# and now for PH related question



## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

15 gallon heavily planted with eco compleate as substrate.
just got through an ammonia nitrite spike from the cycle. Today was the first day they tested nil.
But the fish still seemed a bit stressed. 9 Red eye tetra's 1 blue ram 2 Cory.

So, not having given much thought to the PH of the tank in a while I tested and it is 7.4 ish. Not crazy high but I think too high for the ram especially.

I am attempting to keep things simple. Any thoughts on getting the PH into a more suitable zone for these guys.

PH out of the tap is 7. I suspect that the bump in PH is from the substrate but could it be from the cycle?


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

rickwaines said:


> 15 gallon heavily planted with eco compleate as substrate.
> just got through an ammonia nitrite spike from the cycle. Today was the first day they tested nil.
> But the fish still seemed a bit stressed. 9 Red eye tetra's 1 blue ram 2 Cory.
> 
> ...


Likely from the substrate. The cycle can actually cause the pH to drop, if anything. Especially fishless cycling with pure ammonia.


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## rickwaines (Jan 2, 2011)

crazy72 said:


> Likely from the substrate. The cycle can actually cause the pH to drop, if anything. Especially fishless cycling with pure ammonia.


thoughts on bringing it down?


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

RO would probably the best way, but it's expensive. I know some people use peat moss in the filter media. I don't know how effective that is. And then there are products you can buy at your LFS that claim to drop the pH. I'd definitely stay away from those.

IMHO it's better not to try to lower your pH because you run the risk of making it swing and that would likely be worse for your fish. RO might be the exception, but I don't know I've never done it. Having stable water parameters is the most important thing in my experience. 

And if your pH goes really high then I'd go for fish that actually like it (e.g. many African cichlids).


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## christhefish (Nov 8, 2010)

its not a problem at all 
it would cause more trouble to lower it right away to try to fix it
if you want to lower the ph more gradually you can add leaves or alder cones to the water the alder cones will change the ph more quickly in a small tank and add tannins to the water so only add a one or two at a time


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Eco Complete will buffer pH slightly, sounds like that is the case here. You may want to have a look at your GH and KH, if these levels are 0 like the tap water that could explain the strange behavior of your fish.


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