iceywater101
Aquarium Advice Activist
Is there a way to naturally lower the pH of the tank water without spending alot of money and without using chemicals.
how to lower pH without chemicals
- Thread starter iceywater101
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
QTOFFER
Aquarium Advice Addict
First, make sure you don't have any coral, seashells, or limestone in your tank - they tend to raise pH.
Real driftwood will slowly lower pH and keep it stable. You can also put peat in your filter.
Have you tested your tap water?
Leave a glass of water out overnight. Test the pH and hardness. Most lfs will test your water for free, but you should pick up these two test lits if you don't already have them.
Most fish are very adaptable regarding pH so long as it's stable. What kind of fish are you keeping?
Real driftwood will slowly lower pH and keep it stable. You can also put peat in your filter.
Have you tested your tap water?
Leave a glass of water out overnight. Test the pH and hardness. Most lfs will test your water for free, but you should pick up these two test lits if you don't already have them.
Most fish are very adaptable regarding pH so long as it's stable. What kind of fish are you keeping?
iceywater101
Aquarium Advice Activist
I have both the test kits. I am keeping neon tetras and cory cats. The problem is my tank pH is over 8.2. I ll have to test my tap water pH, and post the findings.
QTOFFER
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'll bet your water is liquid rock too.
One other thing you could do is buy RO water and mix it with tap. That could get expensive, though.
One other thing you could do is buy RO water and mix it with tap. That could get expensive, though.
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
Also, if you use the RO or distilled water, you don't want to do it all at once either. Over the next few PWC's, you'll want to add a little more RO or distilled water each time. That way you aren't lowering the ph too far too fast.
An t-iasg
Aquarium Advice Addict
Our water is pretty hard around here. I used a mix of 50% tap water with 50% RO water at one time. (Now I use CO2 and the pH problem is solved!)
Our grocery store, Shop 'n Save, now Kuhn's, has an RO machine. Water costs 39 cents a gallon if you bring your own jugs. If you do this, like LWB said, mix it in gradually, maybe 10% of your tank volume at a time, and don't go over 50% RO water.
Your pH of 8.2 or more is higher than mine - like QTOFFER says, check to see that something in your tank isn't raising your pH. What kind of substrate do you have? When you let tap water sit out to do the pH and hardness checks, you could also put some substrate and water in another cup, and compare those results to the tap water only cup. They should be the same unless the substrate is altering your parameters.
Our grocery store, Shop 'n Save, now Kuhn's, has an RO machine. Water costs 39 cents a gallon if you bring your own jugs. If you do this, like LWB said, mix it in gradually, maybe 10% of your tank volume at a time, and don't go over 50% RO water.
Your pH of 8.2 or more is higher than mine - like QTOFFER says, check to see that something in your tank isn't raising your pH. What kind of substrate do you have? When you let tap water sit out to do the pH and hardness checks, you could also put some substrate and water in another cup, and compare those results to the tap water only cup. They should be the same unless the substrate is altering your parameters.
newfound77951
Aquarium Advice Addict
You might be able to get some cheap or free RO water if you make a visit to the closest university's chemistry or biology department. Tell them what you need the water for and they just might give you more than you could ever need. Maybe you could work out a trade; some algae or fish pathology samples (heaven forbid, I know, but they do die sometimes) for their teaching labs in exchange for water?? I looked at some algae growing on my light once under a microscope at school and was amazed at all the stuff and critters in there!
Just a thought, since you are in a city and should be close to several universities. I know I'd be happy to donate some of my lab's RO water to a needy aquarist, as long as the volumes needed weren't huge.
Just a thought, since you are in a city and should be close to several universities. I know I'd be happy to donate some of my lab's RO water to a needy aquarist, as long as the volumes needed weren't huge.
Mazdaman
Aquarium Advice FINatic
and if all that fails, you could find fish that thrive in that ph level...
the driftwood method worked for me
the driftwood method worked for me
I have had success by using natural acids for example distilled vinegar and by having driftwood in the tank. The vinegar is really cheap and keeps the ph level stable. The only problem with this is that you must not add it to the tank itself. It causes your ph to crash too quickly. SO you must add it to a stored water container, there you can monitor the ph levels and get the desired ph for you tank.
Almonds will do the trick. Add a handful at a time to a mesh bag and test the ph of the water after a while. I have heard this used many times. It creates blackwater similar to a tea but the water is good for the fish (many people find it an eyesore when the water isn't crystal clear) I don't know anything about how often you have to change them so maybe you could look it up on a search engine.
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