That's pretty amazing and congratulations on the success. Water change is something I do often I try and do 2 a week at 35% each. On Tuesday and Friday. The odds of skipping one are very slim. Unfortunately I have moved into a apartment and have down sized to just a 75. Sucks to see my large tanks and breeders gone...
Advice in regards to PH
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It's fairly easy to make soft, acidic water hard and alkaline. You just add KHCO3 or NaHCO3, Ca, Mg, maybe other minerals/trace elements. This is also how you would build up ro/di water.
But it's very difficult to make hard, alkaline water soft and acidic. You have to erode the cabonate/bicarbonate buffer with an acid like pH down. As a result, the CO2 level in the water rises temporarily and pH drops. The more the buffer is eroded; the more co2 released; the greater the pH swing over the same time-frame. Trust me, it's not something you want to do.
You also don't need to do it. There's nothing wrong with a pH of 7.8. Your KH might be 5-6º which is very good for SA cichlids. A pH 8.8 is hard, alkaline water.
But it's very difficult to make hard, alkaline water soft and acidic. You have to erode the cabonate/bicarbonate buffer with an acid like pH down. As a result, the CO2 level in the water rises temporarily and pH drops. The more the buffer is eroded; the more co2 released; the greater the pH swing over the same time-frame. Trust me, it's not something you want to do.
You also don't need to do it. There's nothing wrong with a pH of 7.8. Your KH might be 5-6º which is very good for SA cichlids. A pH 8.8 is hard, alkaline water.
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So best option would to just add stable water of certain pH rather then to manipulate existing water.
I don't bother trying to force my water to change so much easier to just get your fish adjusted to the water instead of the other way around.
Both. Tannic acid is obvious (it's an acid). In your fish tank, organisms that decompose organic matter are heterotrophic microbes that respire, which means they produce CO2, in turn forming carbonic acid.
As others have indicated, your best bet is to not mess with your pH. I lived in an area with 9.2 pH tap and buffered to neutral... pain in the butt, expensive, and dangerous for the fish in the case of emergency or you mess it up.
pH 7 is not much different than pH 7.8, as you can see below... at least not so different that it is worth the hassle to buffer etc.
A lot of it depends what you are trying to do.
What fish are you keeping? Are you planning to breed them or do you just want them to swim around in a display tank.
If you are not planning to hatch and raise fry ph becomes much less of an issue. Virtually all of the SA riverine fish I have raised have been pretty tolerant to changes in ph.
TDS seems to be the most important thing to get close to right. If you take a WC true blackwater fish and drop them in my liquid rock water mortality rates will be terrible. It is about the same as taking a tanganyikan cichlid and dropping them in pure untreated RODI water.
The reality is that most SA fish don't come from such extreme waters. If you have moderate water than most soft water SA cichlids are probably going to adapt to that just fine. If you have very hard/high TDS water, like I do, you may need to do something extra for some of the more demanding species.
Which raises the question, which species are you thinking of keeping?
What fish are you keeping? Are you planning to breed them or do you just want them to swim around in a display tank.
If you are not planning to hatch and raise fry ph becomes much less of an issue. Virtually all of the SA riverine fish I have raised have been pretty tolerant to changes in ph.
TDS seems to be the most important thing to get close to right. If you take a WC true blackwater fish and drop them in my liquid rock water mortality rates will be terrible. It is about the same as taking a tanganyikan cichlid and dropping them in pure untreated RODI water.
The reality is that most SA fish don't come from such extreme waters. If you have moderate water than most soft water SA cichlids are probably going to adapt to that just fine. If you have very hard/high TDS water, like I do, you may need to do something extra for some of the more demanding species.
Which raises the question, which species are you thinking of keeping?
While this is true for some of the more delicate species as far as breeding is concerned.
I have found that most fishes from softer water areas have no trouble adjusting and breeding in harder higher Ph conditions.
So unless you're keeping some wild caught delicate specimens I would worry to much about lowering Ph.
I have found that most fishes from softer water areas have no trouble adjusting and breeding in harder higher Ph conditions.
So unless you're keeping some wild caught delicate specimens I would worry to much about lowering Ph.
Bingo. Massive TDS fluctuations cause osmotic shock in fish.
Also, taking fish from naturally soft water, and placing them in hard water, causes far less osmotic shock, than the reverse - hard to soft. The latter can cause certain death in many fish, the former (soft to hard) is generally not an issue.
