Question about ph....

[blueturq]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about ph and community tanks.

For general community tanks (i.e. tetras, barbs, etc) is a ph ranging from 7.4-7.6 too high?

I know that livebearers like it that way, but would any other fish suffer from it being on the alkaline side, a little over neutral, or am I worrying for nothing?

I don't want my fish to survive, I want them to be happy.

The main reason I ask this is because my tanks ph (which have crushed coral), have went from a constant 7.2 to about 7.4-7.6 :thud:, and stayed like that.

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[RTR]

A pH of 7.4 - 7.6 is fine for general community. If you LFS water is less alkaline than your tanks, you do need to be cautious with the original acclimation of the fish to your water. My water runs pH 7.5 - 7.8 and presents no problems for me for display tanks. Softwater or blackwater fish cannot be bred in such water usually, but they can be maintained readily for their full lifespan. Fish are far more adaptable than egg membranes are.

 

[blueturq]

alright thanks! , if anyone else wants to chime in then that's great!

My tapwater is close to (if not exactly) a ph of 8.0, and then it drops to 6.0 , but with the crused coral it helps keep it balanced in the neutral, to a few points after neutral (what I currently have) range. The thing I like about crushed coral, (and I have found this because of the various ph test I have done), is that it will get to a certain destination (without going to extremes) and then it keep it there. And I have always heard that a stable ph is better than swinging one.

Overall my fish are fine.

 

[RTR]

That is the benefit to using coral in FW to add both versions of hardness, GH and KH. Your source water must be very soft/low alkalinity (low KH) with something added at the water treatment plant to protect the pipes while the water is in transit. Your description of the pH changes with short aging matches that fairly common case.

And you are certainly correct on stability - the exact pH/KH is relatively trivial within normal range, so long as it is stable.