naturally lowering ph

[ltrain1203]

Hello everyone. I'm about to switch from 1/2 reverse osmosis water & 1/2 tap water to all tap water. My tap water is initially 8.5 out of the tap, but in about 5-8 days it drops to 7.2. Is there anything I can do to naturally drop the [acronym:e93b5d2950="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:e93b5d2950] faster? I'm using 5 gallon jugs to hold the water. I'm thinking of buying a 10 gallon tank or bucket and running a filter to circulate the water. Does this help the [acronym:e93b5d2950="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:e93b5d2950] stabalize to around 6.6-7.7 (or around that)? Also, how would I use peat moss to lower the waters [acronym:e93b5d2950="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:e93b5d2950] BEFORE I added it to the tank?? Thanks for any ideas!

[frog girl]

Peat moss would help but it will release tannic acid & probably leave the water a bit yellow brown in color. Otherwise the only way to soften the water (i.e. take out some of the carbonate or magnesium buffer is to get plants that suck them up). Using distilled or [acronym:8393d629b8="Reverse osmosis"]RO[/acronym:8393d629b8] water is really the best. See if you can find a friend who has an [acronym:8393d629b8="Reverse osmosis"]RO[/acronym:8393d629b8] plant for drinking water in your area. I use that for my aquarium & supply water for a friend as well.

Running a [acronym:8393d629b8="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:8393d629b8] [acronym:8393d629b8="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8393d629b8] system through the aging water would also lower the pH but it would just come out of solution later & your pH would go back up. I think a plain old bubbler might help speed things along.

You could add [acronym:8393d629b8="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8393d629b8] to your tank directly but most people recomend just getting fish that will be happy with the water you have so you don't have to worry about it unless you really want to grow plants. 7.2 seems pretty reasonable for plants & most fish.

[ltrain1203]

I was using r/o water for a while, but with a 55 gallon tank, I got real sick of carrying all those 5 gallon jugs to and from the store. So, you're saying if I put my tap water into a tub that held about 10-15 gallons of h2o and used a bubbler (air pump and air stone, right?), it would speed up the lowering of the [acronym:253b4315af="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:253b4315af] of the tap water? Thanks so much for the help frog girl, I really appreciate it!

[Fishyfanatic]

drift wood naturally decreases pH also.

[frog girl]

I am not positive on the bubbler but I think whats happening is that the previously dissolved gases (in the pipes) are coming into equilibrium with the air & probably some compounds are being oxidized so theoretically it should work.

[TankGirl]

If you mean you just want to get the pH down to its eventual level of 7.2 then a bubbler in a holding tank will do the trick. You are trying to outgas the [acronym:63a5a8b647="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:63a5a8b647] present in the tap water, and surface agitation will do it rather quickly.

Also, if you do small frequent water changes you can go ahead and put the higher pH tap water straight into the tank and it will not have a serious impact on the tank. Large water changes are a different story. This might be the simplest way to go - it does not require any holding tanks, just a more frequent maintenance schedule with smaller water changes.

[ltrain1203]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to go experiment with your suggestions, and hopefully I'll figure this out. I'll let everyone know what worked best. Thanks again!!

[jaysono]

Be careful with drift wood. I suggest buying some from your [acronym:b69193fac1="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:b69193fac1] as it should be safe. Otherwise, driftwood you just 'pick up' may contain parasites or some unknown/unsafe chemical that may leech into your tank and do more harm than good.

If you do a search here, I think i remember once seeing how to properly prepare driftwood for tank use. But I hear driftwood really does wonders.