Post Fishless Cycle Ph Question

[simb07]

Hi,
I'm currently fishless cycling my first tank and all seems to be going well. It can now process 5ppm in 24hrs but I havn't seen any Nitrate's yet..... hears hoping it wont be too much longer. (10days in)
Whilst in this cycle I planned to research suitable fish for a newcomer, in readiness for stocking but I have a PH Question straight off.
My tap water comes out at 7.4 and my tank was at 8.2 after a few days. How will I know what my final PH is likely to be ? I understand that a ph crash could occur once Nitrates get high. I've also bought some bogwood ( which i read can lower the level ) this isn't added yet as I wanted the ph quite high for the cycle + it's soaking at present. So the question really is

Q. Once the cycle is complete ( & I add the bogwood) how long is recommended to get a stable reading of my tanks PH and therefore get a better idea of tropical fish that would be best suited ?
Cheers for any help
Simb07

 

[simb07]

Anyone ?
after I add the bogwood ( when the cycle is complete ) how long will it take to lower my PH & give me a steady....usable reading for stocking research ?
Cheers

 

[waterdrop]

Don't know the answer to your question. But from the sound of what you've described I'd guess that pH may end up being a fairly neutral 7 or so. An awful lot of good beginner species these days are really pretty tolerant of a fairly wide range of pH values, as long as the pH stays pretty stable. In a sense you could begin planning now by perhaps avoiding species that particularly want extremely acid or basic conditions. The exercise of choosing things you like and then figuring out how many of these various types you've chosen might fit in your water volume and then what sorts of shoaling numbers some of them need and how that changes your overall stocking and then figuring out if any of them can't live with each other... is a pretty difficult exercise and so its better to start practicing doing it, even if your first round gets dashed because of the pH thing not being correctly settled... make sense? It all starts with you - choosing some fish you really like as your base to start planning from.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

Bogwood will act very slowly to lower the pH and may not have much effect if you have a high KH. High KH often goes with a pH around 8 so you may have that condition and not see much effect from the bogwood. Rather than worry about manipulating the pH, why don't you consider fish that like a high pH and harder water like the African rift lake fish or the new world livebearers?

 

[dthoffsett]

Bogwood will act very slowly to lower the pH and may not have much effect if you have a high KH. High KH often goes with a pH around 8 so you may have that condition and not see much effect from the bogwood. Rather than worry about manipulating the pH, why don't you consider fish that like a high pH and harder water like the African rift lake fish or the new world livebearers?

Don't forget rainbowfish too, very pretty and they love high ph/kh.

 

[simb07]

Thanks for the feedback,
I've been looking into maybe Harlequin Rasbora or maybe Pristella Tetra's as my first little friends.... any thoughts ?
a shoal of about 6 probably. it's a small tank (60l)
also now my Ammonia is processing nicely should I be checking it at 12hr intervals ( no NitRates yet ) ? if it is 0 should this be topped up twice daily or only once a day ?
On a side note.... i really find the prospect of fry and fish eggs/ breeding daunting. Whats the feeling in the tropical world if I only keep 1 sex ? does that seem cruel ? likewise can some of the larger fish be kept as a lone specimen ? again I really appreciate all the great advice.
Simb07

 

[coldcazzie]

With things like tetras you'd be incredibly lucky to get any fry. For the most part fish eggs will be seen as a tasty snack by most tank inhabitants, even if the parents are ones who care for their young. The best way to avoid copious amounts of fry is to avoid livebearers (plattiess, guppies, mollies etc) - that's what I do!! Don't know about larger fish though.

And I believe you stick with adding ammonia once a day, but go down to 12 hours testing.

 

[OldMan47]

You only top up the ammonia once a day.
I keep some harlequin rasboras in my 7.8 pH hard water so the extra .2 to get to 8.0 pH is probably not enough to make them not work out. I have never kept those tetras so I can't say.