Bettas, 100% water changes, and high pH

[tttnjfttt]

until this point, I have been controlling my pH with chemicals, around 7.2, but I want to stop. Out of the tap, the pH is 9+. In my main tank, before a LFS told me to stop, it eventually went down to 8.4, though I'm not sure how long that takes.

One of my bettas is in about 3/4 gal. container, waiting for the divided tank to cycle. Because there is so little water in there, I always do 100% water changes. How should I go about getting my bettas off of these chemicals?

 

[SPLiSH]

8.4 is still pretty high for bettas... do you mean how should you acclimate them to 8.4?

 

[tttnjfttt]

that or is the pH too high for doing 100% water changes without the help of chemicals.