How important is PH?

[FishyPastor]

I have a 55 gallon tank with 15 Africans and a cat, and Pleco. My ph runs between 7.2-7.4, they seem to be thriving, healthy, and very active. So is it really important to get ph up to 8?

[KingFisher]

First, a stable ph is much more important than the number, as long as it is within a reasonable proximity.

Since your tank is basically an african tank, if it were me, I would add some crushed coral to the filter to slowly and gradually raise it a bit higher. I know that today's tank bred fish are more adaptable to ph levels out of their normal range, but I like to at least have it close to their natural environment, as long as the change will be gradual and once achieved will not fluctuate. I would not use a method that requires any kind of chemical product to change it, only natural methods such as coral to bring it up, wood and peat to bring it down, etc.

Stable comes first, ideal comes second.

[FishyPastor]

What do you mean by mot flunctuate? When I do partial water changes will that make it fluctuate after you get it right?

[KingFisher]

If there is enough buffering capacity in your water, the ph will not fluctuate very much at all with partial water changes.

[rangur1]

What do you mean by mot flunctuate? When I do partial water changes will that make it fluctuate after you get it right?
outstanding question! you will do very well in this hobby.
most vets here try not to encourage chemical buffering of water because it's just too easy to boost the ph to all sorts of levels. say you mix a batch of replacement water and as a result you push the ph from 7.4 to 8.0 in one shot? your fish go into shock and die probably. say your tank is at 8.0 and a water change nudges it to 8.3, you freak out and do another water change dropping it to 7.9 , not good for fish.

i, however , use chemical buffers to keep it at 8.0 ph. but it is really necessary to have a water holding tank with filter so you can test water and adjust it if necessary PRIOR to it going into display tank. it's a lot of work so most vets recommend not using this course of action to newcomers of the hobby so they won't become discouraged.

[Little Embers]

First, a stable ph is much more important than the number, as long as it is within a reasonable proximity.

Since your tank is basically an african tank, if it were me, I would add some crushed coral to the filter to slowly and gradually raise it a bit higher. I know that today's tank bred fish are more adaptable to ph levels out of their normal range, but I like to at least have it close to their natural environment, as long as the change will be gradual and once achieved will not fluctuate. I would not use a method that requires any kind of chemical product to change it, only natural methods such as coral to bring it up, wood and peat to bring it down, etc.

Stable comes first, ideal comes second.
I agree with KingFisher... Stability is what you want to aim for, most definitely...fluctuations in any of the waters' chemistry, not just PH, can eventually kill fish. The only time you may need to have a precise PH level for your fish, would be if you happened to have a species that was extremely sensitive or required it for breeding purposes.

[FishyPastor]

I appreciate the info. I do weekly water changes. I place the water in two 13 gallon plastic trash cans for two days prior to changing the water. Since I live in the Phoenix area cold water out of that tap here is not cold it is pretty warm. So I have it cool down for two days then use it. My PH runs concsistently at 7.2, So I will try the crushed coral and see how that does.