water ph

Question
I have a 29gal tank with currently 2 angelfish and a cory cat, tank is done cycling and my ph is 8.2. from everything I have read this is a little high for angels, I have a large piece of driftwood in the tank as well as a large bag of peat granules. My tap ph is 7.2. I'm not sure why my ph is so high. I do a weekly water change of about 40 percent,am I changing the water too much or too often, I would really like to get this ph a little lower, any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Angel

Answer
Angel,
cut the water change percentage to 10-15% as 40% is a bit too much.
Ph is not a constant it varies.
Take a reading at 3 differnt times and average it out.
8.2 is a bit high for angels but not outragous... in the Amazon the pH can be much lower however those are wild fish.
Almost all angels are domestic bred now and are fine in a wide range of Ph values.
get some untreated peat moss at the garden center, get a nylon sack or use some old pantyhose fill with the peat, don;t pack it in let it be loose so that the water can flow thru rather than around it.
Put it in the back of your filter if you have a cartrige type or in the canister compartment if you have like a fluval....
remove the carbon from the filter as it will filter out the resins.
The peat will color the water to a light tea color and add in resins and act as a barrier to infections as well..
if you get the ph somewhere in the 6.8-7.4 area that will be perfect.
The tank ph will drop as the tank ages as well...remember as you do water changes with the tap water you are goint to dilute the peat effect...you will get a feel for what you can get away with as far as volume of water....10% should be about right and you are not overpopulated so weekly or bi-weekly will be fine...
don;t add ph down, or amazon water or any other quick treatment...they do not work the only way to alter the ph correctly is to remove the buffers from the water, not mask them over.
The peat acts as an Ion exchange resin and chemicaly changes the water thus dropping the ph.
It will stay at that ph where the additives only work untill their buffers are used up and the ph returns to its original value...
Don;t fret too much about ph....unless  you are breeding cardinal tetras or discus etc exact values are really not necessary.
Its much better to do routine tank maint. water changes, temp, etc if you keep up with that your fish will do fine...
Enjoy your tank....sounds like you are on the right track to a successful and rewarding aquarium..
keep temp approx 78-80, ammonia, nitrates and nitites to a min....every thing will be fine.