Hot Seat 1: Did pH KILL My Fish? How Important is pH in AQUARIUMS? 

I've been a fish fruitcake for 50 years, and this is HANDS DOWN thee most important video I have EVER seen. I mean this is on the leaving of understanding basic cycling. Absolutely INCREDIBLE information!!!!

These types of videos are so great! We need more of Dan in hot seat!! Maybe even a cardboard cutout of flames behind him next time 😂. Wishing any who see this a wonderful weekend! ✌️

Excellent balance of technical detail and nontechnical language 👍👍

I like the video, but.... Really I loved the video and it needs to be a series, I just think you over explained Ph. You lead into Gh and Kh but never explain them. You also had the opportunity to give your thoughts on TDS. I would like to hear more.

This discussion was great. And doing it from memory, it’s very well done. I think you captured the discussion around freshwater tropical fish with regards to pH, salinity, and alkalinity. Now, this won’t apply across the spectrum of hobby aquarium species. But it’s well articulated with regards to freshwater fish.

The point of your message is to work with our hard city water , in order to maintain steady parameters. I agree 100%. What about mixing RO water with tap water to bring dish the tds ? Can you please please talk about that. There are soft water fish and aquatic plants that probably wouldn’t do well in hard alkaline water

In my experience, Dan is 100% correct!

pH is a goose chase. pH reads per hydrogen which is why spikes happen when you do water changes and why outgassing your water it lowers pH. Over oxygenation in water lines causes high pH readings. Hardness is key.

For not being a chemist you nailed it. A bit of crushed coral and sea salt will buffer your pH, keeping it stable, AND decrease the influx of water across cell membranes of fish. Great video!

Great info! Thank you!

As long as your PH is high enough for your beneficial bacteria...if not? Do water changes daily! Otherwise, I am with you on keeping the water parameters stable. I have clouds coming out of my tap here in NC. I have to do more than most, to provide a stable environment. Water changes kill my fish. This hobby is like math & life. There is more than one way to get to your goal/destination. I too am just some fish geek, so take my comment and do what you will with it. It works for me.

thank you dan i enjoyed this question type hotseat video. like#3

Fantastic information and great delivery Dan. Thanks for your great work in the industry.

Awesome info as always -- thanks again. Probably your dorkiest thumbnail though. :)

Excellent information!

Good information. This topic has been on my mind a lot lately as I am having difficulty keeping neo shrimp alive. You've helped me understand better some of the factors at play.

Great info!!!

Our tap water is weird. pH is about 7.6-7.8, yet it's very soft. I've tested it multiple times (API liquid test kits) with the same result: about 2-3 degrees of both KH and GH, if that.

Couldn’t agree more with you Dan good stuff

Great stuff!!! Things like this are so helpful

Going to be interesting if off-gassing is mentioned. I definitely recommend what Dan has said (so far in my viewing about using KH and GH as a relevant measure).

Great video

Excellent video! I am moving this month and this subject "hits home" dad pun not intended

This relieved me a lot...I am planning on getting fish for the first time and did all this research, picked out what kind I wanted(all of which were fish suited for softer water...), only to find out my tap water here in SoCal is apparently very, very high in pH and hardness

Do you keep your neo shrimp in your hard water, as well?

Awesome information. If you watch cells (example blood cells) under a microscope, when placed in soft water the osmotice pressure moves water into them so forcefully they will explode. Hard for fish to survive that, destroys the gills. I am a teacher and we do this with sheep's blood cells not living organisms.

👍🏻👍🏻

I think anyone who uses a water softener can achieve low GH, high PH.

My pH is 6.4 and lowering with a KH of 15.3. Would love to know what is going on. Luckily my fish store is a 10 minute bus ride away with the same water type,

My favorite fish is the pearl gourami but I cannot keep them alive. I used to do well when I used purified water they were amazing and beautiful. I switched to tap water because it was easier. I have been able to keep everything in my tap water except pear gouramis and angel fish. They keep dying. And I think maybe I'm doing too many water changes. I do water changes every week and I try not to mess with the ph. I believe that stable conditions are better than shooting for ideal conditions but despite this fact, the only thing I can think that is killing the PGs is Ph so should I try softening my water or try doing fewer water changes? My peacock cichlids need a lot of water changes so I just decided to do all my tanks while I do the peacocks. I do add pH buffer to my cichlids but they act and look so much better since I added extra minerals. My pH out of the tap is 7.6 to 7.8 the gh is also over 180ppm the test strips I have don't test over that.

So Dan, just to clarify, you haven’t had any problems keeping wild caught black water fish in your hard, alkaline water?