Ph Of 6 - What Can I Do?

[mbriggs84]

My water source for my tank has a pH of 6. It was disappointing for me to find that the community fish that I want (guppies, swordtails, mollies, etc...) won't do well in this low of a pH. Is there anything simple that can be done to slightly raise the pH and keep it stable, or is this too much of a hassle?

 

[electropunk06]

Hi, i would just stock to your ph getting south american or asian fish like tetras, rams, barbs, danios ect. but many rocks (i.e. limestone) will raise your ph but they might move it to high.
Lloyd

 

[Skins]

My water source for my tank has a pH of 6. It was disappointing for me to find that the community fish that I want (guppies, swordtails, mollies, etc...) won't do well in this low of a pH. Is there anything simple that can be done to slightly raise the pH and keep it stable, or is this too much of a hassle?

Crushed coral which can me mixed with your subtrate or in media bags to be placed in your filter.

Keith.

 

[moochy13]

the problem with raising the pH in the tank is if you need to do a big water change, you're going to be putting pH6 water in a #123### thats pH whatever you chanegd it to. ph shock isnt great for fish. ask at your local shops if anybody local to you is breeding the fish you want in your local water. if fish are bred and raised in local water, they'll do better.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Hi - welcome to the forum!

I have two comments:
1. Once you have fish in the tank, most people (from what I have seen on this forum) do not recommend you do much to artificially change pH levels. When pH is artificially changed from its natural level, the water could be prone to a rapid change in pH. Fish do much better when the pH remains constant.

My pH is also 6.0 once it settles in the tank, and so a few weeks back I added some crushed coral to the filter. Crushed coral slowly dissolves in the acidic water and buffers the pH level. The pH in my main tank actually went from 6.0 to 6.8 over a two week period, and my weekly water changes seem to even this out now. I added two males guppies to the tank and they seem to be doing well.

Forum user drobbyb wrote up a nice article on this topic:

My pH

2. If you are doing a fishless cycle on a tank, it is perfectly fine to bump the pH using baking soda. If you check the fishless cycle thread in my signature it talks about doing this.

 

[Carlovel1]

My water source for my tank has a pH of 6. It was disappointing for me to find that the community fish that I want (guppies, swordtails, mollies, etc...) won't do well in this low of a pH. Is there anything simple that can be done to slightly raise the pH and keep it stable, or is this too much of a hassle?

IMO just stock around your water than trying to change it. If your water pH is 6.0 then so be it. Pick fishes that do well in that pH. Anyways, Guppys, swordtails and mollies are so adaptable nowadays that they should thrive in your pH, especially if they are locally bred. I would get Platies instead of Mollys, as more Molly are brackish water species. What mollys were you thinking of getting?

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Agree with moochy13.
Ph works on a logerithmic scale so a change of +/- 1 ph could mean 100 fold change.
I believe this is more significant near the acid/alkaline boundry for fish.

 

[Rynofasho]

I half agree with Moochy. My pH out of the tap is about 10 (yes, I verified with local water company) and with all the bogwood in my tank, it typically settles around 8.2. Now since I have new wood, it was 7.4 the other day when I tested it.

My workaround to pH shock is to do smaller water changes. The biggest change I do is about 30%, and the fish tolerate it fine.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

My water source for my tank has a pH of 6. It was disappointing for me to find that the community fish that I want (guppies, swordtails, mollies, etc...) won't do well in this low of a pH. Is there anything simple that can be done to slightly raise the pH and keep it stable, or is this too much of a hassle?

How I envy you..... Start breeding Neons and Cardinals!!