Ways to lower water ph

[biofish]

So, I’ve always had a ph and hardness issue, and I’ve dealt with it…. Using mostly softening pillows and not nearly enough wood.

Well. Is clocked the ph of my 55 gallon tank- and it was at 8.2….. and I’m assuming the rest of my tanks are the same. I rely on strips for the hardness, I don’t have that bottle for the liquid test kit but I should probably look into it.

My fish are surprisingly healthy considering.

I have angels, cories, Pearl gourami, neon tetras, cherry barbs, bristlenose, clown plecos, guppies, and apistos. Most of which I’ve had for a year now or longer. And I was trying to figure a way to slowly lower the ph so it’s more comfortable for them.

The main methods in seeing are using RO water which costs about 50¢ a gallon out here, and I currently have about 120? Or so gallons worth of tanks running right now with another 55 on the way LOL. And peat moss, which o hear works FAST.

What do you guys now about approximately how much of either to add to slowly nudge the numbers down? Is there a nice ratio? I read it’s best to limit the changes to 0.2 at most per 24 hours.

Thoughts?

 

[DAnCSF]

Seems to me it's easier to raise pH rather and lowering it. But if your tank and fish are healthy why mess with it. Still I'm sure someone will have an answer you just got to be careful with actually doing it. BTW Google is your friend..do a google search for Lowering pH in an Aquarium. a number of great articles can be found.

 

[Magnum Man]

to start with, I'm adding this pelleted peat to my canister filters instead of carbon...

Amazon.com

but my water is harder than yours... so I'm thinking I'll end up with another RO unit for my tanks ( I already have one for drinking water )

 

[biofish]

to start with, I'm adding this pelleted peat to my canister filters instead of carbon...

Amazon.com

but my water is harder than yours... so I'm thinking I'll end up with another RO unit for my tanks ( I already have one for drinking water )

Do you know if that comes with a bag already or if you have to measure the peat yourself and bag it yourself?

 

[Magnum Man]

I've not tried it yet, but my canister filters have a mesh compartment for holding loose carbon for me to put this into... otherwise amazon has several sipper mesh bags in various sizes...

 

[Back in the fold]

pH is almost nearly impossible to change . Water tends to stay whatever it is . If by some miracle you do alter it your change will be undone at your next water change . There are things in your source water that buffer your pH to acid or alkaline , mostly minerals , and you would have to eliminate them entirely with good R/O water or distilled water and then reconstitute that water with a different buffering agent . If you could do that you will also need a stored supply of your concoction for changes . Better to have fish that match your water and save yourself a big headache and a lot of work .

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Most aquarium fish are fine with a steady pH between 6.5 and 8.0. Trying to reach a particular setting is risky for the fish, because maintaining that pH is difficult, if not impossible. Apparently, whatever you're doing with the water chemistry is working. I'd hesitate making any changes.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Magnum Man]

I'm surprised the OP's angels are doing good... that's one of the fish I've been having trouble with... & I have been wanting to do a Discus tank, so that will only happen if I can figure this water out...

which is part of why I started this thread... my plan is here...

need info / suggestions for RO unit...

so my well water is very hard, & I'm trying to make my water more pleasant for each fish, thinking I'll need to blend some RO water during water changes until I reach my target parameters for each tank... then possibly add back some minerals down the road as needed... I currently have been...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Byron]

The first thing to understand is the close--very close--relationship of the three parameters GH, KH and pH. These will be set in your source water, according to where it comes from. The pH is almost impossible to lower without involving the GH and KH, though as always exceptions occur, and raising the pH also involves raising the GH and KH. First you find the GH, KH (Alkalinity) and pH of the source water. Getting this data from the water authority if you are on municipal water is best because it will be accurate and official. You want the numbers for GH and KH, plus their unit of measurement or you still won't know. Words like "moderate" or "hard" are useless, I've seen these terms end up being used for very soft water.

Second, lowering the pH will depend entirely on the GH/KH. The higher these are, the more the pH will be resistant to fluctuations. If you do get it down, it most likely will return to what it was...and this is where real trouble occurs, because a fluctuating pH is detrimental to fish. One of the physiological processes a fish must carry out is keeping its blood pH equal to that of the water around it, because this water is continually entering the fish. And it cannot maintain proper functioning with varying pH levels.

Give us the numbers, and the species of fish you keep/intend.

To answer some misinformation or questions in subsequent posts...GH's effect on fish is usually slow to occur. Hard water fish kept in too soft water can show clear symptoms fairly quickly (weeks, sometime days). But soft water fish kept in hard water usually die out of the blue, and here it is from calcium blockage of the kidneys. A study in Germany found that the lifespan of cardinal tetras was directly related to the GH of the water, the higher the GH the shorter the lifespan, and upon necropsy it was calcium blockage that killed them.

Messing with any one of these parameters is not at all wise, unless it is a concerted action. For example, diluting the water with "pure" water like RO, distilled or rain, will proportionally lower all three, but they are still in their specific relationship.

All three do affect fish, don't listen to ay nonsense to the contrary. But the GH is the most significant, and if this is good for the fish chances are the other two will be OK. Again, there are always exceptions, but keeping it simple is best.

 

[biofish]

I live in a suburb of LA…. I’m trying to read the water report and struggling a little bit.

 

[Byron]

I live in a suburb of LA…. I’m trying to read the water report and struggling a little bit.

Post the link to it and I'll have a look.

 

[biofish]

This one is my city, but I don’t think it has everything. And here is the one for LA

Post the link to it and I'll have a look.

 

[GaryE]

I like rainforest fish from soft, acidic water. So I have tried all the tricks in the 35 or so years I've cared about this.

Only one works - investing in a reverse osmosis system and all the cost and inconvenience it caused.

Well, another worked - my last two homes have had quite soft water. I don't care about pH - it's all in the mineral content of the water. But that said, we can't all move to a better water source.

Peat: ecologically wasteful, space consuming dark coloured water. My water dropped from 140ppm to 80ppm quickly though;
various filter additives: useless in well buffered water;
spaghnum moss: urine coloured water and a tendency for fish to get velvet parasites if the moss is left too long. Very effective softening;
pillows: salt added in exchange for minerals. Lower pH, but nothing that matters.
RO: wasteful, especially with metered water or in shortage zones, but reliable with a storage set up.

 

[Byron]

This one is my city, but I don’t think it has everything. And here is the one for LA

The GH and KH/Alkalinity is given in the LA report, in Table III of that document. It lists the various plants, if you can find yours it will have the GH and KH. Looking at the range across the chart I would say the KH averages around 7 - 8 dKH (125-130 ppm range). The GH is higher, 270 ppm which is in the 15 dH range. GH is "Total hardness" here.

This means the pH is going to remain close to what it is out of the tap. And remember that when testing tap water for pH, you need to ensure the dissolved CO2 is out-gassed. Let a glass of water sit 24 hours, or very briskly agitate it (those bubbles are the CO2 dissipating) before testing, not needed for tank water tests.

Gary gave more advice above.

For the fish in post #1, I would suggest diluting the tap water to lower the GH especially, but you need not go to straight RO for most. Apistos, are they wild?

 

[Obsessed with fish]

As everyone said its best not to lower it, but if you really want to you can add indian almond leaves into your aquarium, only add a few though, adding to many can lower your ph to much and this would be stressful for the fish.