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Just a well I read this thread. I recently changed over from town water to rainwater and hadn't checked the ph.
OMG it is less than 6!

Hi guys, this is my first post so bare with me.

I have 2 tanks, my smaller tank (3ft freshwater) has been going strong for near on 3 years. I recently bought a new 6ft tank and decided to learn more as I cycle and stock this new tank.
However, I have noticed a problem with my ph in both tanks. My ph is hovering between 6.2 - 6.4 and I cannot seem to keep it up. I only know what I have read over the past couple of weeks and now I know about my ph problems I feel I have rushed into buying the new tank. For years by 3ft has ran well and until recently (when I began adjusting the ph with ph up) I had never lost any fish.

I am assuming the stress I have put on my fish is due to the rising and falling of the ph. I do regular water changes and my tank is reasonably well planted. I have a large piece of driftwood and a few small rocks.

For my 6ft I have a Fluval FX5 and at this stage nothing else in the tank. I will eagerly await a response on my ph problems before I add anything to the tank.

Thanks in advance.

As you can probably tell from this string, I was able to buffer my tank by adding Limestone. They were regular rocks from my mother's garden and around a building site where I live.

I am still thinking of adding limestone substrate to the tank to drive teh pH well over 8, as I am hovering around 7.5 right now. The fish are fine, and are actually quite frisky, so I know I have some wiggle room.

Thers's lots of good advice on this string though.

72G Bowfront. 1 Sunshine Peacock, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Ps. Elongatus, 1 Blue Ahli, 1 Red Kadanga, 1 Mel. Exasperatus, 1 metriaclima emmiltos, 1 Ancistrus.

14.5G 4 Neon Tetras.