ph wont go down!!

[drpenquin]

hi everyone i’m back from trying to fix the aquascape in my aquarium. this is what it looks like so far with y’alls help!

of course still not the best but atleast it looks better than before. Back to the point. I’ve been water testing frequently and noticed that my ph wouldnt go down. I’ve been trying to make it go down by using indian almond leaves and water changing since i heard it helps, but to no avail. I want to try adding driftwood but the thing is that i don’t have space to put it in the tank and im not sure if i buy a tiny piece of driftwood to just float in the tank could help in lowering down the ph.

 

[Fishmanic]

What size is the tank? Driftwood could lower the ph slightly. It appears you do have room for a decent piece of driftwood. Weigh it down with a large rock till it stays submerged. It might tank several weeks for it to sink on its own. Perhaps you could enter it in one of our Tank of the Month contest. August's contest is for 31 US gallons and larger, September's contest is for tanks sized at 16 US gallons or smaller.

 

[StevenF]

What is your PH now and why do you want to lower it. Also what is the PH of your tap water.

 

[Colin_T]

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH 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).

What fish did you want to keep?

 

[drpenquin]

What is your PH now and why do you want to lower it. Also what is the PH of your tap water.

ph has been 7.8 to 8.0, need to lower it since it’s too high for my betta to safely live in. tap water ph is about 7.6.

 

[drpenquin]

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH 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).

What fish did you want to keep?

hello, i don’t have GH and KH test so I will be taking my tap water to test on my local pet shop. My water supply’s ph is 7.6

 

[drpenquin]

sorry forgot to mention but I’m keeping a betta fish!

hello, i don’t have GH and KH test so I will be taking my tap water to test on my local pet shop. My water supply’s ph is 7.6

 

[Colin_T]

If your GH and KH are high, then it will stop the pH coming down. If this is the case, you might need to use reverse osmosis or distilled water to mix with the tap water to lower the pH, GH & KH.

 

[itiwhetu]

How large are the water changes you are doing?

 

[drpenquin]

i usually do 60-70% every 2 weeks

How large are the water changes you are doing?

 

[drpenquin]

If your GH and KH are high, then it will stop the pH coming down. If this is the case, you might need to use reverse osmosis or distilled water to mix with the tap water to lower the pH, GH & KH.

Hi, if I do end up needing to mix distilled water to my tap water, Do i just mix equal parts of it and add water conditioner to remove the chlorine?

 

[itiwhetu]

Those large water changes won't be helping you. I would suggest. Find some driftwood. and then only change 25% weekly. Sometimes large water changes are not the best for your tank.

 

[itiwhetu]

Also add more live plants between 30-50% of the volume of your tank needs to be in live plant

 

[Colin_T]

Hi, if I do end up needing to mix distilled water to my tap water, Do i just mix equal parts of it and add water conditioner to remove the chlorine?

You dechlorinate the new tap water but you don't need to dechlorinate distilled water, rain water or reverse osmosis (r/o) water.

Distilled water, rain water and reverse osmosis water should have a GH and KH of 0ppm, and a pH of 7.0.

Depending on the GH of your tap water and what you want the GH to be, will determine what ratio you mix the distilled and tap water.
eg: your tap water might have a GH of 200ppm. You want water with a GH of 100ppm, so you mix it 50/50.

eg2: your tap water has a GH of 400ppm and you want a GH of 100ppm. You mix it 3 parts distilled to one part tap water.

--------------------
The GH you require will be determined by the fish you want to keep.

Angelfish, most tetras, barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids.

 

[drpenquin]

You dechlorinate the new tap water but you don't need to dechlorinate distilled water, rain water or reverse osmosis (r/o) water.

Distilled water, rain water and reverse osmosis water should have a GH and KH of 0ppm, and a pH of 7.0.

Depending on the GH of your tap water and what you want the GH to be, will determine what ratio you mix the distilled and tap water.
eg: your tap water might have a GH of 200ppm. You want water with a GH of 100ppm, so you mix it 50/50.

eg2: your tap water has a GH of 400ppm and you want a GH of 100ppm. You mix it 3 parts distilled to one part tap water.

--------------------
The GH you require will be determined by the fish you want to keep.

Angelfish, most tetras, barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids.

Thank you so much for the info!