Basic Ph balance questions...

[Bloodeath]

first of all, im not positive if this is in the exact right spot, but i'd consider this betta care.

anyways, to be honest, i just recently bought a simple ph balance test kit, (not the master kit, just a little bottle and a strip) and some Ph down (Because in my local area, our tap water has about a 8.0.), so over about the last week ive been trying to lower my ph balance to around 7.0-7.4...Well it took me 2 days to slowly lower it where i wanted it, which was a solid 7.2... needless to say i was thrilled. well the next day i go in to check the ph levels, and they were back up to about 7.6-7.8ish...

so im just trying to figure this out completely, because ive yet to see a thorough ph balance guide for bettas...

How do i keep the ph balances from flucuating? or do i have to constantly use ph down, and keep it manually where i want it?

If i invest the 30-40$ for the Master ph test kit, where do i get the supplies i need to correct whats wrong, like nitrate levels, ammonia, and so forth?

Can you visually notice the waters difference when ph balances are lower and higher?

Why when i mail ordered my fish they came in really blue water? Is it really healthy water for them, or some type of better transporting water?

Where do you guys get your test kits from?

How many of you guys actually go through all of this trouble for your little pal?



Just general stuff like that, if everyone could just kinda throw their 2 cents at this topic, i'd really appreciate it :)

[vaygirl]

Don't bother with messing with ph. Your fish will adapt to your ph. A constantly changing ph will make them sick and could kill them in the long run. I wanna say again, don't mess with ph. It's SO important. A lot of people here have an 8.0 ph and their fish are fine. :)

For correcting ammonia, nitrite and nitrate you do fresh water changes. Chemicals are no comparison to clean water.

I use the API master test kit from Petco or Walmart. It's lasted me a year so far!

[Kokonoko]

Its actually not to much trouble, to my knowledge a better fish can live comfortably from 6.5 to 7.5, maybe even a few points each way. As far as I know, your PH is going to constantly adjust in your tank due to certain chemicals building up in your tank. If you don't know the entire "ammonia cycle", then you should probably read up on that (Although, I could be incorrect and that the cycle will not adjust the PH level, but I highly doubt that).

Although you already might know this, I'll toss you the run-down. The Ammonia Cycle happens after ammonia (duh) is produced by your fish. Ammonia is rather lethal to a fish even in smaller doses, so if you fsh is living in a small environment where ammonia can build up quick it may be wise to often do water changes to rid of it. However, eventually in tanks 5g or larger a bacteria is created that is able to transfer ammonia into Nitrite; Nitrite is still as lethal as ammonia however. That doesn't seem like that great of a deal, but after nitrite is created ANOTHER bacteria forms, that can transfer Nitrite into Nitrate. Nitrate, although still harmful, is only harmfull in laaarge doses (Meaning that Nitrate is alot more tolerable by your fish then any of the previous chemicals: ammonia or nitrite.

So, in this cycling, its going to constantly adjust your tank and no, you cann't visually see a PH shift in water. I don't even think it would be visible after becoming deadly acid (4.0 or below) or deadly lai (10.0+)

"Blue shipping water" - although I don't know the name for this substance, it is ment for shipping purposes. Supposedly its some how more oxygen enriched and is pritty much like water on steroids *Shrugs* This is nothing to worry about at all =)

[marhlfld]

I'd like to chime in here about pH. I've already had a wonderful discussion concerning pH on another forum. In short, don't worry about it. My pH is 7.8 and another lady's is over 8. She is an experience Betta keeper and is full of knowledge. Get the API Master Test kit as suggested by Vaygirl. I used the Mardel paper strip test kit and it was totally unreliable. It read that my ammonia levels were 0. So I treated a Betta for a bacterial infection it didn't have. It was dying from an ammonia spike that the stupid strip test kit didn't read at all... zilch, zero. It also read that my tap water was zero for ammonia. Ha! I got the API kit and it read I have 1.0 ppm of ammonia. After filtering the water thru a carbon filter, it dropped the ammonia to .25 ppm. Mardel's test strip is junk. Get your money back if you bought it. (by the way, my poor fish died)

To correct the ammonia, nitrite and etc... you can use a water conditioner OR get some live plants and lots of them... You need to educate yourself. There's lots of info on here. One thing more... the fish live in water... it is #1 important to understand that relationship of water and fish.

[Lion Mom]

IMO./E, the one and ONLY thing you need to add to your water is a good quality water conditioner such as Prime (that is what I & many others here use).

As stated, the fish will adapt to the PH of your water - mine is hard with a PH of 8 and my fish (bettas, angels, others) have no problem with it whatsoever.

Just remember - a STABLE PH is MUCH better than one that fluctuates. A fluctuating PH can actually kill your fish.