Lowering pH with panda corys in tank

[Magic1235]

I have had two Bettas suffer form presumed alkalosis, as my fish shop uses very soft water and my area has hard water pH8. I need to lower the pH in my tank if I want to prevent this happening so I’ve bought pH down by API. Does anyone know how sensitive panda corys are to pH change? It advises on back to be extremely careful with ‘fish sensitive to adjustments in pH greater than 0.2 in a 24 hour period’. I don’t know much about corys sensitivity to pH so wanted to check first

 

[Guyb93]

I have had two Bettas suffer form presumed alkalosis, as my fish shop uses very soft water and my area has hard water pH8. I need to lower the pH in my tank if I want to prevent this happening so I’ve bought pH down by API. Does anyone know how sensitive panda corys are to pH change? It advises on back to be extremely careful with ‘fish sensitive to adjustments in pH greater than 0.2 in a 24 hour period’. I don’t know much about corys sensitivity to pH so wanted to check first

This may be bad advise I’m not sure .. but I wouldn’t worry to much about your ph I’m sure they can adjust , I think Gh is something more to worry about , @Essjay will give you actually note worthy advise

 

[Essjay]

Lowering pH with chemicals is not advisable. High pH often goes with hard water and high KH. KH is a buffer - it stabilises pH and prevents it changing. When you add these pH changing chemicals to water with high KH, initially the pH drops, but then the KH starts to work and pulls the pH back up again. This yoyoing pH is not good for fish.
Fish which need low pH usually also need soft water. I know that hardness only measures calcium and magnesium, but these fish come from water with few minerals of any type, and adding things to the water is the opposite of what they need.

Do you know how hard your tap water is? The easiest way to find out is to look on your water company's website for hardness. You need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several units they can use). If you water is hard, the better approach is to soften the water rather than add pH changing chemicals as both bettas and cories are soft water fish. Hard water is softened by mixing pure water such as reverse osmosis water with tap water.

 

[Magic1235]

Lowering pH with chemicals is not advisable. High pH often goes with hard water and high KH. KH is a buffer - it stabilises pH and prevents it changing. When you add these pH changing chemicals to water with high KH, initially the pH drops, but then the KH starts to work and pulls the pH back up again. This yoyoing pH is not good for fish.
Fish which need low pH usually also need soft water. I know that hardness only measures calcium and magnesium, but these fish come from water with few minerals of any type, and adding things to the water is the opposite of what they need.

Do you know how hard your tap water is? The easiest way to find out is to look on your water company's website for hardness. You need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several units they can use). If you water is hard, the better approach is to soften the water rather than add pH changing chemicals as both bettas and cories are soft water fish. Hard water is softened by mixing pure water such as reverse osmosis water with tap water.

Yes I’ve checked with my provider. It’s Calcium carbonate(CaCO3): 265 ppm. How do I reverse osmosis?

 

[Essjay]

Reverse osmosis water can be bought from a lot of fish shops (but make sure they haven't added any minerals back in) or you can buy equipment to make it yourself - it is plumbed in under the sink. It is water that's had all the stuff dissolved in it removed.
Mixing RO with your tap water half and half would reduce your GH to 132, which is low enough for most soft water fish. The way to use it is to premix tap and RO in a bucket before adding it to the tnak, making sure the mix is the same every time.