Severums PH

[jason longboard]

So my tap is like 6.8-7.0

my 30 gallon tank with rasboras and drift wood, amanos and 8 year old live gravel stuff is like 6.6

but my 125 with large drift wood pieces and pool filter sand, severums and silver dollars is always like 7.5

One of the sevs is wild, so anyways some fish have been in about a year, others longer, want to add a couple more sevs, they are full grown, but i'm worried about the high ph, should i add a bit of that live gravel stuff over a period of time?

 

[duanes]

Why do you think "live gravel" will help lower pH?
I'm also wondering why (if your tap water has a pH of 6.8-7) , your large tank is close to pH 8.
Do you have crushed coral (aragonite) as substrate (it can raises ph)?
Do you have sea shells , Texas Holy rockor dead coral skeletons as decorations (they can raise pH)
Do you just top off the tank, as opposed to doing significant water changes where water is removed and replaced?
just Topping off can raise pH, because minerals build up.
What is your water change schedule per week, and how much is changed?
If you do wimpy water changes not often enough, that allow mineral buildup, and can also raise pH?

 

[neutrino]

7.5 pH is not too high for most Heros, including wild-- see post on this by ryansmith83 (and my post) in this thread. I kept a wild rotkeil in pH mostly in the upper 7s and it lived over 15 years with me-- full grown when I got her, making it at least 17 years total. Currently keep my SA tanks at 7.4, which includes a wild Brazil Heros, wild A. metae, wild L91 and L200 plecos and (captive bred) Geo sveni (which are plenty healthy and feisty and are breeding).

Hard to guess what's happening with your water, but in my case tap water comes out in the mid 6s and settles out to pH 7.4 in my tanks. Common to see something like this as CO2 that was under pressure in water lines gasses off over several hours. Also means what you're most interested in is tank pH after several hours, or the next day, vs. pH out of the tap.

 

[jason longboard]

Why do you think "live gravel" will help lower pH?
I'm also wondering why (if your tap water has a pH of 6.8-7) , your large tank is close to pH 8.
Do you have crushed coral (aragonite) as substrate (it can raises ph)?
Do you have sea shells , Texas Holy rockor dead coral skeletons as decorations (they can raise pH)
Do you just top off the tank, as opposed to doing significant water changes where water is removed and replaced?
just Topping off can raise pH, because minerals build up.
What is your water change schedule per week, and how much is changed?
If you do wimpy water changes not often enough, that allow mineral buildup, and can also raise pH?

The shop told me the live gravel i have in my 30 is pry why it's ph is lower
The 125 is pool filter sand, large driftwood and maybe 6 small river rocks, i also have a few of those rocks in the lower ph tank tho

i fully change about 50 percent a week

i can't figure it out either

 

[Something Fishy Here]

I'm not quite sure what "love gravel" is, but if you've found a way to lower ph without diluting with RO/DI water then you could make a fortune on here alone.