What you need to know about pH

**Lady Hobbs** · 03-11-2007, 02:52 PM

http://www.firsttankguide.net/ph.php

**niqolas619** · 03-11-2007, 06:43 PM

Thanks, hobbs, that was a good read.

So, pH isn't really that important. I'll buy that - one less thing to worry about. Just to be specific about my situation - my tap is right at 7.0 with no conditioners or anything added to the water. Will this be fine for malawi cichlids, or are these one of those "exotic" fish that the article is talking about that require a more specific pH (I saw on cichlidrecipe.com that they require 7.4-8.4)?

I have no interest in breeding these fish, so if that is the only thing that will suffer due to this lower pH, then that is fine with me.

Thanks in advance.

**Lady Hobbs** · 03-11-2007, 06:46 PM

Cichlids are a whole new story. They are not common community fish and need higher pH. A pinch of baking soda will raise it or Proper PH 8.

Man, you are sooo lucky. I wish I had pH of 7. It's about impossible to lower so just leave it as is, 7.6.

**kimmers318** · 03-12-2007, 01:20 AM

The specific substrate that is made for cichlids will help buffer your water up to higher parameters and keep it up. The only downside to having to go that drastically up is that you might want to have a water change schedule of twice weekly with smaller amounts than one large weekly one because taking out too much of the water that is buffered up and adding large amounts of softer water may swing it too much.
I am not familiar with using baking soda as Hobbs suggested, but that might be a solution to raise the PH before putting it into the tank and then allowing the substrate to keep it buffered up. There are more cichild knowledgeable people hanging around, I am sure they will chime in sooner or later. Hubby has a malawi tank, but we have high ph, hard water so it doesn't matter.

**Swayde** · 03-12-2007, 01:50 AM

Thank you for posting this information. I was really worried about my PH because it's at 8.0 and I want to have a tropical fish community tank. It seems most of the fish I am interested in prefer PH of anywhere from 6.0-8.0 so I am thinking they should be fine.

**Lady Hobbs** · 03-12-2007, 01:54 AM

I am sticking a few plants in my tanks, possibly even in pots, and user a do-it-yourself CO2 system. That will bring it down, as well. It's said driftwood will also but I haven't seen it yet and my woods been in for a year.

Aeration will also cause it to rise, such as bubble wands, etc

**Fishguy2727** · 03-12-2007, 01:00 PM

The link didn't work for me. pH can be important, but most general community fish that are bred in captivity are being forced to deal with a different pH than they naturally are evolved for. I would discourage drastic differences if possible. For Lake Malawi cichlids you will hear both arguments. Some people don't do anything and their fish do fine. I keep it up at 8.2 and add The proper Cichlid Lake Salt from SeaChem and mine do amazing. The colors and growth are incredible. It makes a huge difference and I highly encourage using both a buffer and the Cichlid Lake Salt. I add mine when I start adding water during a water change and it adjusts the pH right when the new water hits the tank. I do huge water changes weekly so it works for me. I add the proper amount of each so that what doesn't dissolve right away sits right where the water comes into the tank so it is adjusted immediately. I also encourage tons of filtration and the best diet possible: New Life Spectrum.