Need Options For Lowering Ph

[ridewake210]

Ive been working on this 30g i acquired not to long ago.
Wanting to set it up for live plants and a nice healthy tropical community.
Ive run into a problem, my PH level is sky high.

I bought a bottle of PH decreaser and it seemed to help just a little.
Any other suggestions or should i just keep up with the doses of the PH decreaser?


Thanks

 

[Amunet]

Don't use those pH in a bottle things. Waste of money. What is your pH at exactly? It might be best to just leave it alone.
You could try some driftwood. I'm not sure if it's only a certain type of wood that will help to decrease pH though.

 

[ridewake210]

Ive got 2 pieces of driftwood in there right now and another on the way.

Im not exactly sure what my Ph levels are at.


Ive got a API freshwater master test kit, on the low range Ph card it seems to be around7.6, so i also tested the water with the high range card and it seems to be around 8.4 to 8.8. Thats the highest the high range card reads.


Mostly blaming my water, i live in a very small rural town thats 35 miles from the nearest city.

 

[natalie265]

I agree-don't use that liquid ph lowering stuff. I've never used it myself, but have heard that it can be extremely detrimental to your tank. The best way to lower your ph IMO is to use reverse osmosis water. I mix 1/2 RO water and 1/2 tap water with every water change. This leaves me w/a PH of about 7. It's about a 9 coming straight out of the tap.

 

[Truck]

add some peat to your filter

 

[Ben.M]

I agree, add some peat to your filter, the only problem with this is that it makes your tank water a little bit yellow.

Natalie, what do you mean by reverse osmosis water???

 

[Bebobb]

I agree-don't use that liquid ph lowering stuff. I've never used it myself, but have heard that it can be extremely detrimental to your tank. The best way to lower your ph IMO is to use reverse osmosis water. I mix 1/2 RO water and 1/2 tap water with every water change. This leaves me w/a PH of about 7. It's about a 9 coming straight out of the tap.

Off topic, but you could have like the best Mbuna love that pH, so you could eaisly get some Mbuna, if you wanted.

 

[Truck]

I agree-don't use that liquid ph lowering stuff. I've never used it myself, but have heard that it can be extremely detrimental to your tank. The best way to lower your ph IMO is to use reverse osmosis water. I mix 1/2 RO water and 1/2 tap water with every water change. This leaves me w/a PH of about 7. It's about a 9 coming straight out of the tap.

Off topic, but you could have like the best Mbuna love that pH, so you could eaisly get some Mbuna, if you wanted.

not in a 30 gallon..unless its 4 or 5 foot long

 

[ridewake210]

Yeah no Mbuna for me, tank is too small.

Working on a 75g for my birthday or christmas and then we can talk mbuna's.



Anyways, peat moss in my filter? i can do that.
I can also do the whole R/O water thing, Wal-mart is a 12 mile round trip for me.

 

[natalie265]

Natalie, what do you mean by reverse osmosis water???

Reverse osmosis is a process of filtering water that removes some of the disolved minerals, leaving the water naturally soft and acidic. If your local supermarket has a water refill station, chances are, it is RO water. If this isn't available in your area, i believe distilled water will work too. Of course, you can't use 100% RO or distilled water, or it will deprive your fish of needed minerals etc. Some people claim to be successful keeping soft water species in hard water, but personally, i've been MUCH more successful since i switched to 1/2 RO water.

p.s. betta boy, Unfortunately, my favorite fish are all Amazonian! However, if i get a second tank, i think i'm going to learn to love hard water species!

 

[ALW]

As said add some peat to the filter and some bogwood!