Lowering pH

[Endgame319]

Whats an easy and cheap way of lowering my pH and keeping it fairly stable? I hear CO2 is effective but is that expensive? What about peat? Where can I get it and how much would I need for a 25gallon tank?

 

[smilla4]

I hope you don't mind my asking, but why do you wish to lower your pH? What is it currently and how much do you wish to lower it?

 

[Endgame319]

Its 8 right now and I want to get it down to around neutral

 

[Allivymar]

Are the fish having probs with it End? If not, I prob wouldn't mess with it.

Do check out this article before making any decisions: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-chem.html

 

[ferret]

I believe adding a piece of driftwood will do what you need, but it may only be temporary. I'm not sure how long a piece of driftwood can cause the tank water to be more acidic before it runs out and is neutralized.

 

[Mr Burns]

endgame (like the band?) - i'm slowly raising the pH on my tank to 8 because that's what our tap water is. i've always kept it around 7, but from what i read that doesn't make any difference. the biggest thing to watch is the kH and gH of your water. i'm more happy with my tap water now than i was a few weeks ago because i've learned that it has an enormous buffering capacity (pretty hardwater), and a pH of around 8. if i were you, i wouldn't keep the pH at whatever your tap water is, but make sure it has a decent buffering capacity so as to avoid pH swings that could trigger something else that would actually hurt the fish.

 

[mgkaelen]

one of my kuhli loaches died last night; i went to get both of my tanks water tested today and both of them had high pH. 7.5 in my 10 gallon and 8.0 in my 30g! not sure if this was the direct cause of the loaches death, but i'v enever had a ph problem before.... i was going to post a similar question -- is this a fluke? or should i try to lower the ph somehow? !

 

[AJ]

It's not the pH. High pH is fine if the fish are adjusted. It's actually pH swings that kill the fish.

I am keeping neons quite happily at pH 8.2.

Don't sweat it.

Lowering pH is very difficult because high pH usually has high alkalinity. The whole purpose of alkalinity is to keep pH stable. So if alkalinity is high, odds of changing pH is not good. You have to start mixing tap water with RO water. Easier to do when the tank is just starting out. When you already have a tank setup and fish in there - even that is an impossible task. That alkalinity just keeps itself up there with that pH. And then if you do manage to lower alkalinity you're subject to pH swings which is disaster for you fish.

I spent months sweating over it and mixing....and then realized my fish didn't really care.

Unless you have some specific reason like wanting to breed a difficult kind of fish then leave it.

 

[Orca]

I've read everything I can find about high PH and the effects on fish. I'm now convinced that high PH is very stressfull to aquarists, and not so much to the fish!

Like AJ, I've got neons in 8.1 - 8.3, and they are doing great.

I stressed for weeks trying to safely lower it, using things like driftwood and peat with no effect.

We (the fish and I) are all happier now that we've accepted it's high, and it's going to stay that way.

 

[TankGirl]

Something that might be helpful reading is the FW/Brackish Monster Island thread about pH. As you might imagine, it is a "monster" discussion but it covers quite a bit, and may help you decide how to handle your situation.