pH question

[Tro]

I have a 26 gallon tank. Right now the only fish in it are 3 zebrafish. I intend to get 5 more of that kind but the fish shop that I use suggested that I only add fish to my tank three at a time until it is stocked. So that's what I'm doing.
I tested my pH today and noticed it was really high 8.2.
The pH test that I bought stated a good pH for tropical fresh water fish as 7.5ish, and the test also said if mine was too high I could purches pH Down to bring it down.
I bought pH down but did some research and found that this is not recommended and could kill the fish.
I haven't added the pH down and don't think I will. Is 8.2 a safe pH to leave the tank at or should I try to bring it down and how?

Also one more small question my air pump has an LED light that turns on when I plug it in. Will the light disturb the fish at night time? Should I turn the air pump off at night so there will be no light in the tank?
Thanks in advance for any help.

[emc7]

If the air-pump drives the filter, never turn it off. If it is just bubbles, you can do what you want with it. Watch the fish, if they don't settle down in a few hours after lights out, you could try putting the pump on a timer. 8.2 should be tolerable for zebra danios (correct me if I got the wrong zebra fish), leave pH alone. pH Down is bad news. Don't even think about using in it a tank with fish. A yo-yo pH is worse than a high pH.

[weedkiller]

agree with emc7, stay well away from messing with ph by chems, you will have a constant battle with it going up and down, best way is a sand substrate and throw in a lump of bogwood, that will lower the ph naturally, check the parameters from your source water, if your ph is high from the source then use bottled water or r.o water as a 50/50 mix with dechlorinated tap, what are your other parameters from source? if they are high too then defo look to r.o
as for your air pump... get a longer air tube and move the pump so led is out of sight

[C. King]

I totally agree about phdown: bad! Can't imagine why they sell the stuff...Makes ph bounce up & down, causing more harm than good. I live in an area with extreme hard water (high ph) and finally had to resort to using RO(reverse osmosis) water. I buy it in 3 gal. plastic jugs at the local grocery store. The jugs can be refilled, so that makes it less expensive. A partial water change with RO water would help reduce your ph, but remember to take it slow--fish don't do well with sudden ph changes. If the LEDlight on the pump bothers you or the fish, just cover it with a piece of black electricians tape.

[mousey]

I had ph of 8.2 for many years. had no problems with it. The livebearers and cichlids do especially well with it.

[Tro]

Thanks for all the replies.
I guess this leads me to another question. I have a ro/di system I tested the ph readings for that and it tested about 6.0. I assume if I left the water out for a day or two it would go up to 6.4-6.6ish. Which is the low ph extreme. Should I mix my ro/di water together with my tap water? Leave the pH at 8.2? Or only use ro/di water and have it at around 6.4? Maybe I'm thinking to much about this sorry if I am I'm just new to fresh water and want to get things right.

I haven't finished reasearching the fish that I may want to put in my tank so I'm not sure on specifics of species. I do have the zebra danios. So in general for tropical fish what pH is most healthy for them. From your experiences what do you all suggest?

[emc7]

I see the web say 6.5 water. If that were the only fish you were planning to keep, adjusting the pH and hardness to please them would be ideal.

Blending tap and RO together is a good way to customize water in a place with hard and/or alkaline tap water.

However, one reason they make the "community" fish list is because they are pretty flexible. Waters in India vary seasonally. So "pH range: 6.0 - 8.0; dH range: 5 - 19", temp 18°C - 24°C from http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Danio-rerio.html Read the link. So I expect you only need soft acid water once a year for breeding and only if you want to breed them.

26 gallons would hold a nice group of these (say 15) or a small group (6-8) and one other compatible fish.

[weedkiller]

defo mix r.o and tap, was warned against using just r.o because too much of the good stuff it taken by r.o as well as bad, researched it a little and concluded they was correct.
depends what your tap parameters are to the mix you want, i go 50/50 to get the nitrates to about 20 or 30ppm, you will need to play with a mix till you get what you desire

[Tro]

Thanks for the all the advise, I will start mixing my ro/di with tap water for their tank.

[emc7]

Start small, like 10% and slowly increase % until the numbers are where you want them. No sudden changes.