Ph neutralizer block.. is it safe for tropical aquariums?

Question

Ok so, the PH level in my tank isnt great.. I saw a ph neutralizer block where I buy my water conditioner.. And i was wondering, is it safe to add it to my tank?

I read the instructions at the store, but didnt buy it.. It says to put it in the water, and replace it when it dissolves.. But I'm not sure if its safe or not..

the ammonia and other levels in the fish tank are fine, its just the PH that needs to be a bit better. The fish are fine right now, but it might damage them in the long run.

any help will be fine..

By the way I have 2 male dwarf gouramis. 1 small gold gourami, 3 balloon mollies, 1 Male swordtail, 2 clown loaches. (I had 3, but I lost one of them)

I will be upgrading my tank in a few months to a bigger one. And I will be getting a couple more loaches, and a couple of swordtails

Answer 1

What's your PH at right now? the fish you mentioned will like a PH from about 6-7.5, so slightly acidic is good for your fish.

Instead of using a chemical PH adjuster, look at what might be changing your PH in your tank.

What do you currently have in your tank? Where'd you get the substrate? Did you get a PH neutral substrate, or did you get sand from somewhere? Do you have shells in your tank raising your PH, or do you have driftwood lowering it?

Once upon a time, to save money, I picked up some play sand from Loews for a substrate. It lowered the PH down to where the PH tester couldn't even read it! I changed it out to some onyx sand and the PH has been just fine ever since.

If you start fighting something in your tank with a PH adjuster, you could end up with bigger problems than you currently have - the water will have to be constantly monitored, and will go up and down constantly, putting a lot of stress on your fish.

Don't use the PH adjuster, just try to figure out what's causing your PH to be at the level it's at.

Answer 2

What is your pH? Meddling with it is more likely to kill your fish than leaving it be. Anything apart from the extremes will be fine for your fish as long as its stable (so between 6.8-7.8). Leave it be if so, none of your fish are hugely pH sensitive.

Answer 3

I would avoid all chemicals that deal with PH at all costs. All this is going to do is make your PH levels swing around, which can wreak havoc with your fish tank.

If you are struggling with PH, try natural methods of changing the PH levels. Crushed coral (very small amounts) raises the PH. Bogwood lowers the PH. These are much safer methods of changing (permanently) the PH level in your tank. It may take some tweaking to get the proper amounts of either item in your tank, but this is much safer than trying to play with the chemicals.

Using buffers and PH Up/PH Down chemicals is going to cause you problems.

In all reality, PH is not that big of a deal when it comes to what level it is at - the real issue is consistency. If your PH is constant, your fish will be fine even if it's a little lower or higher than what the "proper" level for that particular fish is supposed to be.

You are much better off with a consistent PH level that is not perfect than you are with a level that bounces around while trying to maintain that "perfect" PH level.

Good luck...