Changing Ph?

[TekFish]

My tap water is around 7 and I wanted my tank water to be around 6.
I know you can add bogwood or Mangrove root but do you ever need to replace it?
From what I've read it's the Tannins that lower pH, but if you do weekly water changes surely that would get rid of all the Tannins, plus the pH would gradually work it's way to around 7, wouldn't it?

I'm quite confused, help
Thanks in advance, Tek

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I don't actually know much about this so I should probably keep my mouth shut buuuut I'm not gonna! You can try adding alder cones, peat or almond leaves as well. Other than that you need to use RO water. Pressurised Co2 also lowers pH.

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

wood does lower Ph because it releases tannins but yes eventually it would run out of tannins to release; how quickly depends on the type of wood and it's size. I've got mopani wood and that stops leaching pretty quickly.

 

[TekFish]

But would the pH slowly creep back up or would it stay low?

 

[drobbyb]

The real issue here is why would you want to alter your pH. Most often altering your pH is a delicate painstaking process to maintain and get right. Unless you have a very specific reason for doing so, like for breeding wild angels, it should be avoided. If it is simply because a website says that a fish comes from water that is pH 6.0, I wouldn't worry about it. Chances are the fish you bought have already been acclimated to similar conditions to yours. Most fish are perfectly happy in a neutral pH of 7.0 Well meaning fish keepers do more harm than good trying to get a perfect pH when their current pH is just fine where it is.

 

[nmonks]

I agree with drobbyb above. Furthermore, the fact you're asking how to change the pH (which is what you don't do) rather than how to change the hardness and then stabilise the pH (which is what you must do) clearly indicates that you don't have the understanding or expertise to change the pH safely.

As drobbyb says, if you just go ahead and change the pH using wood, a pH buffer, or some other method, you'll merely create unstable, dangerous living conditions for your fish. If you have a pH of 7-7.5, you likely have moderately hard water (general hardness, degrees dH) with a fairly low carbonate hardness level (degrees KH). With a very few exceptions (notably, Ram Cichlids) virtually all the common fish sold in pet shops will do well in such conditions. They may not breed in them, but they will live perfectly healthy lives.

Cheers, Neale

My tap water is around 7 and I wanted my tank water to be around 6.
I know you can add bogwood or Mangrove root but do you ever need to replace it?
From what I've read it's the Tannins that lower pH, but if you do weekly water changes surely that would get rid of all the Tannins, plus the pH would gradually work it's way to around 7, wouldn't it?
I'm quite confused, help
Thanks in advance, Tek

 

[Aqua Tom]

Dont mess with the pH, its far to much hard work. Lets examine the problem with it.

You add a treatment & with experimentation finaly get your tank water to where you want it at pH6, fantastic, or is it?

Now it comes time for your weekly water change, where are you going to get the water from to add to your tank? The tap or faucet is the obvious answer, but you cant use that because its pH is wildly different to the water you now have in your tank. So now you need to find a supply of pH6 water, see its starting to get a bit tricky now isnt it?

I know, lets use the tapwater & then treat it to get the tank back to pH6, WRONG!!! You will add the tap water which will raise the pH by a little (depending on how big a waterchange you do), you then lower it with watever method you are using & get it to 6pH & dont forget you are doing this EVERY WEEK. Unfortunatley your fish are all getting very ill as their enviroment is not stable, the pH is bouncing about all over the place.

Just leave the pH alone, your fish will thank you for it.


Tom

 

[Mauigirl]

Dont mess with the pH, its far to much hard work. Lets examine the problem with it.

You add a treatment & with experimentation finaly get your tank water to where you want it at pH6, fantastic, or is it?

Now it comes time for your weekly water change, where are you going to get the water from to add to your tank? The tap or faucet is the obvious answer, but you cant use that because its pH is wildly different to the water you now have in your tank. So now you need to find a supply of pH6 water, see its starting to get a bit tricky now isnt it?

I know, lets use the tapwater & then treat it to get the tank back to pH6, WRONG!!! You will add the tap water which will raise the pH by a little (depending on how big a waterchange you do), you then lower it with watever method you are using & get it to 6pH & dont forget you are doing this EVERY WEEK. Unfortunatley your fish are all getting very ill as their enviroment is not stable, the pH is bouncing about all over the place.

Just leave the pH alone, your fish will thank you for it.


Tom

I was instructed to "Acclimate any new Inmates to the water YOU have, Don't mess with those stats" With the exception of wild caught specimens.. I was told to never buy these till I'm ready either.
This comes from a man who used to pay 1/2 our mortgage with the Cichlids he sold from our basement.
Mild swings will be ok a radical up and down is disaster.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Dont mess with the pH, its far to much hard work. Lets examine the problem with it.

You add a treatment & with experimentation finaly get your tank water to where you want it at pH6, fantastic, or is it?

Now it comes time for your weekly water change, where are you going to get the water from to add to your tank? The tap or faucet is the obvious answer, but you cant use that because its pH is wildly different to the water you now have in your tank. So now you need to find a supply of pH6 water, see its starting to get a bit tricky now isnt it?

I know, lets use the tapwater & then treat it to get the tank back to pH6, WRONG!!! You will add the tap water which will raise the pH by a little (depending on how big a waterchange you do), you then lower it with watever method you are using & get it to 6pH & dont forget you are doing this EVERY WEEK. Unfortunatley your fish are all getting very ill as their enviroment is not stable, the pH is bouncing about all over the place.

Just leave the pH alone, your fish will thank you for it.


Tom

I was instructed to "Acclimate any new Inmates to the water YOU have, Don't mess with those stats" With the exception of wild caught specimens.. I was told to never buy these till I'm ready either.
This comes from a man who used to pay 1/2 our mortgage with the Cichlids he sold from our basement.
Mild swings will be ok a radical up and down is disaster.

 

[TekFish]

Ok thanks guys I'll leave the pH alone
But is there any other way I can make my fishes colors more vivid?

 

[Aqua Tom]

Ok thanks guys I'll leave the pH alone
But is there any other way I can make my fishes colors more vivid?

Try some different feed, bloodworm etc


Tom

 

[nmonks]

You can buy colour-enhancing foods, but these (like adding more crustaceans and algae to the diet) only strengthen certain colours, primarily reds.

If your fish are showing less colour than expected, it's VERY unlikely diet is an issue. Most off-the-shelf flake foods provide all the carotene needed for good colouration. Instead, think about three aspects:

[1] How old are the fish? Are they sexually mature yet? Are they breeding? Do you have the right ratio of males to females? Most fish don't show their brightest colours until they're sexually mature, which may take a year or more, even for small fish species. Males often reserve their bright colours for display, so if you don't have enough females, you won't see the males showing their best colours. Some fish only show their best colours when actually spawning or at least pairing off, as is often the case with cichlids.

[2] Is the tank too brightly lit? Apart from the fish bred to have bright colours (like Sunset Platies) most fish will "turn down" their colours if the tank is too bright. Adding floating plants and/or using a darker substrate can both help here.

[3] Are you keeping the fish properly? Many soft water fish will live in hard water, but they won't show their best colours under such conditions. Lemon Tetras are the classic examples, but virtually all South American tetras are like this to some degree, and it also holds true for some of the Rasboras and Barbs. If you have hard water and want bright colours, choose fish suited to your water chemistry.

One last issue that may or may not be relevant is inbreeding and hybridising. Many of the Rift Valley cichlids look nothing like as beautiful as their wild counterparts thanks to poor breeding practises over the years. In the wild females choose only the best (most brightly coloured) males to mate with, so each generation has the right "look". But in aquaria and on fish farms males and females are bred indiscriminately, and this means that females don't really get much of a choice, so there's more potential for drab males to breed, resulting in less colourful fry.

Cheers, Neale