I would like to lower my Ph

[Tristanyyz]

I would like to lower my ph in my 150 gallon tank.

Currently my Ph is 7.5, and I would like it to be 7, for now. My kh right now is around 53.7.

The way I would like to lower my Ph is by adding Murcuric Acid.

Can someone instruct me as to how to do this, gradually, and safely. Of course I would like to avoid ph bounce or crash!

What is your recommendations?

[Carol_Roberts]

I never was successful at using muriatic acid to lower pH. Too much bouncing around in my water.

Hi Tristanyyz ,

If you must do it with M.A. here is how it is done.

You use a preparation Bin or whatever you have on hand (a empty Tank, buckets) and add a small amount of M.A.. You NEVER add the acid directly to the fish tank.
Then you have to wait at least 24hrs, add air and if necessary heat the water.
After 24 hrs. you test the water for pH and if you have to adjust you will have to wait again for the water to stabilize. Don’t even bother to test the pH after 1 hrs. The pH will be total different after 24 hrs.
Be vary careful when you get the acid. As you open the bottle fumes, will come out and believe me, you don’t want to inhale them.
Wear some cloves, because (again you can believe me) it hurts like hell if you get a small drop on your hand.
As you add the acid to the water, fumes will come again.
Do not add water to the acid, Always acid to water.

Major Drawbacks of using M.Acid are:
M.A. will up your conductance in any case.
With Low KH you risk a pH crash and with high KH you need more to get the pH to where you want it, but your conductance will skyrocket.
Health risks.

Without wanting to convert you, I would recommend a other route. Peat or R/O mix come to mind.
I have used M.Acid quite a while for the Fish Tanks but came to the conclusion that R/O works better for me. If you intend to lower the pH for breeding purpose, I would not recommend M.A at all because of its instability and bumping up of ECT/TDS.

Of course those are all my personal opinions that I have gathered true trial and error.

Ronald :)

[Carol_Roberts]

. . . . and then when you add your perfect pH (muriatic acid) change water to your tank the pH bounces right back up or at least it does at my house.

RO lowers my TDS and GH, but doesn't change my pH much since I use a percentage of tap. Even with 90% RO my pH only dropped from 7.8 to 7.5. My domestic discus breed anyway so I've quit worrying about the pH.

[angel12]

dont bother with acid use Peat to bring your ph down ....
http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=11599

This is probably the saftest and most economical way of dropping your PH down especialy since you only want to drop it to 7.0

why do you want to drop your PH if you dont mind me asking??

:)

[Tristanyyz]

For now it looks like I wont play around with ph.

I have used peat before, and to get any effect from it you need to use fiberous peat, and it turns your water brown. Something I dont want.

I understand that Heckels just look better, have better colouration, and are happier in atleast 7.0. Also, I want to see if I can stimulate breeding in my wilds.

Otherwise they are happy if I leave it alone. Still thinking, and thanks very much for your imput.

How come Wattley Discus recommends the use of M. A.?

[Tristanyyz]

By the way, my RO unit has little effect on my ph. But I might try to go back to 100% RO. As it is however, I go thru a set of prefilters in 3 weeks, using 50% RO to tap.

[angel12]

dont know if this will help but rather than use Maturic acid ..
could you use another commercial product like Kent PH - or something like that .. at least they with the PH - the concentrations have already been worked out and all you have to do is add enough to bring the PH down ... I appreciate it maynot be commercialy viable though ....do you have realy alkaline water in your area with a high KH ?

[shamsoo]

try phosphoric acid in small quantity, I found it better than muriatic acid

Hi all,

Quote "How come Wattley Discus recommends the use of M. A.? "

Gabe uses Muriatic Acid for the grow out and holding tanks.
Not for the Breeders!!!!
It is possible to use Muriatic Acid if you pay close attention during the process and stick to the procedure.
I assume he uses Muriatic Acid due to the fact that the Water in Miami/Broward County is not so good and if you have to adjust it, it becomes a cost factor.
I have seen his Hatchery and he has all the equipment to go that route safely.
In my case with 3 Tanks + QT tank I can afford to use R/O without getting a headache about cost.
I use 85 gal R/O per day so that’s no big deal.

Ronald

[ronrca]

Tristanyyz,
A ph adjust of 0.5 I would not even worry about! My question is why? Do you want to breed?

[Tristanyyz]

Angel12..

I try to stay away from LFS products whenever I can. With the exception of tanks and heaters, and filters. I dont want to become dependent upon costly concoctions.

And yes my KH is high, and my water from the tap is 7.5, same as when its aged for 24 hours, and half RO mix.

Shamsoo,

I will research phosphoric acid, thank u.

Ronald,

Thanks for the explaination concerning Wattley and their use of MA. I use about 50g/day of RO water, and can readily go to 100g/day. Maybe I will, and see how my water parameters change. I am just waiting for an extra stage filter for my RO unit, recommended by Randalb. This might be an option, but I dont expect my ph to change when I start to use 100% RO.

Ronrca,
Yes I would like to breed my wilds. I thought maybe even 0.5 ph difference would get them to wiggle more than they are already.

Thank you everyone for your comments!

[ronrca]

Tristanyyz,
I believe that conductivity plays a larger role in breeding than ph. Do you know what the conductivity is?

Hi all,

Tristanyyz.

I use 100 % R/O which I recon. The pH sets at 6.4 - 6.5 with a conductance of 240. pH 6.3 at a conductance of 100.

I have over read "I go thru a set of pre filters in 3 weeks, using 50% RO to tap. "

I am sure Randal can help you with that. Seems to me that that is to short for the pre filters.
My unit has 1 sediment and 2 carbon blocks and last about 2-3 month. Also speak with Randal about pH readings and Pure R/O. He can explain that much better :)

Ronald