My tap water conditions

[ilaizm]

Hi,

When testing my tap water before putting it in the aquarium I am getting the below values:

pH: 8
kH: 7
gH: 26

Can someone suggest whether I should be working on reducing the gH only or should I also reduce the pH?

Thanks!

[jesx57]

Your pH definitely needs to be reduced. A pH if that level is more suitable for African cichlids. Discus like a pH of around 6-6.5, although a few discus hobbyists on here keep theirs in the high pH 5 range. The old way to reduce pH was to filter it through peat, but you could add some pieces of driftwood (a few species have pH lowering properties, but they leach tannins). I know some other people use a bit of R.O water in their mix, but I haven't had much experience with this. If you're not planning on keeping plants, you could have your pH pretty low. As I've said somewhere else before, a high pH that is stable is better than one that is low and more desirable, but could crash.

[Hollowman]

Because I have just moved, my aged water ph is still 8.2 My fish were used to ph6.6 so it has been a big change for them. I changed this slowly, to suit my present water conditions, but they are coping well, not stressed and feeding well. I change 50% water every other day right now. IMO, I think stability is better then buffering.

H

[ilaizm]

What about the gH problem? Its at 26 degrees gH