New idea to safely lower pH?

[coolchinchilla]

In the discussions about how to safely lower pH, I've never heard about this possiblity, so I thought I'd run it past you all. I found an item on aquabid that sold peat pellets -- I think it's what you use as plant starters.

Link: aquabid auction

Would this work and how would you use it? Is it the same thing as what you buy in garden stores?

TIA.

 

[coolchinchilla]

oh.. I forgot to add that my water is liquid rock 8O (pH=8.4+, kh=300+ ppm)

 

[tropicfishman]

if its peat it should work

 

[An t-iasg]

I use these exact little pellets for starting my seeds in the spring. It's just a bit of a thin gauze-type material to encase the peat. I wonder how messy it would get it if you fully submerse it, but since it's advertised by a breeder, I think it would be ok to put in your filter, but you can get this brand at probably any garden center or Home Depot.

 

[toddnbecka]

It will work, but not quickly. Are you looking to lower pH in water that already has fish in it? If so, slower is better, allows them time to adjust to the change. Or you could just keep african cichlids, the water is ideal for them.

 

[spongebob69]

Add vinegar

 

[tropicfishman]

As I was playing on the computer, something came back to me from 7th grade, our teacher, who was anut job to begin with had huge fish tanks and always let us help clean them, one boy ask what PH was and the teacher explained, when the same boy ask how you rasie or lower PH the teacher actually told us you could use, get ready for this people, human urine, to alter PH, I don't remeber exactly if it was to raise or lower it, i think raise, but liek i said the teacher was nut job and eventully fired and put under close supervision if ya know what i mean lol just thought that was intresting lol

 

[coolchinchilla]

when the same boy ask how you rasie or lower PH the teacher actually told us you could use, get ready for this people, human urine, to alter PH,

Maybe it was for the "gross" effect. One way to keep 7th graders interested (boys especially) is to say something really gross. Gets their attention.

I have however heard about people peeing into their tank everyday to start/maintain the cycle (urine has ammonia in it). Don't see how it could raise/lower pH though.

It will work, but not quickly. Are you looking to lower pH in water that already has fish in it? If so, slower is better, allows them time to adjust to the change. Or you could just keep african cichlids, the water is ideal for them.

I did have africans but soon realized that my tank (30 gal) was way too small for them so I gave them to the LFS.

Yes water that already has fish in it. Wonder if it will really help. I've been told that a whole boatload of peat would be needed to affect my pH.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Add vinegar

Isn't that a no-no?

I use driftwood to lower my ph safely over time. My ph here is about 7.8. I've had my 26G running with 2 medium sized pieces of driftwood, and my ph remains constant at 7.2, and have occasionally seen 7.0. But it took time for it to change from 7.8 to 7.2, didn't do it overnight. My 55G is the same way with 2 pieces of driftwood. Took about a month, then remained stable at 7.2. Now I'm working on my 75G, which my last test was 7.8, lol. And I do have driftwood in it, more than the other tanks. But over time, it will slowly lower, if it's anything like my other 2 tanks.

 

[Guest]

Healthy urine should have a pH of about 5... nice and acidic. You see urine of around 6-7 in those with urinary tract infections and such... or those who drink to many sodas.
Hey... we dip the urine in the ER where i work before we send it to the lab so i happen to know quit a bit about it.. lol.
I don't think it would be a goood idea to pea in your tank though becuase as was stated.. while urine IS sterile, it is also ammonia and in an already cycled tank an additional ammonia source doesn't seem to healthy. Although it does seem like a cheep way to cycle a tank!

 

[spongebob69]

The vinegar thing is a debateable one. I've heard of some people and know of one guy over on FishGeeks that is doing exactly that. He is using the vinegar to lower his pH which is over 8 out of the tap. He first heard of this as a possible means of generating a lower pH with the added benefit of being good for plants. I'm not sure of the exact chemistry, maybe some of the planted tank gurus could chime in but essentially the vinegar addition combines with carbonates in the tank and creates CO2. While it's not a conventional usage or practice, it's definitely worth looking into for both pH adjustment and for possible cheap co2 production. Feel free to debate this..like i said..i haven't tried it but it has been done and his fish are fine. The jury is out as far as the plants for now.

 

[Scottm]

plants, peat, driftwood, they all work slowly but naturally maintain the PH you want. vinegar will be able to drop it fast but you'll need to continue dosing. I suppose urine would work in a large enough quantity but you'd need a large biofilter for all that ammonia.

 

[BlazerFRS]

Vinegar (or pretty much acid in general) will break up your KH (CaCO2) into calcuim and CO2.

It will certainly lower your ph and add CO2, but I wouldn't count on it for any continous source of CO2. You'd have to eat alot of KH to hit a constant 30ppm of CO2; and you can't use the usual pH/KH relationship to measure your level of CO2 bc you're destroying KH to make CO2.

No idea about the saftey of vinegar in this use tho... it is a pretty weak acid so I imagine it'd be OK.

Edit:

another thing-Fish urine is ammonia, but human urine is only about .05% NH4. We humans secrete alot more Urea [(NH2)2CO] then NH4. About 2% of our pee is urea.

Other then the ammonia and urea it seems our pee would make a good fert- it's got K, PO4, Ca, Mg.... can't imagine the smell would be too nice tho.

I got all the specific info above from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine

 

[tropicfishman]

I was about to ask how everyone knew so much about peepee lol I seriously wonder if it was for " gross effect " because he did alot of crazy things, This portion of your post has been edited, it is in violation of the User Agreement. Further violations of the User Agreement could result in removal from our community. years ago, i'll never forget that lovely day he killed a snapping turtle and tore it apart in front of us of all for "biology experiments" shortly afterwards he was done away with lol

 

[TomK2]

Urine really does not have ammonia in it. Ammonia is extremely toxic to human cells. The human body expends energy to quickly convert any ammonia into Urea, which is less toxic. Your kidneys then take care of the urea. Ammonia is NH3, and urea is a much different molecule: (NH2)2CO (two NH2 molecules bound to a CO group.)

In all likelyhood, the urea bonds can be broken by organisms different than your nitrifying bacteria for energy and release ammonia, but adding urea to the tank does not feed the nitrifying bacteria directly.

I think this is a common misconception, since people know urea is how humans eliminate ammonia waste, but fail to realize that the ammonia is altered to make it less toxic and of no use to nitrifying bacteria.

 

[Jchillin]

A major facet of fishkeeping is the discussion of new ideas, no matter how absurd it may sound at first. That being said, adding nonsensical posts regarding urine does everyone a disservice. If you have some insight on new methods of lowering ph, please do so. If not, please do everyone a favor and move on.