i need help

I am getting a 250 gallon tank soon and its going to be a dirted and planted tank.my tap water PH is 7.6 and the fish I am looking at need a PH range from 6.8-7.0. I hear people saying that if you acclimate the fish good they will be alright because the captive bred fish are mor hardier than wild caught fish(or so they say). Is this true???? Because I have only been keeping fish for about 4 months. Another question I have is that I heard co2 will lower the pH to 6.8 which would be perfect. I was looking into getting c02 to make my plants grow faster but then I realized this because when I do a water change with 7.6 PH i would shock my fish with a big PH change. So I don't know what to do and I don't want to use chemicals to try to change the PH because it doesn't really work. Please help!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Peter on December 17, 2013 at 12:32am

The fish u get will eventually get used to ur waters ph. Captive breed fish are grown using city water thats been treated. So they are used to diff water parametrs than wild caught. But captive tend to be inbreed more so they also could be weaker. Co2 will drop ur ph and it depends on ur water on how much it will drop. Doing big wc wont shock ur fish i run co2 and do 80% wc on my tank. O and i keep my discus at a ph7.8. Any lfs will tell u they need 6.0-6.6. Yet my discus are breeding. Long story short dont worry 2 much about ph.

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Permalink Reply by greg murphy on December 17, 2013 at 12:38am

Ok thankyou very much.

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Permalink Reply by George Barrett on December 17, 2013 at 11:24pm

my tap water is a ph of 8 just moved and didn't even realize it. my fish were luckily fine and hardy suckers. I did a trial and error with a product from fluval. it is a peat ball mixture that you put into a filter bag and throw into whatever filter you have most of mine I just took out the carbon and put that in. if you cant find it in the pet store it should be online. ive been using it since july and it brought my ph down to 7.4 from 8+. i was also concerned about when i did water changes how putting the ph 8 into the tank would effect the fish. well none have died because of it so i think you would be ok but i wouldn't go doing anything more than 50% water changes unless necessary. good luck and make sure to test your water often when i first started out i didn't so any testing and i lost quite a few fish that could have been avoided.

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Permalink Reply by greg murphy on December 18, 2013 at 12:37am

Thank you that is really helpfull

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on December 22, 2013 at 11:08am

I kept Discus outside in a pond during the summertime and they did great. The PH ran between 9.0 and 5.9. and the temperature ranged between 90F to 60F. Just make sure you keep the water clean - that means as little decaying organic matter as possible. Plants help to keep water clean - especially floating plants like Water Sprite. A sponge filter will help too but you have to clean it at least once a month.