Lowering PH

[Aliciacb]

Hi
I'm new and have a question regarding PH lowering.
My tap water normally comes out at 7.4 and I have been told that 6.5-6.8 max is optimal for the fish I keep. PH has never presented an issue for me as the fish I have have always appeared to be fine in the water range I currently have. However I've noticed that since changing my substrate and planting my tank I've consistently had a PH that has risen and stayed at 8.0-8.2. I've since attributed this to the gravel I used to cap the eco-complete in my tank and I will be changing it tomorrow to gravel I know is definitely inert.
My parameters are ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates are usually between 40-80, unfortunately my tap water tests for 40-50ppm nitrates but I am getting a nitrate filter soon to counter that. I've had an entire shoal of corydoras, a few neon tetra and my bristlenose pleco die on me in the past few weeks with no explanation and my cherry barbs have been looking rather listless. I've treated the tank for suspected internal parasites, worms and bacterial infections using Octozin and Sterazin.

I picked up Waterlife PH to 6.5 the other week to help steadily bring the PH down after I get rid of the gravel. My question is really do you think this is a suitable product to use? I know some people don't like ph altering products but I've never had so many fish die on me before and I've kept all of these species before. I've only lost prior fish due to ammonia spikes caused by trusting family members to feed them when I've been on holiday and them going overboard.
Have any of you used it before? I will of course administer it slowly to bring the ph down gradually but do you think this product is less likely to cause PH swings as it aims for a particular PH?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[Grinch]

Has your tap always had that much nitrate, or is that new as well? Where's your tap water coming from?

 

[Aliciacb]

My tap water all over the house has that much nitrate, I've always wondered why my tanks nitrates were always high and nothing I did ever lowered them by much. It's only occurred to me recently to actually test the tap water but I've found the Thames water report and found out that my area and much of England has nitrates of 40-50ppm so I'm assuming it's always been that high straight out of the tap

 

[freak78]

I've found you start trying to chemically alter your Ph it just becomes unstable. Are your fish not adjusting?

 

[Aliciacb]

I don't believe so, they were fine prior to the gravel change but since then I've had several mystery deaths and strange behaviour although some of the fish have been perfectly fine and so far unaffected

 

[Grinch]

My tap water all over the house has that much nitrate, I've always wondered why my tanks nitrates were always high and nothing I did ever lowered them by much. It's only occurred to me recently to actually test the tap water but I've found the Thames water report and found out that my area and much of England has nitrates of 40-50ppm so I'm assuming it's always been that high straight out of the tap

Wow. So I just looked that up. 50 mg/L Nitrate is the limit on tap water coming out of the Thames. Very high relative to USA standards.

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/Help-...ook-after-your-water/Drinking-water-standards

With regard to your pH issue, some species are more susceptible to pH swings than others... cories and neons are renowned for being sensitive to changes in pH. If you suspect you know what is buffering the pH up, go ahead and fix that and the pH should stabilize on it's own after a couple partial WC's. If you start messing around with buffers it's going to make life more complicated IMO.

 

[Drstrangelove]

I don't believe so, they were fine prior to the gravel change but since then I've had several mystery deaths and strange behaviour although some of the fish have been perfectly fine and so far unaffected

Your fish were in the same water before the gravel change, so I would think that the the pH is not the problem. They were fine!

I think the nitrates should be lowered, although again, I don't think the nitrates caused a wide spread die off. Perhaps, during the gravel change something happened to cause poor conditions in the tank. I think you have to go back to your practices before the gravel change and expect it will be okay.

 

[Aliciacb]

Your fish were in the same water before the gravel change, so I would think that the the pH is not the problem. They were fine!

I think the nitrates should be lowered, although again, I don't think the nitrates caused a wide spread die off. Perhaps, during the gravel change something happened to cause poor conditions in the tank. I think you have to go back to your practices before the gravel change and expect it will be okay.

This is why PH was something that didn't bother me before. I knew 7.4 wasn't ideal but 8.2 is just ridiculously high to me. I will be buying that nitrate filter because I don't enjoy chasing my nitrate level but I think you're right. I kept an eye on the parameters after the gravel change and nothing went up except the PH

 

[Aliciacb]

Wow. So I just looked that up. 50 mg/L Nitrate is the limit on tap water coming out of the Thames. Very high relative to USA standards.

With regard to your pH issue, some species are more susceptible to pH swings than others... cories and neons are renowned for being sensitive to changes in pH. If you suspect you know what is buffering the pH up, go ahead and fix that and the pH should stabilize on it's own after a couple partial WC's. If you start messing around with buffers it's going to make life more complicated IMO.

Yes it's ridiculous, you can also look up individual areas on that website too and see how bad my area is lol.
Also those are exactly the fish I had problems with, my cories dropped dead and I've had cories for about 4-6 years with no problem they even bred once! My neons were also the second hardest hit species in my tank. And then one of my bristlenose plecos died, i literally watched him slide off the tank wall and die. Really I should've reported the seller of the gravel for pretending it was inert.

May I ask, why is it that buffering my Ph can cause problems long term? I know PH down can cause a swing but I would've thought something that lowered/ raised your ph would be more stable?

 

[Aliciacb]

May I ask, why is it that buffering my Ph can cause problems long term? I know PH down can cause a swing but I would've thought something that lowered/ raised your ph would be more stable?

Sorry that should've said both lowered and raised