pH change units and ridiculous pH ranges?
Quit worrying about buying chemicals. Your tank water at 7.6 is perfectly fine for most fish. There’s no need to bring it down with chemicals or other means.
Now that you know your “softened tap” has a baseline pH of 8.0, simply add 30% RO water to your tap water for each LARGE PWC to keep it around 7.6 but for 25% PWC’s, you could just use the tap without problems.
Considering that the ecology of a tank will always lower the pH anyhow (CO2 from the fish, CO2 and carbonic acid from decaying detritus, etc.), just doing 25% PWC’s with your 8.0 tap water will probably keep the tank “naturally” in the 7.6 range anyhow.
My tap water pH is in the high 7’s to 8.0 range and I do weekly 25% PWC’s and my tank is usually in the low to mid 7’s by the time I do my PWC. Of course, the goldfish, plants and driftwood all help lower the pH as part of the natural ecology of my tank.
In reviewing the thread, you have more to worry about with the bioload and stocking level in your tank rather than the pH level. The Clown Loaches, Pleco, Black Knifefish and Goldfish all need more room than a 55G can provide.
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
