Ideas for Lowering Ph?

[Fishinfreak]

As the title states, I am having problems dropping my Ph. I'm trying to not mess with chemical ph lowerers, since I have heard of very bad experiences with them. According to my cities website, the hardness is 15 grains per gallon (is that how hardness is usually measured?) and the Ph is 7.75. When I measure ph with a test kit, it is about 8-8.2 from my tap. I don't keep any cichlids sooo. Right now I'm trying to lower the ph to about 7.6 in my 6.6g, which is almost done cycling , with Indian Almond leaves (i have one full big one in right now) and it hasn't done squat in the past weak. I'm considering trying peat, but before buying it I want to make sure it will actually do something; so do you guys think it would have an effect even if the leaves don't? I know the fish would probably make it in the high ph, but if possible I'd like to lower it for comfort, and I think the rcs ill be keeping may breed more readily in a slight lower Ph.

 

[confusedfishmom]

I've given up my ph is 8.4 with angelfish and a betta (not together). No issues. I added driftwood. Dropped from 8.6 to 8.4. I'm not committed enough to buy my water and have also heard not to use the chemicals.

 

[Fishinfreak]

Oh yeah, I have driftwood too, and that hasnt done much either.

 

[captaincritical]

If you're keeping shrimp, you might consider Fluval's Plant and Shrimp Stratum as a substrate. I've got it in my soon-to-be nano shrimp tank and so far (only a week, so not much to go on, sorry) it's done a good job lowering my pH and keeping it consistent. My tap reads 7.6 - 7.8 and in the nano tank, the water's holding steady at 6.6.

 

[azmodan]

ADA aquasoil also reduces ph, although that's a costly means of doing so. Cutting some RO water into your PWCs might be the easiest way to make your water softer if you're willing to pay the money upfront for it. Rivercats is a great person to ask on this topic.

Aside from all that just wanted to mention that my water tests pretty hard outta the tap too including a ph of 8.2. I keep softer water species like SA cichlids, tetras, and shrimp (only RCS and rilis so far) with no problem.

 

[Mebbid]

You are going to cause more problems trying to co.trol the ph than it will solve. 8.2 is perfectly safe for most aquarium fish that you will run into. As long as the ph diesnt wildly swing then there shouldn't be any issue because stability is far more important than the actual number.

 

[Coursair]

I use part tap/part distilled if needed in my Shrimp tanks.


Smoke signals from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gilpi]

You are going to cause more problems trying to co.trol the ph than it will solve. 8.2 is perfectly safe for most aquarium fish that you will run into. As long as the ph diesnt wildly swing then there shouldn't be any issue because stability is far more important than the actual number.

Agreed. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

 

[Fishinfreak]

Alright, I think I'm gonna stick to leaving it as it is. I already have substrate down (dirt/sand), and for now I'm not interested in buying an RO unit. The option of buying distiller water seems ok, but I don't want to have to buy tons of water.