Hi

I wonder if you can help me with my tank. It is just a few months old and:

• contains 160 litres water
• is well aerated using a powerhead
• the filter is well established as I bought it from a friend who was moving up to a bigger tank
• nitrate, nitrite and ammonia levels are consistently good
• contains a 8" sailfin plec, 3" silver dollar, 2" blue malawi ciclid, 3" synodontis and a 4" blue crayfish - all get on well now the two aggressive parrot fish are gone

The problem is that local tap water is PH 8 and I have tried using bogwood, water softener pillows and RO water to reduce it but I feel I am fighting a losing battle at every water change. Do you know if there is a single source where I can do a search for fish which prefer a PH 8?

Thanks

Hi

There are quite a lot of fish that thrive in higher end PH the most common being Malawi's and Tanganyikan's which are cichlids that are from giant lakes in Africa, although these are fish that you need to read up on before you consider to keep as they have differing demands and set ups required than your more common community fish.

Have you tried to lower your PH by using the PH minus product? I would have thought (although I may be corrected here) that if you lowered you PH and then buffered your water (helps maintain PH values) and then the water was PH altered every time you did a water change then this would suffice?

Hope this is of some help, I'm sure that some of the other members will comment and drop you some advice soon