"Proper pH 6.5" & Live Plants

[julicat]

Hey there. New to this site.

A fish store person suggested I use Proper pH 6.5 to maintain the pH in my 20 gal tank, which is the home for a variety of tetras. When I got home, I notice the directions said this stuff is not good for live plants...which of course I have. The directions say specifically that because the chemical is a phosphate buffer, it's not good for plants.

Will this stuff kill my plants outright? Should I not use it? Is there something else that would work and not kill the plants? I've been using this other stuff that lowers the pH for a while, but does not hold it down for long.

Any insight/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

jc

 

[trenac]

First of all welcome to AA.

I would not use it if the bottle says not to use with live plants. You say it contains phosphates, too much than you will have a algae outbreak.

If you inject C02 it will help lower your PH. Why are trying to lower your PH? What is the normal reading on your PH?

What is your KH readings?

 

[Keeper]

I wouldn't recommend adding any chemical's to your tank. You can lower the PH naturally with CO2, driftwood and peatmoss. The reason I say this is because the chemicals will cause a drastic change in water parameters that will be extremely stressfull for fish. A steady PH is much better than the perfect PH. What is the ph of the tank water?

 

[betowess]

Hi Julicat,

There is nothing wrong with Proper pH except it uses a phosphate buffer which will cause nasty algae outbreaks. Thats why its not good for a planted tank. Like keeper said, the easiest way to lower pH is to inject CO2, possibly with a Hagen ladder and CO2 airline connected to a DIY 2 liter 7-Up bottle with 6 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of yeast and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. This will keep the CO2 nicely cranking for about a month...then just refill. There are alot of posts on this forum for the recipe etc. Or the expensive way is with reverse osmosis (RO) water. HTH Bob

 

[markj]

FOr that DIY do you just take a tube and put it in the tank?

 

[trenac]

markj...Hook the tubing to a airstone or ladder.

 

[betowess]

Drill a hole thru the 7-up cap (2 liter) and silicone airline tubing airtight with about an inch of airline tubing below the top of the cap going inside the 2 liter bottle. Then run the rest of the airline to a $5.00 Hagen ladder which has suction cups mounted to the inside of the tank for best results. HTH Bob

 

[malkore]

read through all the posts on this site that already covered a simple DIY CO2 setup.

also, unless you have a really high pH, there's no reason to have to adjust it...your tetra will be fine.
as was stated, a steady pH is far more important than an 'ideal' pH.
REmember that your fish store is just using tap water too. They just want to sell you more products to improve thier profits.

and I agree that perfect pH 6.5 is the worst way to adjust ph levels in any tank

 

[julicat]

Thanks for all the responses. I think the pH out of the tap is about 7.5 or 8. My understanding is that tetras do best in the vicinity of 6.5, so this is what I would like to achieve. I've stopped using the 'Proper pH' stuff (there goes 7 bucks). The most appealing idea - one of a couple floating around that I do not yet fully comprehend (I'm slooow) is the peat method. I have posted questions here and there on this site, but have not yet learned whether peat will lower the pH to as low as 6.5, and whether you just go buy peat moss at the garden store for this purpose.

 

[shawmutt]

Like people said before here, it's better for the fish to have a steady pH--the only reason you should mess with the parameters is if you want to breed the fish. However, if you really want to make your water pH drop, and are willing to spend the time and effort to keep the pH steady (it's harder than it sounds), the best way IME is to use ro water. I buy my water at Walmart, you might be able to find a machine in your local grocery store. You will want to condition the water with either Electro-Right or Kent RO Right, which add essential electrolytes and will bring the pH to the desired level (both are available online if you can't find it locally).

What you will want to do is use the conditioned water in your water changes. This will gradually bring down the pH and avoid shocking the fish.

 

[Guest]

I have posted questions here and there on this site, but have not yet learned whether peat will lower the pH to as low as 6.5, and whether you just go buy peat moss at the garden store for this purpose.

First, yes, it's the same stuff from the garden shop.

I'm assuming you have a HOB filter (aquaclear or something, hangs on the back, has room for filter cartridge). You take an old piece of pantyhose, cut off the foot or whatever so you havea "bag". put some peat moss in there, and put it in your filter. The size of your filter will determine how much you can put in there. depending on how much peat you can fit in the filter, you should be able to drop the ph by .5 or so.

Now, too many words about what you want. You are rather insistent on attaining 6.5, since you've read it's best for tetras. It is very commendable on your part to try to give them the best conditions, it shows you really care about your fish. HOWEVER, today's fish have been tank-bred for hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of generations. This has had the effect of making today's fish much more tolerable of differing ranges of ph. Therefore, the most important thing is not to hit the "magic 6.5 ph", but rather stabilizing your tank within a decent range of ph. So all you really need to shoot for is to prevent big swings in your ph. If you just do regular water changes, and your ph remains pretty constant, with the fish being happy, you're doing fine.
So basically, if your tank naturally stablizes at 7.3 or something, and your fish are healthy, let it be.
Trying with chemicals to keep it at 6.5 will be dam difficult. you will more than likely end up with ph swings, (6.2 one day, 7.8 the next), you'll end up with stressed fish, more prone to disease if the ph swings don't outright kill them. I hope this makes sense, and good luck!

 

[julicat]

I hear you... Every description of fish species put out there for aquarists presents best pH levels for the different species; descriptions of the different tetra species consistently assert 6, 6.5 as the pH many tetras need. The aquarium I have now is only about 8 months old. In other words, a few ineptly maintained 10 gallon tanks I kept as a kid not withstanding, I am sorta new to trying to do this right.

Correct pH and correct temperature and proper feeding and sufficient filtration and good lighting for the fish and plants are cornerstones I've focused on thus far.

Now that I've found attaining the suggested pH for tetras is not so quick and easy, AND now perhaps even my preoccupation with it is unnecessary, I'm just confused.

Thanks for the input.