Lowering ph

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jacpr233

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
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Hi guys I need to lower my ph. I did a water change and my ph still at 7.6 or higher. How do I lower the ph? Should I be concerned with my plants?

Tap water is around 7.4
 
Do you have plants? If so are they growing without any problems. What kind of fish do you have? Are they doing fine? There are some fish that need/require softer water but many fish adjust and do quite fine in higher ph and harder water. Plus how old is your setup? Tanks over time tend to become more acid with a lower ph.
 
jacpr233 said:
Hi guys I need to lower my ph. I did a water change and my ph still at 7.6 or higher. How do I lower the ph? Should I be concerned with my plants?

Tap water is around 7.4

There is nothing wrong with a pH of 7.6 or 7.4... The plants, as long as I know, will do just fine in that ph range...
 
Unless you have a specific reason to adjust your ph I would not tinker with it. That being said. A natural way to lower ph is to use peat or drift wood which releases tannin which lowers ph. (this will also stain your water like tea) this is good for Amazonian setups ie tetras etc. another thing you can try is to place a used decaf teabag in your tank or filter. This is actually good because it also releases a small amount of nutrients for your fish and plants. Both tea and drift wood have anti bacterial properies so plants of good. These are in general best for creating black water conditions specific to a certain biotope however so if you don't have a real reason, I wouldn't worry about your current ph.
 
Short of blackwater or african cichlids, there is no good reason to monkey with your pH beyond waterchanges.
 
Thx guys. I was just worried because i don't want to kill the fish. I have a planted tank with community fish. It's been up for about 4 months.
 
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