Lowering Ph?

[Psylk87]

Hello,

I seem to have really high PH levels. Its odd our water comes out perfectly soft but the PH and Alakaline are both very high. (Like 8.0 on PH)

What are ways I can lower my PH and keep it stable?

Has anyone used API PH Down? Does it work well? Are there better things I can do?

I have a 5 gallon, a 10 gallon, and soon will be setting up a 55 gallon.

 

[Chronos313]

The most natural way that I'm aware of to lower your PH is to use driftwood or peat I believe. Those chemicals from what I've read do lower your ph but you need to constantly dose your tank and too large of a dose can shock your fish.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I strongly recommend against ever using pH chemicals. My water is crazy hard and all my fish, shrimp and plants are just fine. A good way to safely soften water would be to mix the tap water with either RO water or distilled water 50/50. You could also use either driftwood, Indian almond leaves or peat moss to soften water. I mix about 30% RO water with tap and only use RO for top off. I also keep Indian almond leaves in the tank. This is a far safer way to change the water chemistry than using chemicals that often cause far more problems than the hard water. Fish and plants can adapt easily to different water hardness and pH as long as you try to keep the tank stable.

Do you have a special reason for doing this?

 

[Psylk87]

Do you have a special reason for doing this?

I am going to be converting my 5 gallon to a CRS shrimp tank and have read that inverts are more sensitive to ph and stuff than a lot of fish. I want them to be healhty and not end up killing them.
Also when I set up my 55 gallon I was wanting to keep Angels and have read they tend to die without the right PH.

My water is soft. Thats the thing that is driving me bonkers. Out of the tap when I test it is says it is the perfect middle of soft. But at the same time right out of the tap it has such a high PH (Around 8.0).

I already have pieces of drift would in each tank. I will buy some IAL and see if that helps. I just worry because its so high so would have to drop quite a lot.

Also RO water is that what comes out of the machines at the grocery store? I could pick up some to mix with my water at home for water changes if it will help.

I prefer nto to use chemicals honestly but as I was googling earlier all I seemed to find was ways to raise your PH not lower it.

 

[Coursair]

RO or Distilled mixed with tap or I use Aquasoil Amazonia from ADA. Keeps PH low, but kind of a pain. Have to cycle it as it puts out Ammonia naturally in beginning. Plants LOVE it.
It's an expensive substrate, but for small tanks it's affordable.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Now that's a great idea! AquaSoil would be great for a 5 gallon shrimp tank.

Other than considering AquaSoil, I wouldn't worry about doing anything more than adding almond leaves and using RO for top off water. Your shrimp will likely reproduce well even if you did nothing special to amend your water. A few small precautions are always wise. Just don't make more work for yourself than you need to. That's the beauty of AquaSoil. Costs more upfront but does a lit of the work for you.

 

[Psylk87]

I will look inot aquasoil. I am not sure if I will be able to get it a lot of stuff I have to order online.

I do already have Eco Complete but I doubt that is the same thing.

Thanks guys!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I will look inot aquasoil. I am not sure if I will be able to get it a lot of stuff I have to order online.

I do already have Eco Complete but I doubt that is the same thing.

Thanks guys!

Well, honestly, I have Eco Complete in all of my three planted tanks and I love it! Plus, I have way harder water than you have and there's shrimp in every one of my tanks. Aquasoil may put your mind at ease about water hardness but you absolutely DON'T have to use it. Way way more people here use Eco than use Aqua. I know it's confusing when you read about these animals and it says they recommend this pH or that hardness. Honestly, if you never listen to the animal's recommendations and just use the water you have you'll probably be just as successful. The people who usually have the most trouble with freshwater are the ones who try to change their tap water more than they need to. It doesn't need to be ideal, just consistent. Keep the Eco Complete, get a few shrimp, do normal water changes and see how it goes. It's really is cool.

 

[Coursair]

I will look inot aquasoil. I am not sure if I will be able to get it a lot of stuff I have to order online.

I do already have Eco Complete but I doubt that is the same thing.

Thanks guys!

Not the same thing. EC is good for plants, but does not change PH. AquaSoil Amazonia is specifically designed to keep PH low.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Not the same thing. EC is good for plants, but does not change PH. AquaSoil Amazonia is specifically designed to keep PH low.

True, but do you think it's needed to keep shrimp? What about using RO water from the store mixed with the tap?

Edit: I wonder if he has some rocks in the tank that could be buffering the pH.

 

[Psylk87]

No rocks at all just drift wood and live plants.

 

[Coursair]

True, but do you think it's needed to keep shrimp? What about using RO water from the store mixed with the tap?

Edit: I wonder if he has some rocks in the tank that could be buffering the pH.

It depends on what shrimp you are keeping. I got the AS to try for my CRS as I want to breed them and my breeder recommended it. My RCS are fine in whatever.

 

[Psylk87]

I found the AquaSoil New Amazonia for what will be $47 for a 9 liter bag. Is that a good deal? It seems kinda pricy to me haha

Also if I buy this do you think I will still need RO water from the grocery store or is it a one or the other type thing?

 

[Coursair]

I found the AquaSoil New Amazonia for what will be $47 for a 9 liter bag. Is that a good deal? It seems kinda pricy to me haha

Also if I buy this do you think I will still need RO water from the grocery store or is it a one or the other type thing?

One or the other. Not both probably.
AS is expensive ! I hate it in some ways, it's super light so it's easy to uproot my plants.
But it does what it says.

My other tanks I just use part tap part RO or Distilled if needed.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

One or the other. Not both probably.
AS is expensive ! I hate it in some ways, it's super light so it's easy to uproot my plants.
But it does what it says.

My other tanks I just use part tap part RO or Distilled if needed.

This was kind of my point. AS will make lowering pH easy but it's expensive and can be hard to deal with. The tank already has EC which is great but does nothing for pH. Just using a mix of RO and tap along with (optional) something like peat or almond leaves should work out fine. It may come down to the type of shrimp the OP wants to keep. I just have red cherry shrimp and they're a piece of cake with just about any substrate.

 

[aqua_chem]

Water often comes out of the tap super high in pH, but mellows out after being allowed to sit for 24h or so. For instance, my parents' water is incredibly basic to the point the it overwhelms the high range pH kit, but its also super soft, along the lines of GH 3 KH 1. After sitting for some time, it comes down to 7.2-7.4. Moral of the story, tap pH isn't important, long term tank pH is.


Two things on lowering pH. I agree that using humic substances is the best way to lower the pH. This includes soils, peat, driftwood, AS, etc. This method isn't always practical for a number of reasons, including financial (AS is basically pelletized money) or practical (the others will dye the water). That being said, pH is only really an issue in a select few situations. Odds are that unless you're actively breeding SA cichlids or Asian blackwater species, its not going to be a major factor for you.


I would fully expect your water to drop in pH after being allowed to mellow for a day or so.

 

[Psylk87]

Well you guys are making me feel better. I was really worried about the ph but maybe it isnt as big of concern as I thought. I will be keeping RCS shrimp and you guys seem to think they will be fine. I will still try adding some distilled or RO water to my water changes just to see if it helps and I will def buy some almond leaves but I think for now I will skip the AS.

Have any of you used alder cones? Apparently they help to?

Also when you say to use peat moss does it matter where I get it? Do I just put it in a little bag and hide it in the tank?

 

[aqua_chem]

I would still advise measuring your tank water periodically for a little while before you put anything to expensive into the tank, but I think you'll be pleased with the results.



One pretty common technique is to put peat in a media bag and place it in your filter. There it can get good flow and is out of sight.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I've never used alder cones. Peat really does darken the water more than a little. If you go that rout just get the smallest amount the gardening center carries and only use a little. The Indian almond leaves are a better option for shrimp in my opinion. The only time I used peat was for a South American biotope I had in a 55 and it was great for the fish. Now, shrimp will actually feed a little from an almond leaf and they seem to darken the water less than peat did. Since you're going with RCS I doubt you'll have any problems using your water. Many people with much harder water than what you've got have no trouble keeping RCS (unless they have fish that like shrimp poppers). lol

 

[phin]

I have extremely hard tap water with high pH and high alkalinity (tap: 13 dGH, 11 dKH, pH 7.8) I have had good experiences with using seachem acid buffer to lower KH to 3 degrees. I used a water softener pillow to decrease my GH to 8 degrees. I have a compressed stocking of sphagum peat in the top tray of my canister with almost zero bypass. My pH is now a constant 6.6. I top off with "purified water" from the grocery store which is RO & Ozonated water. I use the same water for water changes, but re-consitute with baking soda and seachem equilibrium to achieve my desired KH & GH.

The peat does stain my water a nice watered-down iced tea color. I like it, my fish like it, and my plants like it too. Peat may not be an option for some as the water does darken considerably.

I have since learned that the water softener pillow is an ion exchange resin that exchanges calcium and magnesium cations in the water for sodium cations attached to the resin. This results in lowering your GH but increasing the sodium level in the water.

I would not use the waer softener pillow again as I have a planted tank and want to limit the amount of sodium in the water.