Water conditions for rams

[maestro]

I have a pair of golden rams in my 20 gallon community tank, ive had a male for 3 months but a week ago added a female and they have already spawned.

The conditions in my tank arent ideal though, the ph is 8 and the GH is 11.

Ive removed the eggs and put them in another tank with some methylene blue but i doubt they will hatch.

I really want to adjust the conditions to make them optimal for my rams but im not sure how.

I was thinking of buyign ro water and using that and a micture of tap to create a ph of about 6.5-7, is this a good way to do it? what should the ph and gh ideally be?

Also how should i go about lowering it from 8? i dont want to shock them be lowerign it too soon, maybe i do my water changes with 25% ro, and 75% tap and them adjust the percentage more an dmore over a few weeks, does this sound good?

Sorry theres a few q's, ive just never had the mess with the water before and want to make sure i do it right

Many thanks

 

[freddyk]

Your rams will keep doing fine in your water the way it is, but if raising healthy fry is your goal then a lower ph will help with the eggs. RO water is the only way to lower ph, otherwise things will get unstable very quickly. Tap water contains minerals resulting in a higher ph, and adding quick 'ph adjusters' means the water is really still the ame, and the ph will bounce back up. To start lowering the ph gradually, just do frequent, small water changes with just RO water until you reach the desired levels.