pH too high?

[Itsmemario]

The pH is always around 7.8ish, is that too high or not. How can I lower it?

 

[Metalhead88]

Depends on the fish you have. 7.8 is suitable for many species. What fish do you have?

What is your water change schedule?

You are better off not trying to mess with pH and get fish that work for your water conditions. Stability is most important.

Do not add chemicals. All this does is temporarily change the pH and your pH will swing as its added and looses effect. This is pretty much the worst thing you can do when it comes to pH.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[Itsmemario]

Depends on the fish you have. 7.8 is suitable for many species. What fish do you have?

What is your water change schedule?

You are better off not trying to mess with pH and get fish that work for your water conditions. Stability is most important.

Do not add chemicals. All this does is temporarily change the pH and your pH will swing as its added and looses effect. This is pretty much the worst thing you can do when it comes to pH.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

It's a betta, the 10 gallon isn't cycled since he came from a bowl so I'm doing water changes everyday or every other day with seachem prime.

 

[Essjay]

Hardness is more important than pH. Do you know how hard your water is? You should be able to find that information on your water provider's website. As long as the hardness is within the range for a betta, pH up to 8 is OK.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I concur with @essjay. Just go to your local water companies website, and either get the information from there, or call them. The recommended ph for a betta, is between 7.3 and 7.6 ph. I keep my betta tank at 7.5 ph, but that’s just my personal opinion.

 

[Essjay]

Ornamental strains of betta - which means all fish except wild bettas - are OK in pH between 6.0 and 8.0. Wild caught Betta splendens need lower pH that commercially bred bettas but wild caught B splendens are all short finned bettas which look nothing like the ones we buy in shops or from breeders in Asia.
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/betta-splendens/

 

[Itsmemario]

Hardness is more important than pH. Do you know how hard your water is? You should be able to find that information on your water provider's website. As long as the hardness is within the range for a betta, pH up to 8 is OK.

Ok, the website says it's 56 ppm. Is that good or bad lol

 

[Essjay]

That's good. With a GH which is soft, your pH is fine.

 

[Itsmemario]

That's good. With a GH which is soft, your pH is fine.

Ok thanks!

 

[Itsmemario]

Ok I don't want to make ANOTHER post so I'll ask here lol.
When I use the API test kit the ammonia always has a tiny greenish tint and it's driving me crazy. Even when I do a 75% water change and using prime, even before prime it also looked greenish.

 

[Byron]

Ok I don't want to make ANOTHER post so I'll ask here lol.
When I use the API test kit the ammonia always has a tiny greenish tint and it's driving me crazy. Even when I do a 75% water change and using prime, even before prime it also looked greenish.

This is a very low reading, correct? Something like 0.25 ppm? This seems common, there have been several threads recently. Generally nothing to worry about if it is this low.

If the water authority adds chloramine instead of chlorine to your water supply, this can cause a very low ammonia reading. Nothing to worry about.

On another note, about Prime. This detoxifies ammonia by changing it into ammonium, which is basically harmless. However, most aquarium test kits like the API will show ammonia or ammonium as "ammonia." Prime is effective for 24-36 hours, so any ammonia reading after using Prime will be the harmless ammonium. After this period, ammonium can revert back to ammonia, but by then the bacteria or plants will likely have it well under control.

 

[Itsmemario]

This is a very low reading, correct? Something like 0.25 ppm? This seems common, there have been several threads recently. Generally nothing to worry about if it is this low.

If the water authority adds chloramine instead of chlorine to your water supply, this can cause a very low ammonia reading. Nothing to worry about.

On another note, about Prime. This detoxifies ammonia by changing it into ammonium, which is basically harmless. However, most aquarium test kits like the API will show ammonia or ammonium as "ammonia." Prime is effective for 24-36 hours, so any ammonia reading after using Prime will be the harmless ammonium. After this period, ammonium can revert back to ammonia, but by then the bacteria or plants will likely have it well under control.

Okay, that makes sense. It's barely noticeable, I was even asking my 4 year old niece what color it looked like LOL she said "Yellow" so I was like good and then she said "well it looks a tiny bit green" haha