I was reading that driftwood tends to make the water more acidic thus lowering the PH. Are there any natural materials (rocks, etc.) that would counteract this? or at least buffer the PH against this? or is this nothing to worry about?
Counteract driftwood`s affect on PH
- Thread starter jenricae
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BettaFishMommy
finkids make me happy :-)
ph itself isn't the big thing to worry about. it's the gh and kh that need to remain stable, along with TDS (total dissolved solids) in the water.
i don't know enough about water chemistry to know if driftwood will affect the gh and kh while it lowers the ph.
crushed coral is widely known for raising the ph. i don't have experience with it myself though.
btw, could you please tell my big chunk of driftwood that it is supposed to lower the ph? lol. been in the tank since last spring and tap and tank ph are still the same, 7.8.
i don't know enough about water chemistry to know if driftwood will affect the gh and kh while it lowers the ph.
crushed coral is widely known for raising the ph. i don't have experience with it myself though.
btw, could you please tell my big chunk of driftwood that it is supposed to lower the ph? lol. been in the tank since last spring and tap and tank ph are still the same, 7.8.
BettaFishMommy
finkids make me happy :-)
Weedcali, 7.6 isn't considered all that high, just ask people that have 'liquid rock' for water, lol. and not all rocks will raise ph, only those with specific buffering capabilities.
7 is considered neutral so i guess 7.6 would be slightly higher. I used to live in Toronto and it was 8 out of the tap. I am now in Vancouver and i just tested my tap water and it registered at 5.5! That can`t be right... the guy at the fish store said that he found the water pretty neutral out here.
THe KH is about 25. Is that low?
THe KH is about 25. Is that low?
Does it make any difference what sort of wood in terms of species is involved? Does hickory affect water the same as cypress, or apple the same as holly? I realize that actual "driftwood" as in something that washed up on a beach someplace might be hard to identify in terms of origins. but people use wood products in tanks--cork bark seems to be popular at the moment for instance--that does come from a known source.
just wonderin' if some are known to be good or bad, or to have particular effects, or known to rot or whatever. Osage orange for instance (aka "bodark") is common in either tree or hedge form around here, and is said to be great for fenceposts as it is highly resistant to rot in damp ground.
just wonderin' if some are known to be good or bad, or to have particular effects, or known to rot or whatever. Osage orange for instance (aka "bodark") is common in either tree or hedge form around here, and is said to be great for fenceposts as it is highly resistant to rot in damp ground.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about it but carbon in your filter would remove the tannins from the water.
most woods arent going to affect your water enough to worry about. if you need to maintain a higher ph put some crushed coral in the tank it will raise the hardness and the ph of the water
I did have a huge stump in my 125 that casued my ph to plummet, I've had others that leached tons of tannins that turned the water deep brown but had very little effect on pH. Without leaves or bark I have no idea what kind of wood it was. The good news is that I keep soft water fish and they were all fine with a pH in the high 5s/low 6 range.
So I guess that is the question- who are you trying to keep happy? What kind of fish will you keep? If you want to keep African cichlids, you;ll want to keep a close eye on your driftwood to tell if it is dropping your pH, if you want to keep S.A. cichlids, then don't worry about it.
So I guess that is the question- who are you trying to keep happy? What kind of fish will you keep? If you want to keep African cichlids, you;ll want to keep a close eye on your driftwood to tell if it is dropping your pH, if you want to keep S.A. cichlids, then don't worry about it.