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ph very high
one of my freind got a 10 gallon we put rocks in water but no dirty water we put cycel in and water conditioner we made sure the ph was at like 7.0 or 7.2 nutral after like 3 weeks i gave her the fish that i hade in my 10 gallon , after like her bday i bought her a new eclips lid this she put that new lid on this febuary her ph hase been blue . she hasent hade a change to do a water change i said maby just do a 30 % weve tryed to get the ph down but it just woulnd come down so i gave her the powder one couse she was using that water type stuff. so sould it be 30% or more her 3 guppies are still alive i cant belive they are help i dont know what went wrong???????
what is her current ph rating? Blue isnt necessarily bad. You could always add driftwood, this is what made my ph come down considerably. it doesnt sound like you need to be doing water changes... if the tank is still cycling your ph will probably be lower than normal, not higher, if im not mistaken. Post all your water test resutls and we can be of more help milky.
The pH of most municipal tap water is very high, blue on most test strips, so when you do water changes it will raise the pH. What I do with my big tank is balance the trend for a tank's pH to lower over time with water changes to bring it back to around 7.0 or wherever your fish need it. Right now I end up changing about 30% every 2-3 weeks, but for you this will depend on the fish load you have and how much you feed them and whatever if any live plants there are in the tank. I am not a chemist and I don't know if pH drop has a relationship to how well the tank is cycling, but ammonia and nitrites in the water definitely do and there should be none of these in a properly cycled tank, only a slow build up of nitrates necessitating water changes on a periodic basis. I seem to have a good balance between doing water changes of about 30% every 2-3 weeks and adding alkaline (dechlorinated with conditioner) tap water to balance the pH.
by milky648 » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:55 pm
well i asked her and her ph chart can only read to 7.4 but i dont know if she could add any other fish with it she just wants guppies its just its her first time having a tank and i dont know why her ph wont come down i have never hade a prblem like that ill try the wood she hase no live plants in ther all facke she feeds them every other day , thanks guys will try that
by spongebob4460 » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:11 am
dont worry about high ph... a stable ph is more important... and the driftwood will help.
ok ya water change didnt do nothing well weher soking the wood right now and she gonna get a high ph tester bc she wants to know how high it is thaks a lot for ur help
She could buy spring water. I think that should be pretty safe for the fish. I guess I would test one gallon before bought a tanks worth.
I'm not sure if you understood that it's the tap water that has a very high pH. If she has a low fish load she doesn't need to do water changes more than once a month in my opinion. As the water ages in the tank the pH should go down. I've had more success with pH 7.0 neutral stabiliser than pH lowering products. If the pH is slowely going down as the water ages I would just make sure there is no ammonia or nitrites and only do water changes once a month. Make sure there is charcoal in the filter and it's clean. Maybe do water changes with spring water. That pH shouldn't be very high.
by milky648 » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:09 pm
ya she tested her tap water and the ph was high , i know guppies like high ph or u can have them at 8 but she wants other fish so where trying to get it down to 7.0 so shes gonna get her water tested and shes gonna hvto buy a buffer .
Unless you're looking to breed, or keeping somewhat specialised fish (discus - low Ph, rift lake cichlids, high Ph - but bigger tank that a 10g need) a stable Ph is far more important than a notional 'ideal'.