Lowering pH and Nitrates

[StripedBandit]

Hi everyone, my pH is at about 7.6 right now, and i would like to lower it to the ~6.8-7.0 range. I've seen that pH down stuff, but I've also heard that putting peat moss in the filter could bring it down. I'm looking for more of a permanent fix.

My Nitrates are also high. I was having a bit of trouble giving it an exact match on the API master test kit. It comes out to a solid red color, like the definition of red. My closest guess would be 80 ppm, but maybe in between that and 160 ppm. How can I bring them down? It's a 29g, currently housing 3 Bolivian Rams, 3 Zebra Loaches, and a Rainbow Shark(before anyone says anything, he's been in there for 6 years, he's doing great). I have a Marineland Emperor 280 filtering it. I just did a 50% water change yesterday and the nitrate level didn't change. So any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

The ph dont mess with its not worth it in my opinion. With the nitrate have you checked your tap water? And have you checked it sittng out for 24 hours? The only way to remove nitrate is doing water changes and cleanng everything just about. But if your tap water has nitrate that high you wont be able to get it down. Then you would need to do a mix of tap and ro/distilled water.

 

[aqua_chem]

At that level of nitrates, a 50% water change might not even be detectable.

 

[StripedBandit]

Okay well I checked the tap water and it read at 0-5ppm. I'm planning on converting my tank from non-planted to planted, so that would get rid of any decorations other than the driftwood. Other than that, I guess I can clean the gravel(which is old). Would that be enough to lower them along side with frequent water changes?

And the reason I wanted to lower the pH level was because I wanted to add some neon tetras, which seem to prefer a lower pH

 

[Andrew McFadden]

A good water change schedule like two 25% water changes a week cleaning half the gravel during one and the other half during the second water change will go along way.

Cleaning the gravel is probably the biggest dirtiest part of the tank. I'd do a couple 50% back to back water changes trying to clean as much as possible.

 

[StripedBandit]

Sounds good. I do regular gravel vacs like every couple of weeks, but I couldn't tell you the last time I've thoroughly cleaned it.