Hi Eelzor,
No question is a stupid question!!
pH
pH is basically how acid or alkaline your water is. The scale ranges from 0 (extremely acid) to 14 (extremely alkaline). pH 7 is neutral i.e. pure water. It is worth knowing that the scale is logrithmic i.e. a pH of 6 is 10 times more acid than pH 7 and pH 5 is 100 times more acid etc.
Most fish come from water with pH ranging from 6 to 8. Discus, Angels, Rams and most Tetras prefer more acidic water. Cichlids from the lakes (Malawi, Tang. etc.) prefer alkaline, as do Mollies.
pH and hardness go hand in hand too. Normally the lower the pH the softer the water and vica-versa. It is worth knowing that hardness can be expressed in General Hardness (GH) and Carbonate Hardness (KH) both measured in ppm or degrees (17.9 ppm). GH is how much totally dissolved solids (TDS) there are and KH is the buffering capacity. The buffering capacity is important because it is responsible for maintaining a stable pH. The higher the KH the more stable the pH. A higher KH normally means a higher pH too. It is harder to maintain a stable pH if it's very low because the KH will be low. A higher pH will generally be more stable.
You can successfully keep most community fish in your tap water if that is what the local fish shop (LFS) keeps. Most tank-bred fish are adaptable.
You can measure pH with a liquid test kit or an electronic probe. The kits are a lot cheaper and can be fairly accurate, you can buy a low-range i.e. pH 6 to 7.5 or high-range 7 to 8.5 or a broad range i.e. 4 to 10. I use Nutrafin's Low-Range kit with good results. Electronic devices can be expensive and need calibrating regularly, fish breeders and keepers of delicate species (Discus etc.) tend to use these.
One can alter pH and hardness but it is best to keep fish in an environment that is as stable as possible. If you are relatively new to fish keeping then I'd recommend keeping fish in de-chlorinated tap water that's similar to the shops. You can test for pH regularly to ensure nothing's amiss, this is important if you have soft, acidic water as discussed.
Oxygen
I would not worry about oxygen levels unless you are overstocked. There are many stocking calculators available on the net. Here's one.
http
/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/..._calculator.php
The surface area of water is the biggest influence on oxygen. Some people use airstones or a venturi attached to their power filter. These create a larger surface area thus more oxygen is available. If you are growing plants can too much oxygen is a bad thing. Very little surface movement is actually necessary to provide your fish with enough oxygen if you are stocked correctly. If your fish are gasping at the surface, this is a sign of too little oxygen. However, it's can be a symptom of a lot of other problems i.e Ammonia poisoning.
Hope that's helped
) , i know im a little braindead now. Links to these items are ok too tnx.
