Beginner's 20G Fowlr

[j3tang]

I talked to LFS dude and he says to me:

1) RO water that I'm using comes out at a pH of 6 (which can't be true, that would make my water acidic! Maybe he meant to say 7? which would be correct.)

2) pH of 7.8 is low (I concur), so use the Kent Superbuffer I have to bring it to 8.3. He disagrees with the fact that having a fluctuating pH at 8.3 is worse than a consistent 7.8 pH (and I can accept that that is his opinion).

3) he thinks I drip acclimated my 2 clowns that died for too long (4hrs), he thinks I should have dripped quickly to achieve double the volume of water in approx. 20 minutes to avoid the temperature of the bucket's water dropping. Should I have put in a heater into the bucket if i dripped for 4hrs? or should I do what he says and do it quickly (which seems kinda counter intuitive to me)?


I've read Myka's links to water parameters before, but I'm still unsure about what to do. I don't think I'll continue dosing the buffer, but can anyone else chime in? Any other advice at this point? this is getting a little discouraging for a newb :s