Hello everyone! I recently fishless cycled a 75 gallon tank that I plan getting some africian cichlids this weekend. I moved the tank from my basement where I cycled it to first floor so just about all my water minus what was inside the HOB and sump was changed during the process. I tested the cycle for a few more days by daily adding ammonia to raise it just over 1ppm. Lastnight the ammonia and nitrites are both zero and nitrates are about 5ppm. The question I have is about adjusting the pH after the cycle. Currently the tank is 7.6 but I an going to raise it before I get the fish to above 8.0 using one of the buffers which I have to get yet. I know a drastic raise in pH can be harmful to fish but I was wondering about the nurtifying bacteria? Is it OK to make that much of a jump without killing the bacteria?
Thanks in advance!

It's fine.

Hey ishkabibble, welcome to ACF!!

How is the tank doing? Did you get any fish?

Thanks. Yes I went to the LFS Sunday. My kids are very excited about the tank so I let them pick out the fish. We wound up getting 2 red zebras and 2 electric yellows. The wife fell in love with a baby Jack that they had in with the Africans. I know not the best move but I'm hoping since they are all small there will be no issues. Jack is so cute. He is about 1 inch. We really don't have a decent fish store near us so I am limited unless I want to take a ride. I work in Philly and actually went to a good rated store in the city a few months back and got a baby Oscar and a pictus catfish. I already had the tank going with a pleco I had for several years. Not sure what they had but it wiped the tank out. Totally tore the tank down and let it sit empty for a few weeks totally annoyed. Finally I got tired of looking at the empty tank and started all over again. Wife talked me into getting something that would allow us to have more than 1 fish. Since I don't have the money for salt I went back to Africans again.

The pH of the stores tanks were 7.6 so I had no issues there. Right now I have a bit of a cloudy tank. I tested the water (API master test kit) and everything looks good(0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrates). I think I need to step up and get another canister filter in place of the HOB. I'll run a diatom on it this weekend if it does not clear up.

***update***Just spend time looking into a cause of the cloudy tank. It almost looks smokey. The majority of what I can find says it is ammonia related but my reading is good there. A few posts I read that it might be high phosphates which I do not have a test for yet. The tank was clear when it was first set up. Only the water and gravel were in the tank. The gravel is actually directly from the beach about 8 years ago. It was washed and used in my tank previously for years. For rocks I have red and grey lava rock which the red rock I have had for 10+ years and the grey for about 5. Now I am wondering could the gravel or rocks be breaking down releasing something into the water? I will know better after I get a GH/KH and Phosphate test kits. Has anyone heard of something like this happening?

I have seen that happen either from a bacteria bloom or adding too much buffer. IMO, neither case is of any major concern.

Do ~30% water changes daily or every other day, and it should clear up soon.

Thanks