Sydney Ph - What do you do to the water?

[TheFish]

Hi all,

Wondering what people in Sydney do with the Ph from the tap? Do you change it? How? (peat, ph down, HCL, etc)

From my understanding pH is usually around 8ish in Sydney, and kH is practially zero?

Everyone talks about stability in pH being the key - but 8 from what i've heard and read is a little on the high side. Mind you, i'm not intending to breed.

For discus, in Sydney, should I adjust the pH - if so, whats the best way to keep it stable?

Historically, I've adjusted my pH just with API pH down and have never had problems with fish or plants, but discus being so expensive, and me wanting to provide the best environment for them makes me start questioning my past practices.

Any cost-effective, sound advice from Sydney siders or ph experts would be great!

Cheers

[TheFish]

Anyone?

Should I even bother touching the pH if I'm not intending to breed?

Additional info: I age my water 24 hours and run ADA amazonia II which supposedly lowers ph.

My tank usually seems to run at a ph in the mid 7's.

Say 7.5, and none of the fish seem to mind.

[Woodsie]

Well I'm neither a Sydney sider or a ph expert. But I never muck around with my Ph. You will find that it drops a little anyways with heat and aeration. I would stick to aiming on nice clean water over trying to lower ph. Just my 2cents.

[ILLUSN]

sydneys water is terrible, its soft with a low kh but the ph seems way too high, i assume they are adding hydrated lime to the water to stop the water from leaching pipes.

try filtering through active carbon and using a double dose of prime.

I ph my water with HCL but its very unstable and swings from 6.5-4.9 drop by drop of acid.

[joller]

well at least its soft, i can adjust ph but theres no cheap/quick/easy way to lower hardness

first thing i'll be doing when i buy my own house is harvesting rainwater from every downpipe. that way i'll have soft AND acidic water :D

and maybe get an RO for the dry times ;)