How to lower ph naturally.

[kashif314]

I need to lower my pH to 5.5 to 6. Right now its about 7. I purchased pH minus chemical made by Sera for aquarium. It lowered the pH but pH again rise to 7 mark in few days.

I read articles and found three solutions. Driftwood, peat Moss, almond leaves. However my tank is nano. Its six gallons. I don't have any spaces. What I can do is that I can hide and place small pieces of driftwood behind thick pear weed wall. Will driftwood help in that case? And how much driftwood I need to lower ph. Will it lower quickly or will take time?

 

[ZxC]

I need to lower my pH to 5.5 to 6. Right now its about 7. I purchased pH minus chemical made by Sera for aquarium. It lowered the pH but pH again rise to 7 mark in few days.

I read articles and found three solutions. Driftwood, peat Moss, almond leaves. However my tank is nano. Its six gallons. I don't have any spaces. What I can do is that I can hide and place small pieces of driftwood behind thick pear weed wall. Will driftwood help in that case? And how much driftwood I need to lower ph. Will it lower quickly or will take time?

It won't lower the pH to 5.5 or 6. Really the only way is straight RO and then buffering substrate. That is the easiest and most stable way to do it, using chemicals or peat/driftwood will take longer, release tannins, and just won't be consistent enough for your shrimp. I don't see an immediate need to lower you pH much past 7.

 

[faelsauce]

Most freshwater fish and crustaceans are fairly forgiving of pH. It's keeping the pH STABLE that is important. Fluxes can cause stress. Hardness is something I'd worry about over pH.

 

[coralbandit]

Have you read about titrating ph with hydrochloric acid [ HC1 ] ?
I know a killie breeder in Saint Louis that has a ph of 10 and brings it down to his individual fishes needs...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct....com/pH.html&usg=AOvVaw1Qt4WsDTve0ISxcj5rwWq-

Have you tried alder cones ?

 

[kashif314]

It won't lower the pH to 5.5 or 6. Really the only way is straight RO and then buffering substrate. That is the easiest and most stable way to do it, using chemicals or peat/driftwood will take longer, release tannins, and just won't be consistent enough for your shrimp. I don't see an immediate need to lower you pH much past 7.

I don't understand why my substrate is not buffering pH. I have ADA Amazonia. Maybe the carpet over it stoping it to full effect? I do use RO water with shrimp remineralizer.

Most freshwater fish and crustaceans are fairly forgiving of pH. It's keeping the pH STABLE that is important. Fluxes can cause stress. Hardness is something I'd worry about over pH.

Thanks. Yes I didn't expect pH to increase again after using chemical. I won't use chemicals again for this purpose.

Have you read about titrating ph with hydrochloric acid [ HC1 ] ?
I know a killie breeder in Saint Louis that has a ph of 10 and brings it down to his individual fishes needs...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct....com/pH.html&usg=AOvVaw1Qt4WsDTve0ISxcj5rwWq-

Have you tried alder cones ?

HCL is not available here and pretty dangerous to work with if gets in contact with body. Alder cones I may get as I remember seeing somewhere in shrimp section but they release tanins which is of course shrimps natural habitat but I like my water to look crystal clear. I will see further. Maybe small pieces of driftwood or something.

 

[Fresh2o]

How old is the substrate? If you’ve using tap, then chances are the ADA is losing some of its buffering capacity. All active soils will do that over time. As mentioned above your best bet is RO + a remineralizer.
Tannins (Indian almond leaves are another good source) will help decrease the pH and discolor the water. If you want crystal clear water then perhaps your focus should be on neocaridina shrimp.

 

[Delapool]

HCL is not available here and pretty dangerous to work with if gets in contact with body. Alder cones I may get as I remember seeing somewhere in shrimp section but they release tanins which is of course shrimps natural habitat but I like my water to look crystal clear. I will see further. Maybe small pieces of driftwood or something.

What about pool acid? I’m not saying to do it but i have a container of some sort of (pool) acid to lower the ph / kh back to where it should be. Generally pretty safe to use from memory (don’t use it a lot).

 

[kashif314]

How old is the substrate? If you’ve using tap, then chances are the ADA is losing some of its buffering capacity. All active soils will do that over time. As mentioned above your best bet is RO + a remineralizer.
Tannins (Indian almond leaves are another good source) will help decrease the pH and discolor the water. If you want crystal clear water then perhaps your focus should be on neocaridina shrimp.

Well my substrate is 4 months old and I did use tap water in past for neocaridinas. Now I am using RO water. However I found something today. PH of RO water I am using is 8.5 so that means its not pure RO because RO should have pH of 7 or low when contact with air. If my water in tank showing 7 PH than it means substrate is buffering and lowered the 8+ pH to 7. I will now try to use RO water from other source. Tds of RO is also 35 which should be 0 to 5 maximum. I see its not pure RO.

What about pool acid? I’m not saying to do it but i have a container of some sort of (pool) acid to lower the ph / kh back to where it should be. Generally pretty safe to use from memory (don’t use it a lot).

I see. Unfortunately for me difficult to find these things. I think my source RO water wasn't pure as I wrote above. I will use different RO water and will see how substrate buffers it. Thanks.