PH LEVEL
- Thread starter cmj76
- Start date
whats your substrate? you can always try using sand. If you dont have any, there are different types of rocks (not fake ones) that you can put in such as texas holey rock or limestone rock that would raise the pH also.
7.4 will be fine, its ussually better to keep a constant ph than one that varries. if you use crushed coral or something, when you do a water change, your ph will be low, and will gradually raise. imo fish do better with constant parameters rather than trying to get their ideal parameters and causing varrying ones. just my opinion.
Maybe I am lucky... in fish sense anyways... my tap is in the mid to high 8s. Its that great Indiana limestone... if it was not for the weather I bet africans could live in our natural bodies of water perfectly... I use some sand in my tanks... but not enough to play with the ph... in african sense I should condition and bottle and sell this stuff...
crushed corals and texas holy rocks are buffers to keep the ph stable. If your water from your tap is 7.0 and it drops in the tank, then you need a buffer to maintain it. if you add in the crushed coral , African Cichlid Sand or Texas holy rock, that will help keep the ph stable. It dosen't always raise your ph. You will still need to add some type of chemical to either raise or lower your ph. Once you have the ph set the buffers will maintain them until you do another water change.
crushed coral as substrate and limestone. only thing i didn't like about crushed coral is it's white. the fish don't show their best color in an environment that is that light in color. Carib-sea makes a substrate called eco-complete and it's darker. my africans show great coloation with it. it's packaged with water and nitrifying bacteria.