How to lower ph?

[BLUElobster99]

Keep in mind that i have live plants

 

[phin]

really? how bout you keep in mind that providing a little more information when asking for advice might be of benefit. I don't know, maybe like giving us your current pH, desired pH, any other water parameters you have, the volume of the tank, tank inhabitants, reason you want to lower your pH....

 

[egrape]

really? how bout you keep in mind that providing a little more information when asking for advice might be of benefit. I don't know, maybe like giving us your current pH, desired pH, any other water parameters you have, the volume of the tank, tank inhabitants, reason you want to lower your pH....

yeah phin!

 

[FoxRaid]

To lower ph you should buy Driftwood. I bought mine on amazon since the petsmart and petco by me didn't sell any. If you buy Driftwood make sure u wash it first. I boiled mine in hot water for about two hours before putting It in the tank to kill anything bad on it.

 

[BLUElobster99]

really? how bout you keep in mind that providing a little more information when asking for advice might be of benefit. I don't know, maybe like giving us your current pH, desired pH, any other water parameters you have, the volume of the tank, tank inhabitants, reason you want to lower your pH....

Well "phin" i must apologize.

I was at school and only had a moment to post this thread.

But you dont have to be a jerk.


If you actually want to be helpful here is what you requested:


My current tap ph is 8.2

I have a green phantom oleco which requires a ph range of 6-7.5

I would like a neutral ph of about 7-7.5

I DO in fact have live plants


The reason i felt that was the most important point to mention at the time was because i have heard of certain ph buffers damaging aquatic plant life.

 

[BLUElobster99]

It is a 24gal

 

[Rivercats]

Most fish today unless wild caught can acclimate to most tanks ph. A stable ph is actually best and safest for fish. But if you really want to safely lower ph the only way is by cutting your tap water with RO water. Reason I say this is by using this method you can get the ph exactly where you want it and keep it there, at a stable ph. If you try using things such as bogwood, blackwater extract, or Indian almond leaves the ph will vary, going up and down with WC's or when the substance used has expired. So in all honesty if the fish in question is doing good I wouldn't change anything.

 

[bobc4d]

I'm not sure about the fish pH requirements but the best thing is to leave the pH as is or else you will always be adding chemicals to the water to keep the pH in the range you want. My pH is 8.4 out of the tap and I just add a dechlorinator.

I have a planted 10g with a betta and a planted 36g with 13 neon tetras, 4 guppy, 4 cory cats and 2 gourami. I do not mess with the pH, I leave it as is and everyone is happy

 

[Scottyhorse]

Most fish today unless wild caught can acclimate to most tanks ph. A stable ph is actually best and safest for fish. But if you really want to safely lower ph the only way is by cutting your tap water with RO water. Reason I say this is by using this method you can get the ph exactly where you want it and keep it there, at a stable ph. If you try using things such as bogwood, blackwater extract, or Indian almond leaves the ph will vary, going up and down with WC's or when the substance used has expired. So in all honesty if the fish in question is doing good I wouldn't change anything.

I totally agree. I have found DW doesn't do much in the way of lowering my PH. Rams are supposed to 'require' a very low ph, I have a pair of rams who breed all the time in a ph of 7.6

 

[BLUElobster99]

Yeah but this is a rare wild caught pleco that goes for $60


Im not talking about neon tetras here

 

[Rivercats]

How long have you had it and how is it doing? Remember this if it has acclimated already and you lower the ph your going to be stressing it again by causing it to have to reacclimate.

But again if you really want to lower ph in a safe and completely controled way so as not to cause ph fluxuations using RO water to cut your tap water is the way to go.

 

[Rodeo one]

Really getting tired of seeing snarky comments on this forum. Props to Rivercats for always being gracious & kind.
I have 2 big peices of DW in my 55g & my PH from day 1 (dec 2012) has stayed right at 8. So in my case, DW didn t make a difference. Good luck & let us know if you try the RO water.

 

[BLUElobster99]

Call me an idiot haha but i have no idea what RO (reverse osmosis) water is

 

[egrape]

reverse osmosis water is water that has gone through a ro filter that is Supposed to remove everything from the water. EVERYTHING. hypothetically, ph will be neutral and water will be very soft because all hard metals will be removed. therefore, you have to add some of the alkalinity back into the water, especially if you have a planted tank. I would recommend equilibrium by seachem to do that. in my experience, ro water actually destabilized the ph in my tank. it's not supposed to do that, but I had to stop using it. I would start with ro water well before you get the pleco just to try to avoid this.

on a different note, I have successfully used seachems acid and alkaline buffers in my planted tanks without a problem. I use it for every water change.

 

[Rivercats]

When using RO water to cut with tap water no reconstituting product is needed because you are using the RO to dilute the amount of minerals in the tap water therefore lowering the mineral content (making it softer) of the water being added back in during the WC.

I use this method in all my smaller tanks and use RO water for all my top ups.

 

[dragonfisher33]

Well "phin" i must apologize.

I was at school and only had a moment to post this thread.

But you dont have to be a jerk.


If you actually want to be helpful here is what you requested:


My current tap ph is 8.2

I have a green phantom oleco which requires a ph range of 6-7.5

I would like a neutral ph of about 7-7.5

I DO in fact have live plants


The reason i felt that was the most important point to mention at the time was because i have heard of certain ph buffers damaging aquatic plant life.

driftwoods seem to be the perfect choice, especially for the plecos since they love DWs. if you want instant drop in pH, i would recommend getting some chemicals or frequent water changes, aged water to be more specific. Just make sure that there's no rocks that will induce pH swings or act as a natural pH buffer, namely live rocks and etc.

 

[phin]

Well "phin" i must apologize.

I was at school and only had a moment to post this thread.

But you dont have to be a jerk.

Sorry, I've got a pimple on my butt and sitting on it puts me in a cranky mood.

Check out seachem neutral regulator. You can use it as a water conditioner for chlorine & chloramine (has same stuff that is in Prime), so you don't need to use anything else. It will move your pH to 7.0 and maintain it there. It is phosphate buffered, so it is a stable buffer, but has the potential to boost algae growth depending on lighting and nutrient levels in your tank.

If you don't want to use a phosphate based buffer, you can use seachem acid buffer in your tank to remove carbonates, this lowering the alkaline buffering capacity in you tank's water and letting the natural acids in the tank lower your pH. Driftwood is a natural acid, however, trying to lower your pH by using driftwood really depends on your buffering capacity (KH). Do you know your KH?

 

[Rivercats]

Wild caught S. Am. fish usually come from waters with very low TDS (total dissolved solids), around 20-40 in the Amazon river average if I remember correctly . RO water has 0 TDS so when using it with tap water for WC's your actually lowering the TDS's of your tanks water which is very very good for wild caught fish. I've been in this hobby since the 70's, and very seriously since the 80's and have dealt with wild caught fish off. Using chemicals IMO isn't a good idea, yes they have their place as I'm not going to argue over this, BUT using them with wild caught fish again IMO shouldn't be done. I wouldn't normally push RO for lowering ph but in this case dealing with a wild caught fish I believe this is indeed the best option if the OP is truely wanting to lower his ph and even more important lower the TDS's in his water.

 

[Old Scales]

+1 with what River is trying to tell you. RO water is used to dilute the TDS's in your water. You should NEVER use 100% RO water by itself. IE. If you have 70 ppm of something in your exsisting water, you replace 50% of it with RO then your 70 ppm becomes 35 ppm. It's called controlled dilution. OS.

 

[egrape]

well that answers why ro water wasn't working for me! I always wondered about that haha