driftwood and ph

[skullplate]

i did some research and found out that using driftwood can lower your ph level naturally. my question is if this is a permanent solution or if whatever is in the driftwood that lowers the ph will eventually stop working. also, in a 30gallon tank how much driftwood would i need to possibly change the ph from around 7.8 to a more neutral level?

thanks for your help

 

[Colisa lalia]

Oh yeah it continues until the driftwood has dissolved. Driftwood leaches tons of acid into the water at first, but later it leaches much less. Let the tank stand with good filtration and the driftwood for at least two weeks.

 

[wayne]

Agreed , the amount of tannic and other organis acids soon goes down. If your water has very much hardness in it then driftwood will be a poor wayto drop pH. If you have very soft water it'll be OK but unstable, plus you'll obviously be in trouble every time you change water as it isn't a quick way to move pH.
pH 7.8 isn't too bad - probably pretty soft? Why do you want to shift it? There's no single figure that's a 'natural' pH

 

[skullplate]

well, the only reason i wanted to shift it down was because i thought it was a little high and might hurt my fish or plants. its a 30 gallon planted community tank with some tetras, algae eating fish, and a couple shrimp. if a ph of 7.8 isn't too bad then i won't mess with it. i know it is atleast stable at that level so thats good. from what i understand changes in the ph levels are harder on the fish then if you had a slightly high ph level that was constant.

 

[RedTurquoise]

Changing ph using driftwood is only a temporary change as the tannins leach from the driftwood and slowly the tannins disappear therefore causing your ph to rise again.

A ph of 7.8 is fine! Thats what my ph is at and Im growing out discus. Dont bother changing it as it is more of a pain than anything. Plus your fish will love you more if the ph is constant rather than changing.