Lowering PH?

[Heymikki]

What does everybody recommend for lowering PH? Before setting up my new tank, I tested the tap water at my new house. The PH out of the tap tested with my API freshwater liquid kit at 8.4, ouch! I need to lower it to about 7.0 for the fish I want to keep. I'll have a large piece of driftwood in the tank which I suspect will lower the ph a little bit, but not by much. I'm looking for a recommendation of a product that others have had success with. I'm also worried about ph fluctuations during water changes. The tank is too large that I don't have anywhere to store and treat water prior to a water change, so water from the tap will need to be added directly to the tank to complete water changes.

 

[Flushable Pets]

Stability > Value, but 7.0 vs 8.4 is a pretty big difference. What fish are you looking to keep?

The driftwood will help a bit, but as you said, not a whole lot. Have you looked into an RO/DI system? Kind of pricey, but might be what you're looking for.

 

[Heymikki]

Stability > Value, but 7.0 vs 8.4 is a pretty big difference. What fish are you looking to keep?

The driftwood will help a bit, but as you said, not a whole lot. Have you looked into an RO/DI system? Kind of pricey, but might be what you're looking for.

I'm looking to keep primarily freshwater rays and perhaps some discus as well. I haven't looked into an RO/DI system. I must say that I am shocked that the PH out of the tap is that high. I've moved numerous times, I've never seen ph out of a tap be that high. It almost makes me second guess if something is wrong with the brand new API liquid test kit.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

My tap is about 8.2. I have been able to lower it to about a 7.8 with peat granules (Fluval brand). I fill up a 5 gallon container the day before I water change and have 2 cups of peat granules in a mesh bag soaking in the water for at least 24 hours. It gets the water down to about 7.6 to 7.8-ish. Adding this in with my weekly water changes (about 30%) the pH in the tank is staying about 7.8. I haven't messed with it any more than that as my fish seem to be doing fine (skirt tetras). I'd trust your API test kit. Mine is 8.2 possibly a tad higher (it's so hard to get an exact read on the colors).

 

[mrsjoannh13]

For reference, the first photo is the high range pH test right out of my tap (I have a faucet filter to remove chlorine, etc). I'd call that an 8.2 - 8.3-ish. The second photo is my tank water - hard to tell from this photo but when I move the test tube around a bit the color is between 7.4 and 7.8. So it's maintaining the lower pH throughout the week in the tank using the process in my previous post (Fluval peat granules).

 

[Colin_T]

Find out what the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

If you have a high GH and KH, you will need to dilute your tap water with distilled or reverse osmosis (R/O) water. This will reduce the pH, GH and KH and make it easier to get a suitable pH for your fish.