Hi folks
I’d like your thoughts about water pH and whether to change it. I set up my tank to keep South American fish that like soft water. But over the last three years I have no been able to maintain a low pH and it has always risen to 8.2!

I have used rainwater collected from the roof of my shed which has zero hardness and varies in pH 6-7. I have tried using our tap water which you will all know is about pH 7 but has about 10-12 degrees hardness (not good).
I have discovered that the Dorset fine aquarium gravel I bought increases the pH having tested a sample in a glass.

I am chasing soft acidic water and failing. I have noticed that my fish do not seem overly bothered, I have a very healthy shoal of cardinal tetras and Bentosi tetras. But I have lost some neon blue Ram Cichlids.

So what would you recommend I do?

A) Stick with pH 8.2 and acclimatise new fish, staying with South American.

B) Change the fish and keep species that are naturally suited?

C) Rip out everything and change the gravel ?

All thoughts welcome.

It's the underlying hardness and kH that are the real problems, so unless you want to start mixing your water with RO I would go for species that suit the water.