My setup.

rubigonz · May 17, 2013

So my setup is like this: aquarium is 8'x2'x2' (240g) I have 3 filters (fx5(400g) aqua clear (110g) marineland c360(100g). I have sand bottom that I switched to from gravel and driftwood and actual branches that I found out here in the desert. The tank is cycled and only issue I have is PH. It's not too bad I guess but closer to 8. I am awaiting some peat balls I ordered from the UK and hoping that does the trick. I also have some current on both ends which I currently have turned off since I just added the fish this morning. I want to build a new stand and eventually a 500 gallon tank when I get the money for materials.
Does anyone have good resource for tank building or plans to build a strong stand? Also does anyone else on here use the peat for lower PH? Reccomendations?

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David R · May 17, 2013

Why are you so concerned with the pH? Here is a very good article if you feel like and in-depth read that explains a bit about water chemistry; http://www.tbas1.com/Exchange/The New England 11.pdf

Before you go messing about with the water parameters spend a few bucks on test kits for GH, KH and TDS. If you've got very hard water the peat may be a big waste of money...

bbortko · May 17, 2013

Great plans and threads in the diy section.

rubigonz · May 17, 2013

Thanks for the response. Just use the strips for KH, etc. or do they have another type of test for it.
The water down here in Yuma is pretty hard. I actually paid for water when I had a 100 gallon tank. Don't think there was much change. My fish seemed happy before and after. Guess I read in between the lines a little. Again I appreciate the replies. Gonna check that article out now.

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David R · May 18, 2013

I've never used the strips, only the drip tests. You could always just take a sample of your tap water to the LFS and get them to test it rather than buying the kits yourself. The peat certainly won't do any harm with the fish you have, but if the water has high mineral content it won't do much to soften it. The main thing is that your fish are healthy!

FuriousFish · May 18, 2013

Looks great

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doots · May 18, 2013

you can acclimatize most fish to a different level of ph and they will be fine. you can't have the ph swing though. it must be constant at all times. its the swings that kill fish.

Drstrangelove · May 18, 2013

I tried to look up Yuma's water readings...then Tuscon's, then Mesa's, etc. Wow. Arizona public water utilities report as little as possible to the public. No ammonia readings, no ph readings, no hardness readings. I guess other states have it good.

Unless you are concerned with breeding sensitive soft water species or are willing to spend a lot of money, I'd work with the ph that you have.

David R · May 18, 2013

doots said:
you can acclimatize most fish to a different level of ph and they will be fine. you can't have the ph swing though. it must be constant at all times. its the swings that kill fish.

You obviously didn't read the article.

Last but not least I would like to touch on pH. First of all pH means only one thing. The power of Hydrogen. It is the negative logarithm (Ed: meaning a very steep curve . . . numbers happen quickly) of the hydrogen concentration. Thus it is the measurement of the hydrogen ions in water they are non-toxic to fish in there own right. Fish that come from a low pH also come from soft waters with low hardness low TDS
and low conductivity. A fish species, from the Amazon or any rainforest, as long as the conductivity is low, then the hardness will be low and the pH will be low. However, for aquarium purposes it does not matter if the pH is 6.8 or 7.8. A misinformed fact regarding pH is the term “pH shock” There is no such thing!!

I had problems with my Geophagus getting HITH in an old set up because of the high mineral content of the water due to a background made of cement (TDS was ~140+, pH mid-7), yet now I am keeping them successfully in rain water buffered with a small amount of crushed shell, TDS ranges from 50-80 at the most, but the pH is still around mid sevens.

As stated above, the problems people usually associate with high or low pH are actually to do with the hardness/conductivity/mineral content of the water, not the pH. It is simply because a high or low pH is USUALLY (not always) associated with high or low hardness/TDS that people thing the pH is to blame...

Drstrangelove · May 18, 2013

David R said:
Why are you so concerned with the pH? Here is a very good article if you feel like and in-depth read that explains a bit about water chemistry; http://www.tbas1.com/Exchange/The New England 11.pdf

I've seen others make the same point. ph changes all day long for many freshwater fish in ponds/ small lakes. River fish have to deal with changes from sudden rainstorms and runoff which can add dung or decaying matter to the water. Diurnal changes in ph always occur where ever there are plants due to photosynthesis.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8659(1979)41[3:EOPSOH]2.0.CO;2

Here's a quote from the linked abstract.

"The effect of transferring hatchery-reared rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) from water with a pH of 7.2 to water with pH's ranging from 8.5 to 10.0 was evaluated in 48-h tests. All fish survived in the control (pH 7.2) and at pH 8.5. Survival was 88% at pH 9.0, 68% at pH 9.5, and O at pH 10.0."

Note what I highlighted. Fish from a 7.2 ph survived at a 100% rate going to 8.5 and 88% going to 9.0. Because ph is log scale, the range from 7.2 to 8.5 is huge and to 9.0 is gigantic.

Most freshwater fish will not have problems at a wide range of ph readings. Again, unless there is an issue of breeding (which does affect some species), it should not be a major issue.


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