a handle on all the different fish species and their preferences and whether or not their preferences are really important at all, given that few fish really still come from "the wild" these days, can be long and tedious. There's not much to do but jump in and go for it, keeping good notes to yourself as time goes by. It helps to continue to attempt to narrow species down based on what you really want and will be able to provide a correct home for, as that can help get rid of species you don't need to be studying!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

You are right WCBMS. We usually are focused rather narrowly on the pH that moves a cycle forward faster. If you intend to keep fish that like very low hardness and a somewhat lower pH, our focus is in the wrong place. I am personally a livebearers keeper so I look for high pH and hard water. No matter how much I try, that always biases my answers. There is nothing inherently wrong with low pH / low hardness water except when it comes to the fish that don't appreciate that kind of water. Many of the South American fish are actually fish that would hate the water that I have in my tanks. If you are setting up a South American biotope, ignore most of the advice we would usually give you except when it comes to getting your filter cycled. When doing a fishless cycle, the water conditions for good bacterial growth are well known and the process works better if the pH is controlled on the high side of things.