# Alkalinity and Ph are high



## helimech (Jun 29, 2013)

The water in my tank has high alkalinity and Ph.
Alkalinity(GH)- 300ppm
Ph- 8.0
Ammonia-0
Nitrites-0
Nitrates-0

I have amazon swords and Anubia nana plants. I have 6 zebra danios, 7 snails, and a common Pleco. I plan on adding 6 corydoras and 10 tetras(neon or cardinal, can't decide). The plants and fish i have now look to be doing great. So my question is, are these higher levels of GH and Ph bad? Will it harm my fish eventually? If so, how can I reduce those level?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I think everything should be fine. Just be sure to drip acclimate the fish to get them used to the water slowly. Some people will say it is a little high for Neons/Cardinals, but I have had them in 8.2ph with no problem.

There is a drip acclimate thread stuck at the top in the general section.


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## StevenT (Jun 11, 2013)

jrman83 said:


> I think everything should be fine. Just be sure to drip acclimate the fish to get them used to the water slowly. Some people will say it is a little high for Neons/Cardinals, but I have had them in 8.2ph with no problem.
> 
> There is a drip acclimate thread stuck at the top in the general section.


What this guy said.


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

8.2 is the ph of my reef tank . I don't even keep my africa cichlids that high.
There are side affects to high ph , yes if acclimated over time some fish Will have no real problem with living in it but growth rate and breeding issues occure , like for example fish that are bread in ph extremes out of there normal conditions will likely have all male or all female fry and sterility is also a factor. 
The fish you said you have are not found anywhere in the world naturally in a ph of 8+ It will strip a fish of its slime coat and high pH level ‘chaps’ the skin of fish because of its alkalinity. When the pH of freshwater becomes highly alkaline
The fish you have are IMO hardy in comparison to some species and may very well live for a year and eat grow etc , but its not as if it could literally tell you if there was a problem , so I would take the information we do know of there natural investments and put it to use when targeting water parameters for your fish.
Test your tap water (if that's the filling source) to get an idea what your water looks like before hand if your water is a little high eg.7.5 its safe to assume the LfS from same water supply is same or close , so if you bring home fish from a neutral of 7 or there abouts , which is what most fw fish are kept in and toss it in a high ph of 8+ it will most likely result in death , even if you did drip acclimate that's still a severe swing.
If you decide to add a buffer to bring it down is suggest no more than a 2ppm change per day until you achieve your target range.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

tbub1221 said:


> 8.2 is the ph of my reef tank . I don't even keep my africa cichlids that high.
> There are side affects to high ph , yes if acclimated over time some fish Will have no real problem with living in it but growth rate and breeding issues occure , like for example fish that are bread in ph extremes out of there normal conditions will likely have all male or all female fry and sterility is also a factor.
> The fish you said you have are not found anywhere in the world naturally in a ph of 8+ It will strip a fish of its slime coat and high pH level ‘chaps’ the skin of fish because of its alkalinity. When the pH of freshwater becomes highly alkaline
> The fish you have are IMO hardy in comparison to some species and may very well live for a year and eat grow etc , but its not as if it could literally tell you if there was a problem , so I would take the information we do know of there natural investments and put it to use when targeting water parameters for your fish.
> ...


I would agree with most of this if the fish being kept were wild or f1s, but with the exceptions of the cardinals these fish have been raised in tap water for generations and the attempt at buffering water will cause way more problems then the ph. Take your time drip acclimating them and enjoy, you will NOT be stunting their growth or shortening life expectancy.
PS way bigger problem keeping alkaline fish in too low of ph.


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

you should be fine. when i moved from north carolina to california, i took with me a whole bunch of fish i had collected in swamps. some of them had come from ph as low as 4 and kept at 5,, and yet adjusted just fine in our 8.4 tap water here. not only fine, they bred.
they are still breeding...

besides that, i have kept neon tetras in hard alkaline water without any issues.


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