Spidergrrrl said:
I have a fairly new 12 gallon tank that is currently housing plants, one male betta and five dwarf cories. Decorations include some rock and a small piece of driftwood. The pH is fairly high - about 7.6. Does pH shift upward or downward over time? The water in this tank is already leaning towards the hard side and am wondering if this will eventually harm the fish.
I do know that it's easier to harden rather than soften water. Do I need to be worried?
If anything in the tank is altering the pH, I would say the rock would be the prime suspect, however, as webcricket pointed out, your tap water's true pH could easily be that high.
liv2padl is right on the mark too.... I'd rather have a pH of 8.2 and stable than try to alter it and get fluctuations.
There is really no need to worry about it. Many times we ask people for the parameters of a tank when trying to diagnose a problem, but generally speaking, one parameter alone doesn't tell much - it's the big picture we're after.
And yes, you are right, it's very easy to add hardness to water - taking it out is another matter altogether.
As more and more generations of fish are raised in tanks, the need to duplicate pH and hardness conditions in the wild become less important.
Kudos to you for testing your water, and major kudos for asking first, before doing something like adding some snake oil junk to change the pH. :thm: :thm: :thm:
