I am a brand new newbie here. I have a brand new 29 gallon aquarium. My ph level is staying between 8.0 and 8.4 and my then my ammonia is about .50. We tried a 10% water change, and the ammonia level drops to .25. Then we did a 40% and the ph level was about the same, and the ammonia dropped. The color was not a true 0, but also not a true .25. So it is in between. What can we do with the ph level? I was told to try driftwood, and not the kind one would get from a lake either, but one actually for aquariums. We have 2 Emerald Green Corys, 3 bleeding hearts, 2 Zebra Danios, and 1 Dwarf Gourami. We have one rock in it and 7 plastic plants. We have been doing partial water changes daily. The tank has been set up for almost two weeks. Any sugestions for us?
Do we need a lower ph?
- Thread starter sweetpea236
- Start date
Do you know about cycling? I assume so since you have been doing water changes regularly, so that is good. Don't add any more fish right now but once the cycle is done you may want to increase the school sizes of the schooling fish in your tank just to make them feel more secure and less stressed.
That pH is kind of high but a stable pH is more important than a correct pH. You do not want to drastically change the pH but adding treated driftwood will help lower it a bit. I think my water from tap has a pH around 7.4 but my tank that consist of a relatively large amount of Malaysian driftwood is around 6.7. So pretty much if you are worried you can try adding driftwood but don't worry as long as the fish are healthy.
I am not sure how ammonia effects pH, but as a chem major it should raise it so hopefully after the cycle the pH will also stabilize and be a bit lower.
That pH is kind of high but a stable pH is more important than a correct pH. You do not want to drastically change the pH but adding treated driftwood will help lower it a bit. I think my water from tap has a pH around 7.4 but my tank that consist of a relatively large amount of Malaysian driftwood is around 6.7. So pretty much if you are worried you can try adding driftwood but don't worry as long as the fish are healthy.
I am not sure how ammonia effects pH, but as a chem major it should raise it so hopefully after the cycle the pH will also stabilize and be a bit lower.
New fish keepers often obsess over their PH, in reality, unless you are keeping really picky fish (not likely as most that are sold in stores are pretty hardy) the PH won't really matter unless it is swinging all over the place.
I suggest taking a look at the link in my signature and reading up about cycling. There are also some good stickies in the forum you should take a peek at, this will give you a better understanding.
I suggest taking a look at the link in my signature and reading up about cycling. There are also some good stickies in the forum you should take a peek at, this will give you a better understanding.
I find myself using it everywhere too...