Low Ph...ok For Fish?

[tim1]

My PH in my tank is around 6.4-6.6, and the tap water is 7.2. It keeps on going down, even if I do a big water change. I finished the cycle a while ago, so my Ammonia and Nitrite are fine.

I have a 25gal tank, normal sand, a few plants, and some bogwood. I think the bog wood might be bringing down my PH, but it looks nice so I want to only remove it if it is necessary. What I want to know if Ph this low if ok for the fish I want to keep:

Blue Ram
Dwarf Gourami
Tetras(Neons most likely)
Cories(Pygmy or Bronze)
Shrimp(Ghost or cherry)
Snails?

And if it is not, is there any way I can get my PH higher? I know crushed coral might help, and if it does, how much of it should I add?


EDIT: My KH is either 3dh or 4dh. The reason I'm not sure is because im using the Tetratest Laborett kit for this test, and its not the best.

pH in my other aquarium is 7.4!
Thanks.

 

[Dan81192]

you need around 7.2 for most of the above fish really,

 

[tim1]

Alright...well, is there any way to make my ph higher?

 

[lee_essex]

sorry to butt it!

why someone is answering how to get the Ph higher, could they also tell me how to get it lower, mine is 8.2 and would like tolower it a bit.



ta

 

[Matt_northants]

Blue Ram

Your pH is fine

Dwarf Gourami

Your pH is fine

Tetras(Neons most likely)

Your pH is fine

Cories(Pygmy or Bronze)

Your pH is fine

Shrimp(Ghost or cherry)

Your pH is too low, well actually your low pH is due to a low KH which is the real problem

Snails?

Ramshorn and Malaysian livebearers should be ok, dont know about any others.

Thanks.

As you carry out water changes and the tannins in the bogwood are consummed the pH should slowly raise. My only worry is your KH, do you know what this is? A value that is too low will mean that your tank is liable to lrge pH swings, a stable pH is more important than the actual value.

 

[waterdrop]

tim, if and when you raise pH via coral (and I'm not saying you should, ... probably you should get more comments from others) my take on one of the best ways to go about it is to find crushed coral (little broken pieces of shells, actually not all that small, which are sold for aquarium use which helps you not get other wrong stuff in there) and start with a small pile in the palm of your hand, not a whole handful by any means, and put it in your filter. You can put it in a piece of silk stocking if you don't want it to mix with the media it is near. It may not have much effect for 1 or 2 weeks but you will need to keep a log of your KH test results (& pH of course) all along so you know whether to eventually use more or less.

lee, raising is much, much easier than lowering (and neither is recommended if you can help it!) - I believe peat bog in filters is one of the few accepted ways and it is messy and considerably more work and monitoring intensive I believe. Searches may find you some good threads on this.

Hope this helps a little,
~~waterdrop~~

 

[tim1]

Alright, thanks guys. I will check my KH and update you on the results.

EDIT: My KH is either 3dh or 4dh. The reason I'm not sure is because im using the Tetratest Laborett kit for this test, and its not the best.

pH in my other aquarium is 7.4!

 

[tim1]

Also, should I take the bogwood out?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

I am insanely jealous of your tanks pH.

First of all, neons and rams are both soft water fish and prefer lower pH ranges like the one you have. Ammonia tends to stay locked in it's more non-toxic state at lower pH ranges. You should of course take extra care to monitor your tanks pH, and keep a good water changing routine up because tanks with lower buffering capacity are more likely to experience dips in pH, but 6.5 range is fine! The bogwood is the most likely culprit, but also keep an eye on how much your feeding the fish because nitric acid (produced by the nitrogen cycle) is another major cause of lowering pH. I would only add buffers if you're afraid that you won't be able to maintain the pH through water changes alone.

*edit* Don't know about shrimp, and my only concern about the snails would be that with soft water they may not have enough calcium available for healthy shell growth.

 

[kribensis12]

I would leve your ph as is, and if you do bump it up, put it at 7.0, its the great median of the fish world, also called nuetral.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i would leave it as it is and stock appropriatley. there's loads of community trops which love a nice low pH like that, the rams and neon's being two examples. if the tank was a bit bigger then discus would be happy as larry in that water.

 

[tim1]

Ok, thanks for your help guys!