howto lower pH?

fish_gal77

fish_gal77

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Sep 13, 2005
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Orange County, CA
What can I do to adjust my water? My tap water seems to be less than ideal for a community tank. It is very hard (btw 150 and 300ppm) and quite alkaline (higher than 7.8). Is there anything I can do to get the pH down to a neutral level?

This is for my new tank which I have yet to fill with water. I do not want to purchase (or transport) 44 gallons of RO water, is there anything I can do with my tap water?

Would it be ok to use water filtered with a Britta on tap unit? I tested the water from that and it had no chlorine/chloramine, and was a little softer but still pH 7.8...

Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions!
 
You can use an RO machine to lower the hardness of your water as you say, this is probably the best and easiest way, then just mix it with tap water to get your desired hardness. Or you could use peat in your change water, usually leaving the peat in a bucket with your change water until you get your desired hardness and add your water that way. I have found that adding peat directly to your tank makes it hard to keep your tank stable. As for using water softeners, they don't really soften the water at all instead they use ion exchange to substitute sodium ions for calcium and magnesium ions, these can also cause problems in your aquarium. Also do not use PH down or products like that, it is only a quick fix and will not last. They will only end up causing you more problems than it is worth. Btw testing for ph is a very inaccurate way of testing water hardness, try using a alkalinity test kit.

That being said unless you are trying to breed some hardwater intolerante fish or you have very sensitive fish to hardwater, at the levels you are saying it is my oppinion that your fish will be fine. Fish are very tolerant to water conditions as long as the conditions change slowly, any sudden changes are not good and that is one of the main reasons why people are told not to mess with their water hardness.
 
Also it sound sliek you have a nice sized tank. Have you thought about keeping fish that natively come from hard water areas. Certain cichlids, mollies, brackish water fish would all do well in your water but as ashdavid says most hardy communal fish will be able to tolerate your water as well with proper acclimation. My water is soft but has a pH of 7.4-7.6. Many fish stores tell me I must buy the proper pH stuff to have my fish survive but my cories have had 2 sets f kids and are getting to be near 4 years old now.
 
You may find that your pH drops once nitrification begins in your aquarium. My tap water can run 7.8-8.1, but the established aquarium runs more like 7.2 - 7.4, IIRC.
 
adjusting water

Thanks to you all for the great response! I have been using KH and GH tests in order to measure the hardness.

How is an Alkalinity test different from pH test?

If I choose to try peat in order to soften the water, do I just get the stuff from a garden store?

My tank is a 44G pentagon, so I COULD get some cichlids but they don't really excite me that much - at least not right now. I have another aquarium at work (same water supply) and have a couple of Rams in there even at the high pH. They seem to be fine, at least at the moment. This tank has just recently finished cycling so I will keep an eye on the pH to see if it may adjust a little now.

I am most interested in fish that seem to come from areas with low pH and softer water - OF COURSE :rolleyes: But since the tank doesn't even have water in it yet, I can adjust my plans in order to get inhabitants that will tolerate my water parameters. OR I can bite the bullet and purchase a whole lot of RO water!
 
ahh driftwood!

I thought I had read that somewhere before... any particular type?

I was actually thinking I would like to have driftwood in there, especially with plants that can attach to it :)
 
Most fish will thrive quite well in a pretty wide range of pH. The main thing that would require you to maintain a certain pH for the fish is if you want to breed them. I'm not concerned about breeding, and I'd rather have my fish in a non-native, but adequate, pH than to subject them to the added osmotic pressure, and changes in pressure, by dosing my aquarium with chemicals.

pH is a measure of acidity (or basic-ness), and alkalinity is a measure of how well buffered the water is - how difficult it is to change the pH.
 
neoprodigy said:
add some drift wood....
Click to expand...

Adding drift wood surely will reduce the hardness , it will depend on how much wood you have and on what type of wood you have as to how much it will come down. Ime this is also only a short term fix due to the fact that the tannins are gradually taken out with water changes and the effect of the tannins is reduced significantly pretty quickly , not to mention the fact that it will only reduce the hardness slightly in most cases.
fish_gal77 said:
How is an Alkalinity test different from pH test?
Click to expand...
Ph values are dirrectly affected by alkalinity, Co2 and a few other factors, so trying to measure alkalinity through ph is pointless, due to the fact that alkalinity is not the only thing to affect the value of ph. Eg,Considering no other factors are involved, if you had water of 4 KH and a Co2 level of 30ppm the ph will be about 6.6, on the other hand water with the same alkalinity of 4 KH but with a Co2 level of 1ppm wilol give a PH level of about 8.1. Usually testing water straight out of the tap can give low ph readings , due to the fact that Co2 levels are usually high straight out of the tap. Testing after 24h after dissolved Co2 has dissipated is usually better to get an accurate PH reading, even then as I said before judging alkalinity off this reading is inaccurate b/c other factors can affect the ph.
 
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