Best way to lower pH?

[Fishdude]

Just curious what you guys do to lower your pH. Mine is at about 7.8, and I don't feel comfortable keeping Discus in pH that high. I have some three day old water in a glass (no aeration)that I have tested that has a pH of 6.8 - 7.0. Currently the tank is just cycling with four Cories in it. What would cause the rise? I added a small amount of salt, and a small amount of equilibrium, but I don't know if that would have effected it that much. The tank is planted.

Would adding peat to the filter be a good idea? How about placing a small bit of it in the corner of the tank in a plastic container with holes in it? How about using it in a small powerhead that pumps into the water?

Any ideas?

Dude

Im a bit confused. Is the 7.8 straight out of the tap?? and also...you mentioned a RISE in ph, but the other numbers you posted are lower.
What are the other parameters...ie. gh, kh, etc.
Tony

[Fishdude]

Straight out of the tap, the water is about 6.6. In the tank, it has risen to about 7.8. The kh in the tank is about 20 mg/L. The gh is about 40 mg/L. I just can't figure out why although the tap water is very soft and slightly acidic, the tank water is much more alkaline, but has stayed pretty soft.

I am just wondering if adding peat to the filter is a good idea, or not.

The best way to adjust the ph is not to do it.

Discus can live in an extremely wide ph range. Set out some water and aerate and heat if for 24 hours, then test the ph and see what it is. You shouldn't put water fresh out of the tap into your tank anyway. That may be the cause. If it is, and the ph rises to 7.8, then so be it. Your fish will be fine. If you ever decide to breed, you may need to lower it, but that would come with the addition of RO water, so i don't think you have a problem.

Brad

[Fishdude]

The best way to adjust the ph is not to do it.

Discus can live in an extremely wide ph range. Set out some water and aerate and heat if for 24 hours, then test the ph and see what it is. You shouldn't put water fresh out of the tap into your tank anyway. That may be the cause. If it is, and the ph rises to 7.8, then so be it. Your fish will be fine. If you ever decide to breed, you may need to lower it, but that would come with the addition of RO water, so i don't think you have a problem.

Brad


Thanks a lot Brad.

The tap water that I put in there was to get the tank up and running... it's just about finished it's cycle. I will heat and aerate all the water for the changes.

One question. I have not had an airstone in the tank because I figured the AC500 provided enough surface movement for just the Cories in there right now. Would adding the airstone allow the pH to come down at all?

I agree with brad....its best not to mess with the pH if you dont have to. 7.8 is fine raising and keeping. Ive been doing it with a pH of 8 for over ten years.
Successful hatches are a different thing all together though, and if that comes up in the future you can worry about lowering the pH then.

The pH in your tank has risen, more than likely because the co2 has been driven off. This causes the pH to rise. It should be done in a seperate water storage tank or barrel though, were the water can be heated, offgassed and allowed to stabilize before adding it to the fish tank.

Tony

Yes, all ph fluxuation will occur in the 24 hours that the water is being heated and aerated. So if you set water out for a day like that and test the ph of the water, it should be really close, maybe a bit higher, to the tank ph, provided you do daily water changes. Just make sure you get a stabilized ph before you put in discus...have your water change regimine with aged water set before you put the discus in there so they don't go through any undue stress. When you do put the discus in there, bump the heat up to 88 or so and add salt at 1 tbs per 10 gallons and see if the fish is eating. If he doesn't eat in 2 days or so, we can go from there.
Good Luck,
Brad

[Carol_Roberts]

I had eggs hatch 12/4/02 in 7.6 pH they are freeswimming and eating bbs in 7.8 today.

Heat and circulate the water until stable ( maybe 3 hours - maybe 24 hours) and use as is.

Carol :heart1:

[RandalB]

Again, excellent advice from Brad and Carol.

Discus do fine at 7.8. I have about 25 fish ranging in size from 1" to 7" and they all do fine at Chicago tapwater conditions (pH 7.8 Gh8 Kh 6) I only use softer acidic water for the breeders and get that via R/O and peat.

The effects of pH on egg survival are still under heated debate. I know local breeders who do nothing to our pH and still get 90+% hatch rates.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

IMHO,
RandalB

[peety]

More help please....

I have been using rain water to fill my tanks... has been great but since summer has arrived I have run out. My fish loved it with continuous spawns and good fertility rates.
(No free swimmers yet as they get eaten but I have just moved them to their own tanks).
My problem now is my PH from tap is really high. GH is about 20 ppm KH is less than 10 ppm (and PH is higher than my test kit reads which puts it above 7.6 but can't be much higher... :-\) I have been playing with dropping it using a PH low kit, and I can drop it to 6.6 in my holding tank but am worried it'll bounce about.

My holding tank currently holds 50 g and I airate and heat for 12 hours before adding to 2 breeding tanks. Both breeding tanks have pairs with eggs.

Should I just use straight water or continue with lowering PH ? If lowering is needed what can I use that is cheaper than test kit stuff?

Hope all that made some sense :-\ :-\

ta
peety

[jeep]

I would consider buying an RO unit. Your tap water is much harder than rain water, which will inhibit fertility. Your tap also has a higher KH which is the ph buffer.

Using RO water will adjust your water paramiters to more acceptable breedig levels. For grow-outs, your water is probably just fine. My RO's ph after 24 hours is 6.8, which is probably ok but I would like it a litle lower for breeding. A lot of people use peat to naturally lower ph.

[RandalB]

Peety

Personally, I'd try peat filtering first as it is the cheapest (I'm a tightwad ;D).

Using RO would be my second choice.
At the very least using RO water will allow you to use less pH adjusting chemicals to reach your desired pH.

I prefer using RO and Tap water mix rather than using acid to adjust as it can be tricky to use acid and dangerous to your fish if you don't know what you are doing. I killed a lot of fish in my community tank before a LFS owner told me to stop screwing around with pH down to reach the magic "7.0 pH" that I was told I HAD to maintain by a large chain petstore's employees.

Try peat and if that doesn't get you where you want to be, you might want to think about an RO unit.

MHO,
RandalB

[peety]

Brill,
I will take readings over next few days then add peat to my pre tank filter then do follow up test. If its still a bit high I'll look for RO. They're a bit rare and dear down here :( :(

If my tap is OK for fertilized spawn and fry will survive... can I reserve my rain for when they are about to lay (I have outside holding tank and can increase capacity for fish to 1000 litres). Then once spawned go to tap ?

Anything to save a buck ::) ::)

[jeep]

The only reason I recommended RO was because he's breeding. I thought gh of 20 was a little high, but then again I'm used to TDS.

Keep up posted. I'm interested in using peat myself...

[peety]

Definately want to continue to try and breed ;D ;D ;D

If I have to go RO then so be it :P

I will test my tap for a week then test a week on peat (will the peat start working straight away ?? ) and get back with results....

Should I log KH and GH as well ? or will they stay static either way ?

Any other reading I should bother with ? ::) ::)

Thanx
peety