New Tank - High Ph

[SharpRhombus]

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I are new to the tropical fish world and bought a tank a few days ago. The Ph has been hovering between 7.6 and 8, and I was wondering if this should be a concern. We live in Chicago and I have heard that the water here just has a higher Ph. We got two spotted Pim catfish last night to get things started, after having read that a Ph of 7.6 should be fine for them - but now that we've seen it (possibly) go up to 8 (hard to tell on our Ph scale colors), is this going to hurt our beloved fishies? All of our other stats have been perfectly fine.

Alison

----------------
16 gallon tank
2 spotted pimelodus catfish

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Unless you have some specific breeing goals in mind I wouldn't worry about it, the fish will do fine in your water. Your tap water is very typical for tap water, and you will find that a large percentage of people keep their fish in it witout problems.

 

[SharpRhombus]

Up to 8.2 now! Now should I start being concerned if it gets any higher? Or is it normal for the Ph to move around like that? I certainly want to err on the side of caution, as I love little Maxwell and Cornelius so much! My little guys do not seem to be as active as the first day I got them, but I can't tell if they're just chillin' or if they are not happy. The good news is, they keep fighting (gently) over who gets to keep the coveted space under the rock...and sometimes they even manage to share!

Alison

 

[thecichlidaddict]

As the water in your tank aerates it drives the co2 out of the water. This causes the ph to rise slightly. What you are experiencing is pretty normal.

It's possible that the rocks are adding to the ph somewhat, though not likely much, if at all.

You can add driftwood or peat moss to the aquarium if you are concerned, but stay away from band-aid solution chemicals, they are unstable and could cause more problems then it fixes.

 

[Socrates]

My tank went from "somehwere between" 7.5 and 8.0 to "Very close to" 8.0

My tester doesn't have quarter incerements

Anyway. IT stabilized at that point and hsan't moved yet (about a week or so).

And I chose to listen to the folks that say most hardy fish will acclimitize to the pH. I put in som Neons and Rummynoses and both should be stresed in this pH and both are quite happy after 3 days.

My LFS is VERY close to my house and they have similar water to mine in their showe tanks. So I assume they have similar water in their stock tanks. I have to assume that buying fish out of pH watter similar to mine makes a difference somehow.

Now I probably haven't helped you at all, but I'm just relaying my very brief experiences with pH so far.