pH 8.2, bad?

[BeavisMom62]

10 Gallon Freshwater Tank
- 5 Neon Tetras
- 3 Harlequin Rasboras
- 1 Male Guppy
- 1 Spotted Plecostomus (2" long or so)
- 2 small plants
Most of those fish do better in larger schools, at least six fish per school, however your tank is too small to add all those fish. Also, is a spotted pleco the same as a common pleco? I've never had them and don't know much about them, but I do know they get huge. Even if it is 2" long now, it will quickly outgrow that tank. Any possibility of either a larger tank or rehoming the pleco? Even before it gets large, it will contribute mightily to the poo in the tank. I would step up the water changes a bit if I were you.
I have a 23 gal tank that is a bit overstocked but I'm running two filters on it. It has 7 harlequins, three redwag platys, four african dwarf frogs but alas only one male guppy. I had three older guppies and then added three new ones. The older guppies died one by one (I believe it was old age) and the new ones, I believe weren't the best quality guppies, so now I'm only left with one. He sorta does school with the harlequins though. Aren't the harls the most beautiful fish? I call it my "orange" tank because with the exception of the frogs (obviously, LOL), all of the fish are orangish.

 

[Cerianthus]

Although not the ideal condition for most fish your are keeping, if you had no problems, why fix something that is not broken???

If your fish were in same kind of water for two yrs, you done well and very lucky.

I think 15% a week was good routine maintenance schedule. There are other organic/inorganic matters which will accumulate in the tank with time which we can not test for. If such accumulation which will reflects on general water conditions and if reaches beyond threshold point, they will start to show/display discomfort/illness.

Like I said, I would not fix something which has not been broken for 2 years.

 

[bleong]

Wow, I hadn't even thought of that. I got a couple shells in Hawaii and put them in a few months ago. And that would do it for the pH level, right?

I do have very hard water out of the tap. I go to PetCo to get my water tested just about every week. That's where they confirmed that I've had a high pH and high hardness for a few weeks. They use test strips, but I don't know the quality or brand of them. But I'm guess since I got the same results over a few weeks, it's probably accurate.

I have about 5 plants in my tank now. This should help the pH as well, right?

How's this for a plan. I will remove the shells I put in for decoration. I'll see if the pH level changes with weekly water changes. If it still is high in a couple weeks, I'll try doing water changes with some de-mineralized water mixed in. Sound good?

 

[bleong]

And yes, I love my harlequins. Though the wife thinks the are sorta boring in that they are only orange fish. She likes the flowing decorative fins more.

And you are totally right about the pleco. I inherited a 72G bowfront aquarium that I am slowly putting together as I save the money. He'll have a huge home in about a month I think.

 

[jpappy789]

Having more plants in general isn't going to just change your pH, at least not noticeably.

Certain ones like vals will use bicarbonate as a carbon source, which could lower pH if enough acid is added. I've never heard of it being drastic or even measurable though.

 

[KarlTh]

If your water's already alkaline, it's not going to get harder or more alkaline from adding shells. It ain't broke; don't fix it.

 

[KarlTh]

usually i say just to leave ph as it is but 8.2 is very high for most fish.

No, it isn't. It's pretty middling. You might start to worry when it gets past 8.5, but 8.2 isn't high. It's pretty normal for most of the UK, for example, and I've known people breed angels in rock hard water with a pH in the upper 8s.