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Sounds complicated o.o . I guess lowering my pH is my last resort, then. I forgot to mention that my aquarium's size is a 10 gallon(US). Any suggestions for fish of 8.4 pH that will fit in 10 gallon? It would be nice if they were a little common, too, because there's not that much variety around here.Mot of the common livebearers would survive in a tank that high in pH but it is on the high side even for them. It is almost the ideal value for the African rift lake fish so you might want to check them out. They are among some of the most brilliantly colored of the freshwater fish but play too rough for my tanks. I keep mostly hard to find livebearers in the goodeid family that need a bit more peaceful neighbors than Malawi cichlids would be. They are rough in their own right but not like the Africans.
If you decide that you really must have softer water, lower pH fish, you could start by finding out the hardness and KH of your water. If it is hard or high in KH, the only way to do much to affect the pH is to start by lowering the hardness. Once you have removed the hardness of your water, it will be much easier to lower the pH. To reduce hardness you use a mix of tap water and either RO or rain water. The purer water is used to dilute the chemical content of the tap water. Once the water is softer it will start to drop the pH a little on its own and you will be able to move it with things like black water extract or using peat moss in the filter.
Right now my tap water pH is 8.4, and I want to make my stocking choices larger by lowering the pH. What's the best way of doing this? Or, can you recommend any community fish that likes kind of high pH? Thanks.