first stock! (+pH question)

Hi.

Well, my 75gal tank is cycled, so I finally started stocking it late last
week. I bought 4 dwarf honey gouramis, and 4 gold dwarf honey gouramis.
They really seem to be thriving, although it has only been a few days.
The LFS (verified in a book) told me that the dwarf honeys are usually
colorless in LFS tanks, but change color dramatically in a home tank.
Mine haven't changed color yet, I'm really interested to see this happen.

Anyway... I still have water questions.

I bought another test kit, and these are my water parameters as of a few
hours ago:

Temp 75F
NH3 0ppm
NO2 0ppm
kh 8 = 143 ppm
Gh 13 = 232 ppm
ph 7.6 (or maybe higher?)

I don't have an NO3 kit yet, so I'm not sure how high the nitrates are.

Right now, the only thing worrying me is the pH. The test kit that I have
shows 7.6 as the maximum range, and it looks like my water is very close
to the max, but since the kit doesn't have a color comparison for a higher
pH, I can't tell.

I think that I can gradually lower the Gh & the pH by either topping off
the tank with RO water, or by doing small water changes (1 gallon a day?)
and replacing with RO water. However, should I be more worried about the
pH? Should I think about trying to lower the pH some other way that might
be a bit quicker, but not too fast that it would stress my fish?

This leads me to a somewhat related question. Is there any reason to
avoid doing frequent small water changes and stick to doing more
infrequent, larger water changes?

I'd like to add some Corys and/or Otos in the next few days, but I've seen
that the upper pH range for both species is ~7.5. Do I need to reconsider
both species if it looks like I'm going to have a difficult time keeping
the pH lower than 7.6?

--chris



| Chris Palma, | The preceding was a work of fiction, |
| University of Virginia Astronomy | any similarities to persons living or |
| | dead, places, or events is purely |
| www.astro.virginia.edu/~cp4v | coincidental... |

(NB: this email address is dead. If you want to email me directly, use
cpalmaATSYMBOLastro.psu.edu)

"Chris Palma" wrote in message
tro.Virginia.EDU...
Hi.

Well, my 75gal tank is cycled, so I finally started stocking it late last
week. I bought 4 dwarf honey gouramis, and 4 gold dwarf honey gouramis.
They really seem to be thriving, although it has only been a few days.
The LFS (verified in a book) told me that the dwarf honeys are usually
colorless in LFS tanks, but change color dramatically in a home tank.
Mine haven't changed color yet, I'm really interested to see this happen.

Anyway... I still have water questions.

I bought another test kit, and these are my water parameters as of a few
hours ago:

Temp 75F
NH3 0ppm
NO2 0ppm
kh 8 = 143 ppm
Gh 13 = 232 ppm
ph 7.6 (or maybe higher?)

I don't have an NO3 kit yet, so I'm not sure how high the nitrates are.

Right now, the only thing worrying me is the pH. The test kit that I have
shows 7.6 as the maximum range, and it looks like my water is very close
to the max, but since the kit doesn't have a color comparison for a higher
pH, I can't tell.

I think that I can gradually lower the Gh & the pH by either topping off
the tank with RO water, or by doing small water changes (1 gallon a day?)
and replacing with RO water. However, should I be more worried about the
pH? Should I think about trying to lower the pH some other way that might
be a bit quicker, but not too fast that it would stress my fish?

This leads me to a somewhat related question. Is there any reason to
avoid doing frequent small water changes and stick to doing more
infrequent, larger water changes?

I'd like to add some Corys and/or Otos in the next few days, but I've seen
that the upper pH range for both species is ~7.5. Do I need to reconsider
both species if it looks like I'm going to have a difficult time keeping
the pH lower than 7.6?

--chris

your water conditions look just fine to me for your Gourmais. Your
Corydoras normally prefer more acidic water however will have no problem
with your PH levels. I have 15 different varieties of Corydoras that I breed
and they stay in similar water conditions. I soften it using R/O water when
I do large water changes as an inducement to get them to spawn. I have
friends who breed them constantly and do nothing to their water and the Ph
is 7.6-7.8. Keep your water parameters consistent and you shouldn't have a
problem Remember most of these fish are hatched and raised in a fish farm on
local water and do not require the same conditions as wild caught fish.

Rick

You can always buy a PH down and buffer. I have Kent's Buffer and PH down.
You must raise the KH in your water so the PH will be stable. Then you add
small amounts of the PH Down. This will lower your PH and it will
eventually stay low once you figure out the right amounts to use. Hi PH
levels make Ammonia and Nitrites more toxic. You can also put peat in your
filter but you will have to constantly change it and the color of the water
will turn a tea color. If you do decide to bring down your PH with acids
then you will need a test kit. Another method is to inject CO2 into the
water.