PH in tank

[freshwaterfishlover]

in my new 5 gallon tank(no fish, never put fish in tank till everything is Aok)Everything is ok except the PH is low. If I do a water change everything should be back to normal?

[Lady Hobbs]

Did you check your pH right from the tap? Doing that you will see if it's coming down in the tank or starting out with a low read. 7 is perfect for most fish other than cichlids. Fish are also very adaptable to different pH levels. It's the constant changing of it that adds to their stress and it should not be changed more than 3 points at a time.

Most fish we get today are farm raised in cement tanks and have adapted to different pH levels than they had in the wild. My pH is a constant 7.6 and my fish do fine in it. What pH reading are you getting? It is very easy to raise the pH but not easy at all to lower it.

[freshwaterfishlover]

I usualy get 7.5, but I am getting a reading of 6.8. I never had a PH problem till last week. I did a water change in my 30 Gallon and it was 6.8. I did a PH test again the next day and it was 7.5 again. I have had my first tank for about 2 years and this is the first time it is low.

Also I always have hight Nitrite after I add plans, but the weird thing is I added 6 plants to my 30 Gallon and 1 plant to my 5 gallon Sunday and it did not go up.

Maybe it has to do with buying the plants at a diffrent store then I have in the past. I started to add Cycle to my tank, that may have something to do with it also.