Ph In Small Tank

[Clearwaters]

Ok so finally got a water testing kit, so starting in my small tank in kitchen

I have about

6 ghost shrimp
8 cherry shrimp
4 guppys
6 neon tetras

I did a water change about 2 days ago and after testing I'd says it's about 7.6 ph

So what ph should I be looking for and what to do to achieve it?

Also any other tests I should be doing?

Thanks
Steven

 

[techen]

PH sounds solid, I wouldn't touch it.

 

[Clearwaters]

So is that a good ph to have then?

 

[CezzaXV]

Most fish will have a preference for a pH range, but in general a stable pH is much more important than a "correct" one. It's almost impossible to raise/lower pH by any significant amount and maintain it at that level. It's just a recipe for disaster.

As techen said, don't touch it.

 

[Clearwaters]

My big tank is at 6.7 ph so do I need to do a water change on that?

 

[techen]

If overall you have a PH of 6.7 you are fine. Honestly, Anything between 6.5 and 7.5 is pretty good unless you have some high PH fish.

 

[CezzaXV]

I would leave it. A rapid change in pH will shock your fish and could possibly kill them.

Whatever your water change routine has been up to this point, it hasn't effected the pH in such a way as to disturb your fish, so just keep doing what you're doing.

Most fish are adaptable and will be happy in the pH most of us are able to provide. As it happens you have guppies, which prefer hard water with a high pH, and neons which like soft water with a low pH, so you can't possibly create the perfect conditions for all your fish while they're all in the same tank. However, I'm sure that they're fine in your tank as it is.

 

[Clearwaters]

Great thanks, any other test need done on fresh water tanks?

 

[CezzaXV]

If you've just bought a kit, I would assume you have tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

I would assume, however, if you've only just got a test kit you probably haven't cycled in the sense of what we would call cycling. In a cycled tank ammonia and nitrite should always be zero, and nitrate, as a rule of thumb, shouldn't be more than 20ppm above what comes out of your tap.

Test your tank water for these, and give your tap water a test as well, just to see how it is.

 

[Clearwaters]

Will do, my large tank was cycled for weeks and my mate tested it before i put fish in, it's been running for about 2 years now and I restarted the small tank I had with water from larger tank.

Will go test them just now

S

 

[CezzaXV]

Water won't make any difference whatsoever when starting a new tank. It's filter media you need to transfer over.

 

[Clearwaters]

Ok so

Small tank
Nitrite no2. = 1.0 ppm
Ammonia =. 0- 0.25

Big tank
Nitrite no2. = 0 ppm
Ammonia = 0- 0.25 ppm

Tap water
Nitrate no2 = 0 ppm
Ammonia = 0.25

..?

 

[CezzaXV]

Ammonia in your tapwater isn't great. Are you using the API kit? It's apparently supposed to be read in natural daylight, else it can sometimes look like you've got a small amount of ammonia when you haven't.

The nitrite in your small tank is very bad, and will be a result of you just taking water from the big tank. You need to transfer some filter media over from the big tank which should help clear things up, but it would also be beneficial to do at least one big, big water change on it to get the nitrite down. Sadly the ammonia won't come down if there truly is ammonia in your tapwater, but you can at very least deal with the nitrite.

 

[Clearwaters]

What's the Api kit?

I only have a small internal filter in small tank, so just put some meia into that should help then from the big tanks external filter?

I will retest the tap water again tomorrow

 

[CezzaXV]

API is a common brand of test kit. Can I ask what brand of kit you have, and whether it is liquid or strips?