PH help

[Maff]

My PH is 8 on the dot after 30 hours on this second trial. The first trial of 4 days was also stable at 8PH. PWC's will mean allowing my water to stand for 24 hours so it will come from 7.4 (tap) to 8 (tank). Then it won't swing the tank PH after a PWC.
If I start lowering my PH naturally with tannin or something like Seachem neutral regulator to perhaps 7 on the dot it would mean storing my water in barrels for 24 hours to get it to room temp then as soon as it reaches 8 adding the Seachem. I'm not sure if my high KH buffer would allow such a large swing and allow it to stay there.
I'd rather go with my waters natural PH if possible but I'm open to other ideas.

 

[Sgooosh]

My PH is 8 on the dot after 30 hours on this second trial. The first trial of 4 days was also stable at 8PH. PWC's will mean allowing my water to stand for 24 hours so it will come from 7.4 (tap) to 8 (tank). Then it won't swing the tank PH after a PWC.
If I start lowering my PH naturally with tannin or something like Seachem neutral regulator to perhaps 7 on the dot it would mean storing my water in barrels for 24 hours to get it to room temp then as soon as it reaches 8 adding the Seachem. I'm not sure if my high KH buffer would allow such a large swing and allow it to stay there.
I'd rather go with my waters natural PH if possible but I'm open to other ideas.

i think maybe put in a log drift so it slowly but surely releases tannin and lasts long

 

[Maff]

Hold on..........we have a development. Just done another test and its 7.9.
Six hours after it was 8.0 but its night time so not sure if its a day night cycle.
Will test again in morning. Also it will be interesting to see how my cycle changes things.
Concerning the driftwood... I've kept tropical fish before and I know what kills them the most. Big PH swings during PWC's is a real problem and if I lower the PH in the tank to 7.4 I'd have no alternative to use RO water because my tap water is typically spiking at 8 to 8.1 24 hours after it comes out of the tap. I have to make sure my PWC barrels are at room temp before they go in the tank to avoid temp swings which bring on white spot and other diseases.
Dropping 8.0 PH water into the tank environment of 7.4 PH at a 50% water change will swing the PH to 7.7 almost immediately and the driftwood takes days to counteract the change. This is not want I want to do TBH.
I don't want to use PH buffers if I can help it because things like Seachem neutral PH although it can work have side effects such as phosphate spikes and powder coating the tank in particulates it dropped out of solution such as calcium and magnesium.
I must say I'm really disappointed with Yorkshire water. They claim their PH is 7.4 but this is buffered by large amounts of co2 and it spikes at 8.1 24 hours later. It used to be 7.2 after 24 hours but things have changed a lot in 25 years since I last kept fish especially with chloramine and high KH. Their water is crap now TBF.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Perfect for barbs, danios, rainbowfish, some tetra, probably cave tetra, livebearers ...
What fish are you after keeping?

Edit: re-read your 1st post. 125l tank going to be too small for barbs. Smaller danios, zebra and leopard will be ok. Probably a lot of tetra too. 8PH being the top end though.

 

[Maff]

Perfect for barbs, danios, rainbowfish, some tetra, probably cave tetra, livebearers ...
What fish are you after keeping?

Edit: re-read your 1st post. 125l tank going to be too small for barbs. Smaller danios, zebra and leopard will be ok. Probably a lot of tetra too. 8PH being the top end though.

Planning on cherry barbs, danios and guppies firstly, its a 150 litre tank minus gravel and ornaments.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Planning on cherry barbs, danios and guppies firstly, its a 150 litre tank minus gravel and ornaments.

Ahh Cherry barbs, right yeh ok ??

 

[Maff]

Ahh Cherry barbs, right yeh ok ??

Are they ok at higher PH?

 

[Maff]

BTW the PH is 8 this morning. So its stable there.

 

[Essjay]

GH (hardness) is more important than pH. As long as the pH is stable and GH is within the fish's range, pH can be slightly outside their range. For cherry barbs, pH 8.0 is right at the top end of their range.

How hard is your water?

 

[mbsqw1d]

GH (hardness) is more important than pH. As long as the pH is stable and GH is within the fish's range, pH can be slightly outside their range. For cherry barbs, pH 8.0 is right at the top end of their range.

How hard is your water?

160 ppm apparently...

Post in thread 'PH help' https://www.fishforums.net/threads/ph-help.467671/post-4004655

 

[Essjay]

Thank, I missed that!

160 ppm is well within cherry barb's range.

 

[Maff]

Here's something interesting. Payed a visit to my local shop today and their PH is exactly the same as mine, I took a sample and it's 8 on the dot. That will be handy because acclimatization will be easier.
I did a trial with my PWC barrels over 24 hours to see if they increase in PH without oxygen and they don't. Co2 and oxygen are not exchanging like my tank or open jugs of water do.
Ah well, looks like a cheap air pump for that game then.