PH and Alkalinity

[Brake]

My PH and alkalinity is to high PH 9 and alkalinity is off the chart. I have a 37 gal two 40 gal filters tropical tank. My water is well water and treated with a carbon filter (whole house) and a water softener. I have done everything I know to do and nothing has made the PH to come down at all. Everything else is well within limits. My salt tank is a little high for it but closer to norm. Can anyone help with this. My freshwater tank needs to be brought down.

thanks

 

[jim692]

Welcome to AA.
This is a welcome forum, you may not get many answers here.
Try posting in the "freshwater and brackish general discussion" forum.

Have you thought of getting a ro/di unit and mixing 50/50 with your well water for your tanks?

 

[jsoong]

Welcome to AA!

Thread moved to FW - General.

When you have high alkalinity, nothing will bring down the pH, short of removing some of the alkalinity itself. A R/O unit will be best for that purpose. As mentioned 50:50 mix of R/O & tap might be just the ticket.

Peat filtering is another method of reducing alkalinity. This is not too efficient. But if you don't have a R/O unit, it may be worth a try. The "recipe" I read said use 1 gal or more of peat in a 5 gal bucket & let the water percolate through the peat. I don't know how many time you have to do this to get the alkalinity down to acceptable levels, but it seems a lot of work to me. <And if you live in a relatively "clean" area, it might be easier to collect rain water to mix with your well water.>

BTW, depending on what kind of water conditioner you have, it might be better to use the water before the softening. An ion exchange unit will exchange 2 of Na (or K) for each one of Mg or Ca. You end up with water that is HIGHER in osmolarity, which is not what you want.

 

[jmon777]

when you say off the chart are you using test strips? because i was using them the alkalinity was always off the chart and the test strip seemed a little high when reading ph also. if you can get an api master kit that will let you know what your dealing with better and depending on the fish your keeping it might not be a bad thing. and i hear adding drift wood can lower them slightly as well. im new hear i hope this helps.

 

[happygirl65]

The other thing you could do is go with what you have....choose fish that like the high pH like african cichlids......

Or just let your fish acclimate to the high pH. I found that I could successfully keep even Discus in 8.0 pH with well water.
You have some advantages with that well water....your water is likely stable and not prone to crashes in pH or swings when you do water changes.
The reality is that most fish can acclimate to any pH. Stability is the key.
If your goals are breeding a certain type then definitely mix RO and tap but if I were in your shoes (and I have been) I would leave it and enjoy.

 

[Brake]

I got a RO today and going to try that. Thanks

 

[Brake]

I am going to try before the filters with the RO and see what happens. How muck should I change out the first time. I do not want to shock the fish.

 

[happygirl65]

I would mix 25% of the water you are changing out with RO and do a smaller change than usual. Then increase that by 10% or so each time until you are consistently getting your desired pH.

 

[jim692]

+1 happygirl,
lots of smaller changes till you get to your desired final parameters will give the tank and fish time to acclimate.

What are you trying to get the final parameters to?

 

[Brake]

I want to get around 7.0 to 7.2 or do I just need to leave it alone? It is 8.2 to high. I think it may be.

Steven