New RO machine for L121 and cories, need help

[-carlo]

I've been keeping some fish in suboptimal water conditions, and recently bought an RO machine to make the fish happier.
I would like to adjust my gh and ph to make my tank resemble the natural habitat of my fish better, but i'm unsure of how to do it.

My tank is stocked with:
5x Peckoltia braueri
4x corydoras adolfoi
11x neon tetra
7x rummynose tetra
furnished with some rocks, plants, lots of wood and catappa leaves. (low light and moderate flow)
tank size: 80x45x45 cm
Current conditions are (same as tap) ph 8 and gh 12

Been thinking to lower ph to 6,5-7 and gh to 6.
If I do water changes with RO water, gh will drop, but will ph as well due to indian almond leaves?
Are the ph and gh values I have in mind good?

Any advice, input or tips are appreciated

[racoll]

My advice: do not overthink, do not tinker, do not measure parameters obsessively (this causes overthinking).

Just mix your RO water 80%/20% with your tapwater. This will give you nice soft water with a little buffering capacity.

Change the water regularly to keep things stable.

Exact pH is not important. As long as the water is not full of minerals the fish will love it.

[-carlo]

Thanks racoll, very helpful. Will try the 80/20 ratio and test every now and then. About the overthinking is also nice to hear. Have been keeping aquariums succesfully for years without any testing or tinkering with tap water. But recently found out how much my fish love indian almond leaves, so I thought what else have they been missing?!

[Bas Pels]

Rain water in nature is very, very soft. BUT the area where it falls is Always large, at least large compared to any tank.

Therefore, one can see areas with a hardness of 0, without any buffering capacity, but still more or less constant in pH

As long as you pH does not get under 6, you have some buffering capacity in you water, and you are safe. BUT when it does get under 5 - there is no mechanism keeping the pH buffered and it can get to 3.

A friend of mine kept a tank @ pH = 4 for quite a while. It turned out the used peat - which was not remouved - worked as a buffer. That might help you, old plant material maight do the same / buffering, that is. So I would suggest not to be too thorough cleaning the tank.

[-carlo]

Have been doing water changes with rougly 80/20 RO to tap ratio.
Very happy with the result. GH is 4 and PH is 6,5-7. Fish seem to be happy with it since the L121 come out during the day every now and then and my corydoras adolfoi have started spawning again.( this might also be due to more and more varied food)

So thanks again!