How to keep ph down?

[Niccobacci11]

I have a 29 gallon aquarium that has an extremely high ph and even I am surprised that any fish can live in it. i have 1Angel fish that is doing really good super active, 1 butterflyfish, and 1 female betta. I have two pieces of decent sized drift wood and two aqueon filters on the back. has some plants but not densely planted. I have eco-complete substrate with just regular petco sand on the right. I have tried to lower the pH with neutral regulator by seachem but after a week of that not even one bit did the pH go down.

My parameters of my tank are:
Nitrate: about 1-2ppm which is really bad for a planted aquarium
Nitrite: 0ppm
GH: 225ppm-which is also a huge problem for some fish I want to get.
now this is really the part I want to fix.
KH: 300+ppm off the scale
pH: 8.6-8.7
I guess what i want to know is what could be a factor in keeping my pH up so high, and what could be the solution to this problem. anything would be helpful




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[Niccobacci11]

here is a photo

 

[Hobgob]

Have you tried peat moss? Almond leaves? Oak leaves? Anything that will release acid when it decays and won't hurt your fish will suffice. How much you have to add is a different story. What are you using to test your ph? Strips or liquid kits?

 

[Niccobacci11]

I have liquid and test strips but i only use the strips on my shrimp tank.
the results i got were from my liquid test kit.
also how would i add the oak leaves? should I put it in a net and put it in a corner? Or is there a better way. The reason i am asking about oak leaves is because i have an abundance near my house. but how would I use peat moss?

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Put the leaves or moss in your tank or your filter. Also using reverse osmosis water will lower you ph and hardness. This would be the most reliable and safe way to lower your ph

 

[Niccobacci11]

Is Rodi the same as ro
or is the deionization a bad thing for aquariums

 

[Bullnugget]

Does your shrimp and other if any tanks have that high of pH? Did you buy the cichlid sand or just regular sand. Mine runs at 8.2, and i tend to leave it there. If you go messing with it your likely to do damage to the tank than to leave it there and let the fish get used to it. My tank has been running for 4 months at 8.2 and havnt had a problem yet.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Most water filters have both reverse osmosis and deionized water which provides better quality water

 

[Niccobacci11]

Does your shrimp and other if any tanks have that high of pH? Did you buy the cichlid sand or just regular sand.

My shrimp tank is right where I want my water to be the pH is at about 6.8. The sand is just pecto dry sand nothing special

 

[Niccobacci11]

Most water filters have both reverse osmosis and deionized water which provides better quality water

I will test my rodi water right now

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Rodi should have a ph of 7.0 but from my understanding with the softness so low the ph isn't accurate. If you decide to use rodi you need to add back the minerals to the water with producs like seachem flourish or replenish.

 

[Hobgob]

I would go with a 50/50 mix of tap and ro water. The ro removes important minerals your fish need but the ro water is dethe safest route for changing ph. A lot easier to keep consistent.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I would go with a 50/50 mix of tap and ro water. The ro removes important minerals your fish need but the ro water is dethe safest route for changing ph. A lot easier to keep consistent.

That works too, but with products like this I listed you can whatever levels you want. And if you cut with your current tap it's only going to half your hardness if you go 50/50 which is still pretty high

 

[Niccobacci11]

everything checked out fine and the 50/50 idea sounds good. will take action on this plan tomorrow.

 

[Hobgob]

But if you use straight ro water and not a 50/50 your buffers will be extremely low setting your tank up for a major ph swing IMO.

 

[Hobgob]

That works too, but with products like this I listed you can whatever levels you want. And if you cut with your current tap it's only going to half your hardness if you go 50/50 which is still pretty high

What products? You said to use ro water and brought up the oak leaves and peat. We are saying the same thing...

 

[Niccobacci11]

Rodi should have a ph of 7.0 but from my understanding with the softness so low the ph isn't accurate. If you decide to use rodi you need to add back the minerals to the water with producs like seachem flourish or replenish.

these were the products he was talking about.

100th POST!!!!!!!!!

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[Blitz]

Just Curious, But what is that rock in your tank?

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

these were the products he was talking about

Thank you

 

[aqua_chem]

What is your tap KH/GH? Could that rock be leaching carbonates? Also, it really sounds like you're treating this problems that's not actually a problem. You've described your fish as being very healthy. If didn't have a test kit, would you even know that you had a problem? Getting an expensive RODI setup seems excessive considering this hasn't been a problem for you so far.