ph, gh & kh

[TESS]

I have platys , ruby barbs and sucking loaches.
My ph is 8.4 and sometimes swings between 7.8-8.4.
My gh & kh swing between 250 -370 ppm which means my water is brackish.
Are these high reading harmfull to my fish? as i have lost 5 fish in the last 4 months (but i can think of other reasons why these fish died, some were disabled etc).
How can i lower my readings as i would like to get other fish that wont like these water conditions?.
Ive looked at proper ph 7.5 but it says its harmfull to live plants so i cant use that, any ideas?.
When i first set up my tanks the ph was 7.5 and my tap water is 7.5, i only feed once a day and i change water once a week as well as sucking the gravel. Not quite sure why its gone up.
1 more thing my nitrate is 40 and not budging, it droped to about 15 about 5 months ago but now it refuses to drop.
Please can someone help with this, thankyou

 

[houndour]

Hi,

How much water do you change? Normally nitrates can be lowered by doing a water change. Have you checked the nitrates in your tap water?

Can't help you with the Gh and kH.

Do you test for ammonia and nitrites?

Sam

 

[TESS]

I change about 40-50% in both tanks once a week, and my tap water nitrate is 40ppm, my tap water is also hard so i need something to soften it but i dont know what.
I test for ammonia and nitrite they are always 0ppm.
The ph is realy annoying me though because i want other fish that just wont take it .

 

[OohFeeshy]

How does the gh and kh mean its brackish? Brackish is an area where marine meets freshwater.

 

[TESS]

Thats what it says on my test kit for the reedings that i have.
I dunno im confused

 

[Bloo]

That certainly does not make your water brackish, but fairly hard to hard.

See this article to explain PH, GH & KH better

My own GH is appox 340, KH around 160 and PH between 7.4 and 8.2 - depending on tank (as I have CO2 in the one tank which brings down my PH a lot). Oh and my Nitrates are also between 10 and 40 depending on tank and stocking levels.

I have all sorts of community fish and they all do absolutely fine.

 

[houndour]

I'm thinking you could get into some serious planting. Can cost a bit tho, but it great fun.

Lots of plants might mean they will use some of your nitrates....

If you go serious planting, get 3 watts per gallon and get CO2 injection...this should technically lower the pH...

Read the planted forum for more info.

//edit
cool article bloozoo...also confirms my point about co2

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do not alter your ph, your current one is fine for your fish- when you say you have sucking loachs, do you mean chinese algae eaters or ottos? Your gh and kh just reflects your waters ability to be buffered i.e the ph to be changed, and is not harmful towards your fish, and your fish can happily live in your ph range at current so there is no need to change it- changing ph is a very stressful operation for fish and should only be attempted by people with lots of experience and with fish that actually need the conditions changing.

How did you go about setting up your tank and how long has it been setup for?
Ph 7.5 is not harmful to live plants at all, and adding live plants to your tank will help lower nitrates if you are finding difficulty lowering them via water changes as plants absorb nitrates as part of their growth cycle.
Do you have any rocks in your tank and if so, what types?

 

[TESS]

My tanks have been set up for about 6 months, done a cycle with fish (none died as i kept on top of it)
I have quite a few plants, all thrived at the start and untill a month ago i lost all my plants and had very dark algee, so ive just changed my lights as i thought it might be the problem.
I have a fake cave and a fake bamboo tube in my tank and a few small plant pots that my plants come in.
I was going to buy some pigme puffers as they are new in a my lfs and are for commuinty tanks.