High pH - How can I lower?

Cammie

Cammie

Large Fish
#1
Feb 26, 2010
106
0
0
Bournemouth, United Kingdom
#1
Hi,

I've been testing (with my new testing kit - thank you for the advice everyone!) and Amonia, NitrAte and NitrIte are all fine but the pH is about 8.0.
Not great for guppies.
I have been doing regular (weekly) water changes. How do I lower the pH?
Could it be my water supply? Should I use bottled water and then treat it?
Thank you very much and also this is such a great forum for us Teenie Weenie Fish, so thank you for everyone's help and advice, it has has helped me so much*twirlysmi

Portia x x x x x x x
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#2
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#2
I wouldn't worry about it IF the pH at the store you got them from is the same as your pH (call them and ask). The fish have already acclimated to the higher pH if the store's pH is the same as yours, so to lower it would be stressing them out and (from what I understand) could possible do more harm than good.
 

Newman

Newman

Elite Fish
#5
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#5
100% agree. guppies will be fine at 8 pH. just make sure you acclimate any new ones from the store Properly. long, proper acclimation will ensure a smoother transition. the ones you have already (assuming you got them a long time ago) are already used to the water and would probably get sick or die if you were to lower the pH quickly...
just keep using your tap water and keep treating it with water conditioner, and dont worry :)
 

Cammie

Cammie

Large Fish
#6
Feb 26, 2010
106
0
0
Bournemouth, United Kingdom
#6
Woo hoo! I'm finally getting all the levels right and everyone is settling in just nicely!
They are so lovely to watch, it's amazing how much time you waste by just staring at them.
My guppy who had the fin rot (now just a tiny strip at the bottom remains of his tail and a little bit if his back is flaky) is still going but seems to stay in one spot and looks like his side fins are going overtime to keep him moving. Will his tail grow back at all? I'm worried he is going to get exhausted, is there anything that can be done?

Thank you x x x xx
 

P

PJRUSHM USAF

New Fish
#7
Mar 13, 2010
1
0
0
#7
Cammie said:
Hi,

I've been testing (with my new testing kit - thank you for the advice everyone!) and Amonia, NitrAte and NitrIte are all fine but the pH is about 8.0.
Not great for guppies.
I have been doing regular (weekly) water changes. How do I lower the pH?
Could it be my water supply? Should I use bottled water and then treat it?
Thank you very much and also this is such a great forum for us Teenie Weenie Fish, so thank you for everyone's help and advice, it has has helped me so much*twirlysmi

Portia x x x x x x x
Click to expand...
Good evening..

Depending on your fish, your looking for a pH level of 7.0, but you probably already knew that.. I use this stuff called "Proper pH 7.0" its made by API. Its a white powder. I dumped it in and waited a few min for it to circulate then I used my test strips and it gave a perfect reading of 7.0. It auto-corrects your pH whether it is above or below the norm. I got this at Petsmart. And i recommend all the API products, they work wonders for my fish. Hope i was helpful to you
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#8
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#8
In my opinion, unless you are breeding fish that need a specific pH, there is no need to add pH adjusters. Swings in pH are far more stressful to a fish than finding the 'perfect' pH. Fish will adapt to a pH that is kept stable.
 

Doomhed

Doomhed

Large Fish
#9
Feb 11, 2003
687
0
0
41
Rhode Island
Visit site
#9
PH changing chemicals are essentially a scam to get people to spend money. If you actually wanted to change your PH you are better off using natural methods than dumping pure chemicals into your tank and shocking your fish with drastic changes.

And perfect PH does nothing if you have high GKH.
 

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