Question about PH

Lowering Ph can be very difficult. You may want to look into keeping high-Ph fish like cichlids instead of trying to lower your ph. Alternatively, you could set up a Reverse Osmosis or De-Ionizer filter for your water. Ph lowering chemicals simply won't do the job.

N.

Injecting C02 will lower the PH...but your PH seems quite high....Tanganikan Cichlids will love it. Not sure how much of an effect it will have but it will definatley lower it some...plus if you have live plants they will appreciate it as well. If your fish seem fine I wouldnt worry about it too much though...your Rams probobly just wont spawn under those conditions.

What part of the country do you live in? Sometimes regional variations in water treatment result in extreme values.

In addition, I would suggest that you let your tapwater sample rest for 24 hours and test it again, and then post the results. In addition to pH, give us the GH and KH.

Finally, the comments already made about chemicals, etc. are correct. High pH is hard to correct except with Reverse Osmosis, especially if it is buffered by high GH and KH.

Harry Tolen said:

What part of the country do you live in? Sometimes regional variations in water treatment result in extreme values.

In addition, I would suggest that you let your tapwater sample rest for 24 hours and test it again, and then post the results. In addition to pH, give us the GH and KH.

Finally, the comments already made about chemicals, etc. are correct. High pH is hard to correct except with Reverse Osmosis, especially if it is buffered by high GH and KH.

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Thanks for your information. If water has high buffer, can I soften it using peat and add in some dry leaves to lower the PH?

Peat filtration and leaves simply won't have any effect on your water (which i'm guessing has a very high kh). I'll use my water as an example. It has a kh (buffering capacity) of 6 degrees (not low, but not high either). Peat filtration had no effect, so I bought some tetra "blackwater extract" (basically the same stuff that leaches out of peat only concentrated in a bottle). Long story short, after adding 12 TIMES! the recommended dosage I had succeded in lowering my ph form 7.2 to 6.8 (big whoop). Only after switching to RO water was I able to significantly lower the ph.

Trucking in RO water from the lfs or Culligan Machine (at your grocery) probably isn't an option for a 55g either. You will either have to purchase an ro machine, switch to rift lake cichlids (Tangs can make a nice community tank), or just keep community fish that will cope with your water (which many probably will)

ps are you having trouble with your rams, or just worrried because you read that they prefer soft acidic water?

Never mind that, what kind of test kit are you using? 9 is extremely high, even for humans.

Are you on Lake Michigan water or well water where you live?

Both are pretty hard, but communities on well water tend to encourage their residents to use "water softeners" which actually do nothing of the kind (they improve the sudsing ability of the water by exchanging sodium ions for calcium ions, but that doesn't help fishkeepers at all).

In either case, you would do well to get a reverse osmosis system and use it to remove all minerals from your water. Then mix it back (building up slowly over time) to about 75% R/O, 25% lake/well water. That mixture will be soft enough that you will be able to reduce the pH with peat and keep it stable at the lower level. Your rams may seem fine now, but they will greatly appreciate a slow transition to the new conditions.

Reverse osmosis systems are not too expensive, by the way, especially if you buy them on line.