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Just a quick thought, Does any one else have problems with extremely alkali tap water?? Where i live (east coast of australia) we are currently experiencing problems with water (ie. longest drought on record) and due to my local council not chlorinating the water i assume they use a different kind of sterilising agent to cleanse the water supply. No i know the sensible idea would be to collect rainwater, BUT we are in a Drought and water doesnt fall very often!!!! i have added some PH down stuff but i know that it is only a temporary fix. I have already lost two fish as i had never had a problem with the water before.
WHAT IF ANYTHING CAN I DO!!!!

CHEERS Chris

You probably lost the fish because you added ph down and not because your ph is too high. My water has reached 8.6 ph before and I never lost any fish. I kept otos, angels, several species of tetras, and plecos without trouble. The otos even laid eggs a couple times with the ph still over 8.0. I doubt you can get over 8.6. It takes a very high kh(over 20) to get there. So long as the change to harder or softer water isn't done too quickly and the fish aren't extremely sensitive wild caught species they will usually handle a very wide ph range. The worst thing though is a quickly changing ph. They may survive over 8.0 ph but they won't survive a ph that goes from below 7.6 up to 8.0 or reverse nearly as well. You'll kill alot of fish with those changes. Ph down does exactly that. It drops the ph for a few hours to a couple days and then the ph bounces right back up. If they survive the drop they often don't survive it raising again so soon afterward. Your better off dealing with the hardwater than using ph down. You can try some peat moss instead but it will probably turn your water quite dark unless your running really good chemical filtration. It will also do more to lower the general hardness than the kh and ph unless your water is not nearly as hard as you make it sound.

I agree with Sham. I have very hard well water & bought a PH down & added it to the tank so I could have neons. All it did was kill them & bounced right back up. Then I joined here & put a post up about my PH. Many people joined in on the discussion. It's called, Help with PH debate," if you would like to look it up on "search". I now add nothing to my water except stress coat water conditioner when I do a water change. I now have neons in my tank.

It's a pretty informative thread & even tells different ways you can soften your water if you decide that is what you want to do. I choose not to fool with the PH anymore, for right now anyway & my tank is doing just fine. You can click on my profile to see what fish I have if you want to know. So I suggest you leave you leave your PH alone & maybe you'll have better luck like I did.

they died BEFORE i put the ph adjustment stuff in, i havent lost any since i used it, but it just makes doing water changes difficult. the ph adjuster stuff just helps to keep it lower untill the fishn waste can bring it back down. BUT my question was, "is there an easier way to fix my problem" in terms of town water.

Hi,
You guys, Down Under, must be having a terrible time.
When last I corresponded with Keith, he was talking about
the wildfires, huge clouds of smoke, and the lack of
rain as well. I wonder how wide spread the drought is?

Keith had the same problems that you spoke of, and as I
recall, he contacted the water company to find out what it
was that they were using in the water. After that, I don't
recall he said anything further, so I assume he was able
to mitigate the situation. I'd call them and find out,
then go to your LFS and talk with them. Or, come back here
and let us know. Perhaps someone can help.

Frank


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