Lowering PH and stabilising
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:58 pm
Hi Guys,
Just got myself 4 new zebra Juve's
.
I had a group of 6 zebs about 5 years ago but sadly had to sell them on when i went to college. I was living away from home and could no longer care for them during the week.
I picked up 4 x 10 month old zebs yesterday and was presented with a bit of an issue when the seller told me that he the parameters he was keeping them in. He had only been using dechlorinated tap water which had a PH of 8.3!
In anticipation of getting a small group of zebs i had set up my new tank with 80% RO and 20% tap water (the tap water in my area is super hard and has a ppm of over 380, so pretty unsuitable for these guys). The PH in my tank was steady at 6.7 on the day i was collecting the zebs, which i was happy with. I met the seller i found out he was keeping his zebs in pure tap and the PH was around 8.3!!. I decided that rather than acclimate my fish into such a drastically different PH water, i would do a 1/3 water change with tap water to get my PH closer to the 8.3 of the water the zebs had been kept in. After the water change and given a little time to mix the PH was stable at 7.8 so i started the slow acclimation process. My intention now is to slowly lower the PH over the next month or by doing water changes with RO water and a small amount of peat treated RO until the PH gets to around 6.5.
My questions are...Firstly, do you think i was right to increase the PH pretty drastically or should have i just very slowly acclimated the zebs into my tank as it was with a PH difference of 1.6??
Secondly, when i do eventually get my PH back down to around 6.5 by reducing the KH and water changing with softer water, what is the best way to stabilise the PH? I have read about some people using bicarbonate of soda to increase the KH/buffering capacity but would this not raise my PH too??
Thanks in anticipation
ps...its feels great to be back on the Zebra train!!
Just got myself 4 new zebra Juve's
.I had a group of 6 zebs about 5 years ago but sadly had to sell them on when i went to college. I was living away from home and could no longer care for them during the week.
I picked up 4 x 10 month old zebs yesterday and was presented with a bit of an issue when the seller told me that he the parameters he was keeping them in. He had only been using dechlorinated tap water which had a PH of 8.3!
In anticipation of getting a small group of zebs i had set up my new tank with 80% RO and 20% tap water (the tap water in my area is super hard and has a ppm of over 380, so pretty unsuitable for these guys). The PH in my tank was steady at 6.7 on the day i was collecting the zebs, which i was happy with. I met the seller i found out he was keeping his zebs in pure tap and the PH was around 8.3!!. I decided that rather than acclimate my fish into such a drastically different PH water, i would do a 1/3 water change with tap water to get my PH closer to the 8.3 of the water the zebs had been kept in. After the water change and given a little time to mix the PH was stable at 7.8 so i started the slow acclimation process. My intention now is to slowly lower the PH over the next month or by doing water changes with RO water and a small amount of peat treated RO until the PH gets to around 6.5.
My questions are...Firstly, do you think i was right to increase the PH pretty drastically or should have i just very slowly acclimated the zebs into my tank as it was with a PH difference of 1.6??
Secondly, when i do eventually get my PH back down to around 6.5 by reducing the KH and water changing with softer water, what is the best way to stabilise the PH? I have read about some people using bicarbonate of soda to increase the KH/buffering capacity but would this not raise my PH too??
Thanks in anticipation
ps...its feels great to be back on the Zebra train!!