South American Ciclids

Question
Hi
I have a 55gallon tank, I set up 2 airstones, a heater and a nice powerful filter.  I have it set up for four weeks now.  I bought a kit to test the water.  It test Ph, high range Ph, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.  My questions is what is the appropriate Ph and high PH levels for my cyclids.  Everything else it fine, the biological filter has kicked in.  But I am concerned about the Ph level.  The instructions only listed PH levels appropriate for gold fish.  I have ciclids.  More specifically a red blood parrot, jack dempsey, red terror, red oscar, albino tiger oscar, severum, convict and two tropics, a tin foil and a bala shark.  By the way, everybody gets along. There are plants, a ship wreck and a rock if anybody needs to hide for a little while.
Thanks in advance for your help.  

Answer
Hi Julia
Most cichlids can adapt to most any ph.  Unless yours is extremely high or extremely low, I'd leave it where it is. A stable ph is better then one that fluctuates, which is usuallyl what occurs when using chemicals.

You should be concerned with other issues though.  A 55 gallon tank is a good sized large tank, but not for all you have.  You're tank is way overstocked.  Those fish might be juvenilles now and get along ok, but they all have the potential to grow 12+ inches, with the exception of the parrot and convicts.  The red terror is called that for a reason.  As they get older and larger, they become very intolerant of other fish.  They also should have a 75 gallon tank.  The oscars, usually the bare minimum recommended for one oscar is 55 gallons, and that's with no other fish in the tank.  The tin foil and bala shark each do best in a school of at least three of them, meaning three tin foils, and three bala sharks.

If the fish survive the cycle process, there's no way you will be able to safely maintain a nitrate level under 20 ppm.  High nitrates usually leads to hole in the head disease in cichlids, as well as a bunch of other problems for them.  Also being overstocked, the fish will end up becoming stunted.  There's a hormone in the fish that tells them to stop growing on the outside, but their insides and guts continue to grow.  This is obviously painful for the fish, as well as inhumane for them.  They'll be short, fat fish and probably won't survive long.

I'd strongly recommend picking your favorite of the bunch, and getting rid of the rest of them.  Here's a few links that has fish profiles on them.  Look through your fish types on there to see their care requirements.  I also recommend before purchasing any more fish or products, do some research on them before hand.  Don't rely on the pet store employee's advice, they're usually incorrect.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=830

http://www.worldcichlids.com/fishprofiles/redterror.html

http://www.cichliddepot.com/library/american/

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/profile.html

Sorry, I realize you didn't ask for all that advice, but I wouldn't feel comfortable if I didn't mention it.  
Good luck with what you decide to do.

Christy