PH Buffers

Was given saechem neutral regulator PH Buffer the guy at the fish shop said it will bring tank to 7.0 from any PH.
how long does it take I have a 160lt tank at this stage I have put in 5 teaspoons and PH has not moved from filling up tank last night.
I have just changed out all the gravel and cleaned tank as old stuff had shell in it.

It depends how hard your water is, specifically how high your KH is. KH is a buffer which prevents the pH changing. When KH is high, it is almost impossible to change the pH. When it is low, it's easier.

However, it is never a good idea to add chemicals to a tank, including those which change pH.
Can I ask why you want to lower it?

essjay said:

It depends how hard your water is, specifically how high your KH is. KH is a buffer which prevents the pH changing. When KH is high, it is almost impossible to change the pH. When it is low, it's easier.

However, it is never a good idea to add chemicals to a tank, including those which change pH.
Can I ask why you want to lower it?

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hi thanks
I need to bring the PH down to 7 so my fish won’t die as 7.6 is to Alkaline for most fish
whats KH ?

Sorry what I ment is what is KH and how do I lower it if that the problem ?

KH is carbonate hardness.

pH is not as important as GH, or hardness.

How hard is your water, and which fish do you want to keep? You may be able to find your hardness on your water provider's website - you need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several they could use).

We should aim to keep fish which originate in water with roughly the same hardness as our tap water. It is possible to make our tap water harder by adding the hardness minerals, or softer by mixing our tap water with pure water, but before suggesting ways of doing this we need to know the hardness of your tap water and the intended fish.

Tims clown said:

hi thanks
I need to bring the PH down to 7 so my fish won’t die as 7.6 is to Alkaline for most fish
whats KH ?

Click to expand...

What type of fish do you keep? I don't know the source of your information, but its not true.

My tap water pH is around 7.6 but I have soft water. I can keep soft water fish.

essjay said:

KH is carbonate hardness.

pH is not as important as GH, or hardness.

How hard is your water, and which fish do you want to keep? You may be able to find your hardness on your water provider's website - you need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several they could use).

We should aim to keep fish which originate in water with roughly the same hardness as our tap water. It is possible to make our tap water harder by adding the hardness minerals, or softer by mixing our tap water with pure water, but before suggesting ways of doing this we need to know the hardness of your tap water and the intended fish.

Click to expand...

You say carbon hardness. Could that mean that there is to much carbon in my canister filter?

No, carbonate not carbon.

Carbonates and bicarbonates dissolve in the water from the rocks the water passes over between falling as rain and coming out of your tap. If that rock is limestone or chalk a lot will dissolve in the water and the tap water has high KH. Most chemicals that lower pH are some form of acid. With high KH, the carbonates and bicarbonates react with the acid removing them from the water. This is why it is difficult to change pH when KH is high.

GH is much more important for fish than pH. Find out how hard your water is from your water provider's website. If it is too hard for the fish you want to keep, you need to mix your tap water with some form of pure water (reverse osmosis, distilled, deionised) to reduce the GH.

Just to reiterate what other members have stated. When dealing with water parameters (which technically refers to GH, KH, pH and temperature, the latter of which we obviously can easily control) your first step is to determine the parameters for the tap water you will be using. GH is more important for fish, generally speaking, and tends not to change much in an aquarium [won't get into the complications of that]. Once you/we know the GH, KH and pH of the tap water on its own, we will know or be able to work out what will occur long-term and which fish are suited.