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Tested my Ph Level in the tank it's pretty high 7.5 The local tap water ph is naturally high because I tested the ph of the water from the tap and it was 7.5 anything I can do to lower it???

Hi,
Yes, there are several things you can do to shift the pH
downward. But, do you really have to?

THE most important thing is stability, and very nearly
every fish we can get hold of is bred in fish farms where
the pH is normally not what the books say is the ideal pH.
If the pH is allowed to shift "all over the place" then
the fish are metabolically stressed and illnesses such as
Ich or even death can be the result.

Is this a sudden, recent, problem? In this case it is
probably the folks at your water treatment plant. They
have either shifted water sources ( different wells, or
different suction levels within a lake or river ). Or,
the seasons have changed and they are adding more of some
chemical to compensate.

Let "us" know what you used to have for pH in the tank
as well as what values your GH and KH are. You might
as well toss in the current values of ammonia, nitrite,
and especially nitrate too.

With those values and knowing the type/quantity of fish,
folks can better advise you.

You can lower the pH through the use of Peat Moss in the
filter, addition of driftwood in the tank, or you can
"dilute the water" through the use of RO or Distilled water
as the "top off water" compensating for normal evaporation.
Lastly, you can do it chemically through the use of a
product called "pH Down." This is available at any store
that sells swimming pool products for pennies on a dollar
compared to the same thing (sometimes different name) from
your LFS.

First reply with the requested information, and then "let's"
See if it is really required that you shift the pH down.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

antman your pH is 7.5 that is not extremely high for pH. If you are buy your fish locally they are accustomed to that pH level, as most fish stores do not adjust the water in the store. However, if you want to lower the pH there are several way of doing it. First, you can add a peace of driftwood to the tank, the wood will lower the pH slowly. Second, you can use a pH buffer, that you add to the tank and to any water you add when doing water changes. There are several products out there that do this and they all work about the same. The last way is to use CO2 injection system to control the pH level naturally. This is a very expensive way as there is a lot of equipment to buy and to maintain. With the reading you posted my suggestion would be to try adding drift wood to the tank depending on size of your tank.

I myself use CO2 on my big tanks and a buffer in my smaller tanks. All my tanks have driftwood in them but my tap water pH is really as you would say pretty high. 8.9 straight out of the tap. In you case, my opinion would be to add a peace of driftwood and let it lower the pH down would be you best alternative, 7.5 is not that high and as long as it is constant your fish will adjust to that level and be happy. Water chemistry is one of those things that if you mess up in a tank, you will have to start the tank over, So before you start adjusting the tank water, you may want to try and adjust a bucket of water, that way is you mess up you just throw out the bucket of water.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

well like I said above the water from the tap is 7.5 so there is nothing I can really do about that I'm just trying to do everything the right way and here on this site they have all profiles on the fish and whats best for them and most fish say the ph should be 6.0 to 7.0 so I just went out and bought gourami's since they "Like" the higher Ph Levels do Ph Levels really hurt the fish??

I have 2 Gold Gourami's and 1 Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami in the tank now

If your Ph is 7.5 from tap water then your LFS ph is probably also 7.5. The fish will be used to it as most are commercially bred now.

7.5 is a good ph. You can keep pretty much any fish in that perfectly healthy. Some won't breed in that ph but they will live out a full lifespan completely happy. The ph of my water is 8.2-8.4 and my blue gourami(same species as the gold) lived over 5years. Ph is not as important as people think. Most species will adapt to a ph even well outside of their usual range and not only survive but thrive and sometimes try to breed. You could definitely get gold gouramis to not only spawn but have healthy young in your water. It can be done with my water. The only time I've softened my water is when I was trying to breed fish from very soft acidic waters. Otherwise I have kept even the softwater fish in my hardwater tank without issue.

Lowering the ph is a headache that requires lots of testing and carefully watching the tank. 1 mistake could throw the ph too far off and at least stress out the fish making them ill or possibly kill them. With the fish you have now that are very hardy and adaptable it would be pointless. If in the future you do want to soften your water and lower the ph the best way is to mix in or just use softer water with an already low ph. Distilled or RO water is pure water that can't be used by itself but can be mixed with tap or powdered buffers and minerals to make the exact ph you want. Bottled water can be used by itself and maintains a ph of 6.8 but it can get expensive to do that and there's really no reason to. Peat moss can soften water but it can also be tricky stuff to use. It will give off tannic acid that will turn your tank brown. Chemical filtration removes some of it but I could never keep enough carbon in my filters to keep the tank clear. I had to use a stronger media like purigen to get rid of the color. It also can drop the ph all the way down to 5 if you use too much of it which might kill your gouramis. Test frequently to make sure you aren't using too much or run it on a bucket/container of water and then do water changes with the softer water instead of adding it directly to the tank.

well thats good then so 7.5 isn't too bad thanks for the Info