Agassizi's died, rearragements

Yes it seems overstocked, I've added some fish and now I have

2 blue rams,
1 agassizi's
2 zebra danios
1 leapord danio
1 pearl danio
5 bristlenoses (4 juvi's)
1 1cm krib

I am intending to gardually drop my pH, i.e. take water out each day and add pH down till it is at the required or desired pH. Most likely 10-15lts at 1 time.
 
Your proposed method of reducing pH will not work. The buffers in the water will counteract the pH down you are adding, especially if you do water changes every day.

The only real way to reduce pH is to reduce KH (the buffering capacity) with reverse osmosis water (usually at around a 50/50 mix with tapwater) and then let the tank seek its new equilibrium point.

Using an acidic additive such as pH down will temporarily reduce the pH, but it will bounce back quickly. And the bouncing up and down will be worse for your fish than if you did nothing.

If you have any items in the tank that would tend to increase KH (coral, certain types of limestone, etc.), then you should remove them, up your water changes, and see what happens. Other than that, unless you want to invest in an R/O system, don't mess with it.
 
ok, well I haven't got any items that will buffer the pH upward....

I don't intend to invest either...

how about this...

Bag the fish, Add pH down for dramatic drop into the tank. Float the bagged fish and then gradually add tank water into the bags over an hour or so until they are used to it in which case I will continue to add pH down.

I did that when I first got the fish except from a 7, to a 8. This time I'm going back from an 8 to a 7.

How about this idea?
 
Using acids (e.g., pH Down) to decrease pH generally doesn't work because your water contains buffers (e.g., calcium carbonate) that are generally represented as KH. The buffer acts like a sponge to soak up any acids you add; once the buffer has absorbed as much acid as it can, pH will drop, often rapidly.

The problem is stability. With no buffer, your water is much more prone to wild pH swings, and it's not easy to keep pH from continually dropping, because a byproduct of nitrification is acid.

Even worse in this scenario, every time you do a partial water change, you add KH back to the tank. You can guess what happens: pH shoots back up until you add enough acid to drop it. The pH yo-yo is very stressful to the fish.

The responsible solution, if you're not willing to invest in RO as Harry suggests, is to keep fish that are appropriate to your water conditions and tank size.

Jim
 
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