Alkaline Water!

[jratuszn]

I'm going to be starting a piranha tank once I can move into my new apartment, but the water in my city is very alkaline (ph~ 7.8 after 24 hours sitting out) Will putting peat into my HOB filter be sufficient to lower the pH? If so, how much should I add (70 gallon tank), and how exactly do I put it in (just dump it in the filter, put it in a separate filter bag, etc)?

Thanks!

-Jeff

 

[Zic]

My water also has a high Ph. It's probably because of the hardness. See, the stuff that makes my water hard acts as a buffer that keeps the water Ph high. The only way I can lower my water is to get an expensive RO filter. I am not going to do this. So, my fish just have to live with the high Ph. They are all doing just fine.

 

[targaboy78]

Hi jratuszn,

Yes. Putting peat into your HOB filter will help soften your water.

I can't help you with the amount to add, because I don't know.

You can get peat in different forms (granular or mat).
The peat packaging should tell how much to add. The mat form just gets buried in your substrate and makes a good planting media.

Regardless how much you add, just test your water parameters and if it lowers your pH too much, take some out (or not enough - add some more).

HTH

 

[justDIY]

you can also mix custom water, using a few gallons of store-bought RO or distilled water to XX gallons of tap water

since RO and distilled water have no KH or GH, they will quickly dillute your tap water.

also, if your water has a high KH but low GH, boiling it will reduce the KH drasticly ... or maybe that's the other way around, I'll double check my book.

----

alternatively, you can reduce your PH by adding CO2 to your water ... which is a boon for growing live plants.

My water from the tap is about 7.4 - 7.6, and I have it reduced to 6.8-7.0 by adding DIY co2 right into the filter

 

[jratuszn]

I've thought about the CO2 method, but would like to avoid it if at all possible- The setup I'm working on will be a sort of pseudo-paludarium, so I'm afraid that the waterfalls would make short work of any CO2 I'd get out of the DIY method, and would chew through a CO2 tank in no time.

Hopefully, peat will do the trick. BTW, Will adding peat also soften the water?

Thanks!

-Jeff

 

[jratuszn]

Oops! Just read Targaboy's message about peat softening the water.

Thanks again!

 

[Dr.Danio]

boiling the water should raise both as they are both caused by different ions in the water, one that buffers and one that adds negative ions (thereby making less H30 and more -OH, also known as raising pH). If you boil the water, you will evaporate some and only get more concentrated crap. I don't suggest that, unless i'm totally missing some chemistry here.

 

[madasafish]

Are you totally opposed to the idea of using a pH buffer powder jratuszn? The one I use (blanking on the name and company, coz I'm at work) is fantastic and will bring the pH down or up to 7 with a teaspoon/10 gallons of tank water. It also precipitates heavy metals.

And for Piranhas, you might prefer the "Discus Buffer" from the same company. Hold on--let me see if I can find it online... Got it--SeaChem.

http://www.seachem.com/en_products/product_pages/026_discus_bffr.html

It'll bring your pH down to between 5.8 and 6.8 (you can determine it). It works well for me, and I add a small amount of it each time I do a water change or top-off. Or are you trying to avoid using chems? Obviously, for Piranhas, you really don't want a high pH...

In my mind, the buffer is much cheaper than other packs, and works very well. I use both the discus buffer in my big tank, and the pH neutralizer (also by SeaChem) in my smaller, neutral tank.

 

[zman]

what little I know is that our water is also very hard - I don't recall the actual ph levels, as its been a while since I tested, however, I recall it being off the charts. I started a pirahna tank about 18 months ago - about a dozen dime sized red-bellies. in the past year and a half, they have been the hardiest critters ever to swim in my tank. used to have cory catfish, but their life expectancy was about 6 weeks; attributed most of this to being a newbie, but also due to ph. the zebra danios lived a long time while the cory's were croaking, so I guess things weren't too bad. but back to the red bellies - they have yet to get sick, very healthy, and I tend to ignore them. I feed them quite a few goldfish, and I think they're kind of dirty fish. my thought is - don't fret the ph too much.