Should I Try To Lower My Ph Level?

[mbpted]

The pH level of my water is quite high - 8.8. However, it's a consistent level. 
 
My research shows that it's higher than what my current fish species prefer. 
 

I've read that adding driftwood to the tank, or some live plants might help reduce it, but it might cause an inconsistent pH level and that's not as good for fish as a consistent level and acclimating fish to the water I have. 
 
Some reading I've done:
http/homeaquaria.com/4-simple-ways-to-lower-aquarium-ph-naturally/
http/animals.mom.me/effect-aquarium-plants-ph-5049.html
 
Any thoughts on this?
 
Thanks.
 

 

[LyraGuppi]

Hardness and PH link, meaning if you try to change your PH without touching your hardness the PH will swing out of control. Usually, hardness matters more to the fish than PH.
Driftwood may lower your hardness and PH a bit, but probably not dramatically.

 

[Ichthys]

Is this pH straight out of the tap, or in your tank. Tapwater pH will usually change over a day or so. As said, hardness is more important.

 

[NickAu]

I may be wrong.

 
Should I Try To Lower My Ph Level?

In my opinion unless you know what you are doing, I mean really know, And have a few $$$ to spend, Then no, Others will explain it in more detail, My advice would be get fish that best suit your kitchen tap water. I looked into messing with water chemistry and decided it was too much effort, only things I add to my tanks are salt in the 6 foot live bearers tank, And IAL and Black water extract to my Gourami, Rasbora and shrimp tank, oh and Easy life and De chlorinator of course for both tanks.
 
What sort of fish are they?

 

[Akasha72]

I'm inclined to agree too. A stable pH, gH and kH are far more important than a swinging one. If you try to mess with it you could end up with levels swinging around and then start losing fish daily.
 
It's far easier to stock your tank with types of fish that love the water chemistry you have. It is worth asking though if there is any difference from tank pH and tap pH?

 

[DrRob]

My initial answer to this question is always the same. If you have to ask, then don't do it.
 
The reasoning is that, as Akasha says, consistency is far more important to most fish than perfect levels. If you mess with your water then you're committing to always messing with your water. Large water changes in emergencies become far more complex and the effort of maintaining the tanks is increased.
 
If there's a specific fish that is particularly picky about parameters than you want to keep and you're willing to go the extra mile, consistently, then by all means do it, but don't do it if that's not you.
 
In tank methods of changing water have the issue of switches around at water change time, when you add fresh water it'll be high pH, and then lower over the gap between changes, unless you're doing a trickle water change then this creates unstable conditions.

 

[Byron]

I concur with other members.  I will add one thing, and that is that you should find out your GH and KH.  Another member mentioned that these are connected, and GH is important for fish.  But another thing is that some water authorities deliberately raise the pH and this can change in the aquarium.  It would be advisable for you to ascertain the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness, also known as Alkalinity) and pH of your source water from the water authority (check their website).  Then, separately, measure the pH of your aquarium water a few days after the last water change to see how it relates.
 
When testing tap water pH yourself, you must let it sit out for 24 hours to allow the exchange of CO2 which can alter the reading; this will give you a more accurate pH reading of the tap water.
 
Byron.

 

[mbpted]

First - thank you everyone for the responses. As always it's very educational and helpful.
 
There's a lot to digest but I'll respond to Byron's just because it was the most recent and the one I can responde to with measurents.
 

I concur with other members.  I will add one thing, and that is that you should find out your GH and KH.  Another member mentioned that these are connected, and GH is important for fish.  But another thing is that some water authorities deliberately raise the pH and this can change in the aquarium.  It would be advisable for you to ascertain the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness, also known as Alkalinity) and pH of your source water from the water authority (check their website).  Then, separately, measure the pH of your aquarium water a few days after the last water change to see how it relates.
 
When testing tap water pH yourself, you must let it sit out for 24 hours to allow the exchange of CO2 which can alter the reading; this will give you a more accurate pH reading of the tap water.

 
There are 5 water treatment plants that service my city, (It's a big area) and the two closest are both approxmitely 40 miles away from my  neighborhood. The one I suspect is sending me water has this on their charts for Alkalinity and Hardness: The average numbers are 79 KH and 100 GH. I have tested my pH out of the tap and compared it to the tank and there wasn't any difference. So whatever settling of the conditions it's happening both in the tank and an untouched water glass. (that has sat for 24 hours)
 
I'm not really sure what I can do with this information because it seems the water is what it is. And I will bow to the suggestions to leave things as they are because, as Fish Crazy says, I really don't know what I'm doing.
 
The research on the fish I have in the tank tells me that they prefer a lower pH (Tetras and Danios) but they have all been living in this water for a couple years now so I would guess that they have acclimated. My problem will be in adding new fish to help fill out their shoals. However, I'll do a drip aclimation so, hopefully, it will help them handle it when I'm ready to add more.
 
If I decide to add a new species, I'll try to steer away from one that might be overly sensitive to my level of pH.
 
Thanks again.

 

[Byron]

OK, with these numbers we have a very different story.  The GH at 100 is presumably measured in ppm, as 100 degrees GH would almost be solid rock, lol.  So 100 ppm (could be mg/litre which is the same) equates to 5.5 dGH, which is soft water.  The KH at 79 ppm equates with 4.4 dKH.  The KH is what "buffers" pH, preventing it from fluctuating, and the higher the KH the less resistant to change will be the pH.  Yours is not high, so over time with normal acidification the tank water might lower in pH.  I would want to check to see if they are deliberating adding something to raise the pH; this is common in areas of soft water, because an acidic pH (which often, though not always accompanies soft water) can corrode pipes and such.
 
So with a GH of 5.5 you are OK with the fish you mention.  GH has a direct impact on fish, because the "hard" mineral salts like calcium that make water hard are assimilated out of the water by the fish's kidneys, and these can block, killing the fish.  The pH is important, but if it remains relatively stable will overall have less impact on the fish.  As I said above, it may well lower over time.
 
The KH not being too high means the acidification will tend to occur, and you can encourage this by not vacuuming into the substrate, using lots of real wood, dried leaves, and some put peat in the filter.  I wouldn't go overboard, but considering that these fish occur in waters full of wood and leaves, adding those will serve a dual benefit.
 
Hope this is of some help.
 
Byron.

 

[FishNChimps]

My tapwater is in the low-mid 8s in pH. I have tried a variety of additives like peat and almond leaves, to little effect. However, a few months ago I started buying RO water from my LFS and through controlled dilution am gradually lowering the pH each water change until it reaches the same level as that from my LFS. Right now, it's around 7.5 and my mollies, platties, angel and plec are absolutely fine.
 
The RO water from my LFS is really cheap: £3.75 for 25 litres (about $5?), so all things considered, this seems like a low-hassle way of lowering pH.