High pH
- Thread starter Calusa
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Alien Anna
Fish Gatherer
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I strongly advise you to stop using pH products - they are simply causing your water to be full of phosphates and you're going to get the algae bloom from hell at that rate 
pH is a very complicated animal. Basically, you've got hard water there that is "buffering" the pH chemicals. In other words, every time the pH goes down, it bounces off the calcium in your water like a canonball on a trampoline. All that bouncing will do no good to your fish either - you can kill fish with a pH fluctuation quicker than a constant but technically inappropriate pH.
Next, realise that whatever you do, it's going to take a while. Otherwise you'll simply kill your fish (assuming there are fish in the tank).
Please do regular water changes to get that pH stuff out of your water. In the meantime, get your hands on some RO water, some bottled, still spring water or pre-filter your water through peat. That'll help. But the long-term thing to do is to put some well soaked bogwood in your tank and let it settle. In a few weeks, I'll be very surprised if your pH isn't about 7-7.5 which is fine for most fish.
pH is a very complicated animal. Basically, you've got hard water there that is "buffering" the pH chemicals. In other words, every time the pH goes down, it bounces off the calcium in your water like a canonball on a trampoline. All that bouncing will do no good to your fish either - you can kill fish with a pH fluctuation quicker than a constant but technically inappropriate pH.
Next, realise that whatever you do, it's going to take a while. Otherwise you'll simply kill your fish (assuming there are fish in the tank).
Please do regular water changes to get that pH stuff out of your water. In the meantime, get your hands on some RO water, some bottled, still spring water or pre-filter your water through peat. That'll help. But the long-term thing to do is to put some well soaked bogwood in your tank and let it settle. In a few weeks, I'll be very surprised if your pH isn't about 7-7.5 which is fine for most fish.
S
smb
Guest
I couldn't have said it better than Alien Anna or agree more with her.
IMO, it's not worth having a fish if you have to adjust pH on a daily basis and use meds to try and duplicate their previous water params.
It's a losing propostion and there will be sometime in their lives that it will come back and bite you in the behind when you least expect it.
JMO.
IMO, it's not worth having a fish if you have to adjust pH on a daily basis and use meds to try and duplicate their previous water params.
It's a losing propostion and there will be sometime in their lives that it will come back and bite you in the behind when you least expect it.
JMO.
Yup, go RO. My tapwater was always 8.7, 8.8 and appallingly hard. I researched and bred soft acid cyprinids. Bought my own RO system in the end.
Yes I try to not use chemicals/medicines unless my fish really need them. This is because if you use these chemicals/medicines it can kill your fish and it doesn't exactly make them hardy but softer if you like. Therefore really try natural methods before chemicals. Like bogwood
Like bogwood clueless
New Member
I had ph of 8.5 and the local fish shop sold me a piece of white chalky stone dont know what its called sorry but in a week my ph was right down and is now spot on 7.0 and it does not murk up the water like bogwood
KnuckleHead
Fish Addict
One option is to add some peat moss to your filter. Itll tint your water a bit but is a nice buffer for ph. I would recommend researching this before you try it.
S
smb
Guest
Calusa, what fish are you attempting to keep and what are the params that they came from when you bought them?
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