Mike’s Fish Tank – New Tank PH

Quite a few customers are asking questions about starting a fish tank and what to do about PH. When it comes to PH, the fish farms still say leave it alone.

Yes, it is high in our area. At the Pet shop, it’s about 8.0 to 8.5. You may read online or in books that the PH should be around 7.0
In a perfect world, that may be the case. However most fish will adjust to the PH if you just leave it alone. If you add some type of chemical to lower the PH, after a few days that PH will rise again. You add PH down once again. But it will continue to rise and this patern will go on and on.

Fish cannot handle that. If you leave the PH where it is, the fish will adjust and in most cases they are fine. You may find a fish species that maybe has a hard time adjusting and you may find certain fish that you can’t keep alive. I keep all kinds of species and so far they all seem to do great. If you are breeding a certain fish that requires a lower PH, then you may have to lower the PH. There are some fish that just won’t breed unles the ph is perfect.

For people who just like a bunch of different fish in their aquarium, don’t worry about PH. I would say temperature is a bigger factor than the PH. Most tropical fish like a temperature of 78 to 80 degrees. Goldfish like it cooler, more like 50’s and 60’s.

As far as how many fish to put into a newly set up tank, go slow. In a 10 gallon,do 3 or 4 small fish, 20 gallon, do 5 to 6, 30 gallon, do 6 to7, 55 gallon 8 to 9, that is the general quideline. I’ve had several customers the past couple weeks go way overboard and they have lost most of their fish. We only warn people about the problems of too many fish too soon because we want your tank to do great. Fish urinate ammonia. There is a bacteria that eats this urine but it takes at least 4 to 6 weeks for it to grow. If you put 20 fish in a brand 20 gallon tank, there is no beneficial bacteria. Over a period of a week, that urine builds. You will start to see the water turning cloudy and it may start to smell a bit. This is ammonia and without that good bacteria
it just sits in your tank. It burns the gills of your fish and slowly begins to kill them. If you start with just a few fish, it takes a lot longer for the ammonia to build and the levels won’t be as high. Your fish have a much better chance of surviving. So go easy on fish the first 4 to 6 weeks. Your fish will do much much better.

Pets A Plenty is located in the Blockbuster Video Plaza, Rte 281 Cortland, 753-9213. Open 7 days a week. We now have a website. www.petsaplety.biz. check it out. I post care sheets, coupons, new animal arrivals, contests and more. Any questions, email me at friskyy@hotmail.com

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