how can i keep my ph level at 7?

b819east

my ph level was at 7.6 a few days ago and i did a water change and it dropped to 6.4 how can i keep it stable at 7.0 my water hardness is 150 no nitrates little nitrietes and little ammonia
also i had a molly in there and he had died today. it looks like he was losing his scales and this happened over night. he was fine at night and almost dead in the morning

DKRST

Good luck, pH bounces can be a pain. Some more info might be helpful:
- What is your tapwater pH? is it 6.4?
- What is in your tank: substrate, planted, real wood decor. etc?

I have one tank that sits 6.4-6.6 pH. I keep another tank more alkaline, between 7.0 and 7.4 (I use a cichlid substrate that is pH buffered) to maintain snails in. If I don't do frequent water changes, that tank's pH will drift up really high pretty quickly. I compensate by doing small, frequent water changes (2-4 gallons every other day, it's only a 10 gallon tank). That keeps the pH fairly close to 7 for me.

pH shifts can be a pain, but I don't think they are critical if they are not too quick!

b819east

i live in philadelphia and looked it up and it said their ph was 7.4
i have gravel a pretty big piece of driftwood and 2 fake plants. is it safe to use products that keep the ph at a certain level?

b819east

Technical Reference Sheet for Proper pH® 7.0 - API
this was something i had in mind

DKRST

I have used those products before, but depending on the water parameters, the products may make the "bouncing" of the pH worse. I don't know much about the chemistry of those products, but much depends on the buffering capacity of your water. If I remember correctly, hard water has much more buffering capacity than soft, making it harder to shift with chemicals.

One option is to use DI water, but that can get expensive.

Byron

First point: a pH of 7 is not "natural" to any fish, so one should not try to achieve it. Below 7 for soft acidic water fish, above 7 for basic (alkaline) hard water fish. Molly are the latter, and a pH closer to 8 would be much better for molly than 7. In soft water molly develop all sorts of health problems for that reason, not sufficient mineral in the water for their physiology.

Second point, on the relationship of pH and hardness, have a read of this article:
Water Hardness and pH in the Freshwater Aquarium

Third point, tell us the hardness (both GH and KH) and pH of your tap water. You can ascertain this from the water supply folks. Many now have a website; if you can't fathom the numbers, post the link and we can look at it. Without knowing the GH and KH, attempts to adjust pH can be futile; as DKRST mentioned, the hardness can "buffer" pH. The linked article will hopefully explain this, but feel free to ask questions after reading it.

Byron.

brokenrules69

driftwood