PH Buffer

[corymad]

Hi

I have an established 2 foot tank, buffered down to about 6.5 to 6.8 for Amazon fish. I had no problems and used Perfect PH 6.5

Today (sods law) I tried a new product to buffer (one without phosphates) called Waterlife 6.5 buffer. The LFS recommended it.

I've just done a 20 litre water change and have had to use 10 times the dosage to get the tap water down to around 6.7. I phoned the LFS and they advised that I'd need to use a heaped teasp to 5 gallons of tap water. (A teasp supposedly treats 100 litres!)

Has anyone out there used this product - if so did you have to increase dosage so considerably? I've e- mailed the manufacturer but won't get a reply for days (if they even bother)

I'll need to do water change on my cycling 260 litre tank tomorrow - I really don't want to hurt my fish - help!

 

[howieforbes]

You should contact your water company. Many water companys add a buffer to thier water that makes the water basic ( PH greater than 7.0) This is done to help prevent corosion to the piping. There are a few ways around this. One is to use PH down while stiring the water. It will take alot to counter the buffing agent. The best is to use distilled bottled water. that would get expensive for 200 gallons. Or you can just keep adding your buffer till it takes over. Good luck

 

[corymad]

Thanks for the advice. Think I'll go out and buy some more of the "Proper PH 6.5" I used to use - the one with phosphates. It didn't raise KH ridiculously - I'll just have to control the algea the phosphates will cause