Chris25
Member
Hi all,
I'm trying to breed some cardinal tetras and to do so have a small 20 litre tank with a small sponge filter, heater set at 26c and 6 cardinals in.
I believe to breed cardinals I need to get the ph to between 5.5-6.0.
My tap water ph comes out at around 8.5 and is hard. To lower the ph in the water I was initially using HMA water and had some peat in the bottom of the tank which lowered it to around 7.8. To lower it more I added quite a few alder cones which again bought it down slowly over a few days but only to around 7.2.
So to get it lower I did a water change of around 80% with RO water which was 6.0. But now after a couple days the Ph has gone up to 8.0 again. The fish seem fine, as I know quick Ph swings aren't good for them and can be fatal.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong...
What can I do to lower the ph of my water and keep it consistent at 5.5-6.0. I don't want to use any chemicals to do this.
I can do some water tests again tonight if you need more specific numbers.
Thanks,
Chris
I'm trying to breed some cardinal tetras and to do so have a small 20 litre tank with a small sponge filter, heater set at 26c and 6 cardinals in.
I believe to breed cardinals I need to get the ph to between 5.5-6.0.
My tap water ph comes out at around 8.5 and is hard. To lower the ph in the water I was initially using HMA water and had some peat in the bottom of the tank which lowered it to around 7.8. To lower it more I added quite a few alder cones which again bought it down slowly over a few days but only to around 7.2.
So to get it lower I did a water change of around 80% with RO water which was 6.0. But now after a couple days the Ph has gone up to 8.0 again. The fish seem fine, as I know quick Ph swings aren't good for them and can be fatal.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong...
What can I do to lower the ph of my water and keep it consistent at 5.5-6.0. I don't want to use any chemicals to do this.
I can do some water tests again tonight if you need more specific numbers.
Thanks,
Chris