Newbie Question.

[Bronson]

Hiya guys, i am getting my first tank in 2 weeks.Its 200 ltrs. I have read and re-read the fishless cycle thread and i have one question. I know i have to get the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates down to 0, but what about the ph ? Can i just say what an excellent site this is, as a soon to be new fish owner i have learnt so much from reading the threads on here. At first i thought the cycling process was daunting, but the more i read the clearer it becomes. Thanks for any help, Des xx.

 

[fluttermoth]

pH is a measure of how acid or alkaline water is. A pH of 7 is neutral; above 7 is alkaline and below 7 is acidic.

Different fish come from different pH levels in the wild. Trying to change your pH is a lot of trouble and something that the majority of experienced fishkeepers avoid, except under special circumstances (ie: breeding or keeping delicate or wild-caught fish). Raising pH for things like Rift valley cichlids is fairly easy; lowering it is very difficult.

It's a good idea to know what your water is like and find fish that are happy in that pH. Don't forget that many of our aquarium fishes are many generations away from wild and will happily live and breed in water that is a lot different to their natural habitat.

Hope that helps!

Edit; forgot to say; it's very unlikely that you'll be able to get nitrAtes down to zero; only in very lightly stocked tanks that are very heavily planted. Below 40 or 50ppm, or no more than 20ppm more than comes out of your tap is what most people aim for

 

[Bronson]

Thanks for your reply, thats exactly what i was after.

 

[fluttermoth]

You're very welcome, glad to be of assistance

 

[joeskandal]

do the plants help lower nitrate then?
We just bought some plants today, our nitrate is reading about 30ppm, so if this is the case this should lower it.
I know its not nearly as bad as nitrite, and we aren't that worried about the level it is at, just would be nice to see it drop a bit.

 

[micko]

Hello and welcome.

 

[fluttermoth]

do the plants help lower nitrate then?
We just bought some plants today, our nitrate is reading about 30ppm, so if this is the case this should lower it.
I know its not nearly as bad as nitrite, and we aren't that worried about the level it is at, just would be nice to see it drop a bit.

Plants do help lower nitrate, yes. You do need quite a lot of plants to make a difference though. 30ppm is perfectly fine anyway; just for comparison, last time I tested my LFS water after I'd bought fish it was well over 150ppm!