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Re: pH of tank water
Charles writes:
> Does anybody's fresh water fish tank water have a pH of 9 or higher??
> This is just the topic I am responding to.
> And just how do you keep the tank water at this pH?
>
I have a friend who is heavy into Rift Lake Cichlids, and some of his tanks
are maintained at 9.0. He uses coral in the substrate and a Mardel additive.
His water is at 270 ppm of general hardness.
I have Always been an Amazon kind of guy and so stick to soft, low pH tanks.
I have, in my early days had Angels that developed red streaks on the base of
the dorsal fins. I was advised this was doe to bad water maintenance and I
needed to get my ammonia concentrations down. I followed the standard
procedures of water changes and Ammo-carb, and the problem went away. Ammonia
test kits tell me when I need to get dedicated about water changes. Sick and
dying fish tell me when I have neglected to take ammonia readings, or have
ignored the warnings I received from them.
I haven't had ammonia related problems in a long time because I now use plants
in my tanks and do my changes faithfully. Ammonia bit me hard for a while,
but eventually I figured out the magazines weren't talking about water quality
just to fill the text area of the pages.
If you decide that ammonia can't be a problem, you are going to ignore the
basics, because ammonia problems are basic. That's why you have a biological
basis to your filter, whether canister, UGF, box, or power filter. The
reduction of ammonia is critical to the survival of your fish. If you don't
believe me, crowd a tank and turn off the filters.
Bob Dixon