The Puffer Forum

Hey everyone, just a question. What do most of you keep your ph levels in most of your FW puffer tanks? Mainly for the Congo puffers, Arrow heads, Fahakas, and ect. I read all the profiles on every puffer in the PufferPedia. But Im just wondering what ph levels do most have the best success at?

As long as it's around the middle pH level doesn't matter as long as it's stable.

What is the pH of you source water? If it is 6.5-8.0 it is likely fine as is. The pH is not particularly significant, only changes in the pH are significant.

We have no reason for changing pH if our source water is suitable for keeping FW fish. Changing pH by water modification (removal or reduction of general hardness) is a PITA (and potentially harmful), only useful for breeding blackwater species of some rainforest fish, and even for those is not needed for maintenance.

The total water profile is far more important than is pH alone. Fish do not read external pH. Testing pH is useful for tracking changes in the GH and KH, as it is serves as measure of overall water stability. The KH of your water determines the pH of the water. Decreasing pH is a sign of decreasing water quality and the need for more frequent or larger water partials.

Using commercial buffers to raise of lower pH to some arbitrary value is an exercise in futility and nine times out of ten, does more harm than good.

HTH

Well the average ph staight out of our tap is around 7.5. I knew that it would be fine but wondered if most had a stable range that they keep their ph in the tank at. My African Cichlid tank is 8.2. Thanks for your all's info on the subject.

Mine is a steady 7.8

Fresh from the tap measures do not mean much. You may not have a stable reading for a couple of days.

But the point should be that pH alone is a very poor parameter to use for any guideline. The primary significance of pH is whether or not it is stable over time.

RTR wrote:Fresh from the tap measures do not mean much. You may not have a stable reading for a couple of days.

But the point should be that pH alone is a very poor parameter to use for any guideline. The primary significance of pH is whether or not it is stable over time.

RTR, yeah I know that ph levels in a tank has a different ph reading then ph from the tap. But thanks for the info

Min's darn near close, with the amount of WC I do on there.

Mine is an unusually high pressure system, freshly drawn water does not really stabilize for me until after 24 or more hours. Our incoming water pressure is well over 100 psi, the highest I have ever had. Off-gassing is astounding - it look carbonated.

from what EXP say is................ hard water PH 7.6 to 8.4.... best advise ask someone who currently own's one .

duke wrote:from what EXP say is................ hard water PH 7.6 to 8.4.... best advise ask someone who currently own's one .

I guess I need to update this. My ph is a steady 8.2 and my Fahaka puffer is doing fine.

Saying or implying that hard alkaline water is required is frankly absurd. The best water to be used for FW puffers is the water from your tap. If that is very soft and acid, the KH may need a bit of a boost to keep the water stable between partials, but that does not mean hard alkaline water is required for long life and health. Good to high water quality is required, not any given reading or narrow range.

FADE2BLACK_1973 wrote:

duke wrote:from what EXP say is................ hard water PH 7.6 to 8.4.... best advise ask someone who currently own's one .

I guess I need to update this. My ph is a steady 8.2 and my Fahaka puffer is doing fine.

I was not meaning all FW puffers do well in hard alkaline water with high ph's. Just that my fahaka is doing ok in it for now.