GH___KH

[hockeynut]

am new to hobby......have 30 gal tank with 10 various tetras and 2 albino corys........ammo has dropped to .5......nitrite...0.......nitrate.......<.5.......(tank is cycled, i believe???).......i plan on having a few dwarf gouramis.....danios and rasboras..........my ph from the tap is 7.8.....gh is 11.......kh........7.......i know my ph shud be around neutral....7.0........i am planning on diluting the tap water with distilled.....to soften it and hopefully make it easier to bring the ph down.......i have tried ph down and discus buffer with no success......it keeps rebounding back, because of the high KH.....(man o man this hardness stuff is confusing........why cant there just be one measure of hardness)AM I ON THE RIGHT TRACK??.....i have read and reread and reread all about general hardness and carbonate hardness......shud i bother with the hardness and trying to get the ph to 7.0 or just leave things the way they are..........all my guys "seem" to be doing well!!

 

[LoveMyOscar]

 

[Bol]

Personally, I would strongly suggest not messing with the pH at all. If you're going to use tap water for refills, just stick with the tap water's pH. In the long run, it's almost assuredly better for your fish (not to mention it's a heck of a lot easier than watching the 'chemical soup' all the time).

It's often said that a stable pH is much better to have than a "proper" pH, and I have to believe that. There are not many community fish that I've heard of that can't acclimate to higher pHs, but there are lots that don't do well with (rapid) changes in water parameters.

As an example, my community tanks have a pH of 7.8, and I keep angels, dwarf gouramis, neon tetras, lemon tetras, various cories, otos, platys, and kuhli loaches, with no apparent problems.