# Ideal Water Conditions



## pygocentrus da 3rd (Jun 19, 2007)

Hello everyone..I just want to discuss ways how to keep the water conditions in our tanks ideal and stable
Knowing piranhas are from rivers with lower PH and more acidic therefore more difficult to keep stable due to the PH dropping over time and the tanks buffering capacity can become shot.. i know that if KH/GH and PH drops to much the Benificial bacteria would die out along with the rest of the problems i talked about.. What are some tried and true methods that us fish keepers can apply to our tanks to keep proper PH,hardness,buffering ability and good bacteria stable for years naturally


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## pygocentrus da 3rd (Jun 19, 2007)

pygocentrus da 3rd said:


> Hello everyone..I just want to discuss ways how to keep the water conditions in our tanks ideal and stable
> Knowing piranhas are from rivers with lower PH and more acidic therefore more difficult to keep stable due to the PH dropping over time and the tanks buffering capacity can become shot.. i know that if KH/GH and PH drops to much the Benificial bacteria would die out along with the rest of the problems i talked about.. What are some tried and true methods that us fish keepers can apply to our tanks to keep proper PH,hardness,buffering ability and good bacteria stable for years naturally


Nobody had this problem with tank crash? Its got me boggled cause i been an aquarist for years and still have had problems with tank crash and could never find a solution


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## Nzac (Oct 13, 2010)

well, I for one have a ph out of the tap at around 8.2, with high kh/gh. I do not buffer it in any way, I believe keeping the ph stable is more important than trying to match their natural habitats. fish seem to thrive, with the 25% weekly/biweekly partials i have not had problems with tanks crashing or ph fluxuations.


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## e46markus (Dec 9, 2010)

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - less then 30 ppm
pH - keep stable

Thats about as ideal as you can get. Otherwise it'd be cool to have amazon water in a jug for cheap...now that would be badass! Haha


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## ACrowe25 (Sep 23, 2011)

Thanks a lot e46, I was just going to ask the same!
Can anyone answer how to lower each of the following if necessary?

1. Nitrite
2. Nitrate
3. Ammonia/ammonium

Thanks in advance, I'll try here before posting a topic. I know water changes help something but idk.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2011)

Water changes are pretty much all you can do until your tank cycles to handle the bioload. There are commercial products on the market but they cause more harm than good.


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## ACrowe25 (Sep 23, 2011)

My nitrite levels are 2.0 ppm. Everything else is perfect. Should I be worried? My fish seem healthy. I took it after a water change. Should I do anything or just let the newer tank go normal?


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