Lowering Ph

[deanrar]

i have never had to do this but i have moved away from uni to my parents house and the water is very hard and i have tested the water several times and nitrate, nitrite and ammonia all 0 several times in a row but the ph has been up to 8 and has settled at about 7.8 now and nealry all my fish prefer more acidic than alkaline water, so i was wondering if there is a particularly good way to reduce the ph to about 7ish?

 

[ox5477]

You prob don't have to worry about it too much as even if your fish prefer more acidic waters (tetras, nw cichlids, etc) they usually are fine in pH up to 8. once you reach 8 and higher, then you start having problems. But if you do want to lower pH you can put peat in the filter or use bogwood in the tank. Both with help lower your pH to around 7ish or a little above I would say. If you want anything lower than that then there are chemical treatments but i would discourage that as if you don't need to add chemicals to your tank, then don't, just allows for more of a chance of problems in the tank

 

[rdd1952]

As mentioned, peat and driftwood will lower pH but you should have the GH & KH of your water tested too. If those are high, the effects of the driftwood and peat will be minimal.