lowering Ph

[fishyboy]

What is the best way to lower Ph without using chemicals? My tap is like 8.4 or something. I know injecting CO2 will work, anything else?

 

[mike the zealot]

good bogwood will lower it

www.aquariumdriftwood.com has great stuff, I use it.

 

[FroggyFox]

Peat also will I believe

 

[fishyboy]

Thanks mike and froggy. There's no room in my tank for bogwood so I think I'll try peat.

 

[wayne at home]

If you're at 8.4 it indicates your water hardness is pretty high (and so does living in Az). Peat is a pretty weak acidiser, so I think you'll needa ton (possibly literally) to get your pH moving, as your water will be so strong at buffering. You need to get hardness down, and that'll probably mean an RO machine to mix in say 80% RO and 20% tap water

 

[SoulFish]

what is your target pH?

 

[Gomer]

you could always try mixing your tap with distilled.

 

[Davy]

My target Ph is the 7.5. BTW I was fishyboy. Go to the lounge under "Don't Logout" if you want to now why.

 

[revfred]

The peat will soften the water as well as acidify it. You will also get a yellowish brown tinge to the water.

 

[Davy]

Do most places like PetsMart sell peat?

 

[revfred]

Yes. Often it comes as peat granules.

 

[wayne at home]

You're going to need a ton of peat to do it if you don't mix it in with RO first. I think it's impractical with peat. You'll be abl to do it once, ... but for every water change?

 

[SoulFish]

i agree, use ro or distilled water and mix together until you have desired pH

 

[RobMiller]

im using Peat and i cant get the PH down with it, and i have bog wood in my tank. btw, how much peat do you need to use? i have a 20 g tank.

 

[wayne at home]

You have to use as much as you have to use. Sorry, that's a stupid answer but it's the way it is. It' depends on your kH and buffering, and if that's very high you need to use a lot - when I say tons, I could literally mean tons if you have a 125 and very high kH giving a pH of 8.5 for example. It works well though it's a p.i.t.a. if you have very soft water - I did it for a little while, and was using quite a lot to get pH 5.5 from water with kH 0.
That's why you need RO water - so at least you're starting at a reasonable place to try to move the pH

 

[tetra girl]

I have soft water and just a small amount of peat will lower my pH almost straight away. My only problem with it is the it softens my alrady soft water which could result in a pH crash. Anyone got some ideads on lowering pH to about 6.5 and harding the water at the same time? My tp water is less then 1 GH and pH is 7.8

 

[Davy]

Thanks everyone. I added DIY CO2 to my tank so I don't think that it will be a problem anymore. If I end up taking it out for some reason, then I will give peat a try.

 

[wayne at home]

Tetragirl - that's the same position I'm in, and I couldn't find a way to not be at risk of a pH crash. My kH varies between zero and one. You're breeding tetras, I was breeding Apisto panduro that won't hatch at much above 5.5

 

[tetra girl]

That sux, my kH is also below 1, im sure exactly what it is because it wont show up on my tester. I add salt to try and harden it but it takes a lot to do that and i dont think my fish like it. I wonder if it would help to add carbon to the tank water instead of just in the filter?

 

[wayne at home]

I really wouldn't add salt - most softwater fish hate it, and it's a terrible way to raise pH - can't you get a general pH buffer from your lfs, or use limestone or crush coral or something? I sort of stopped worrying about pH crashes eventually, and just kept on top of NO2, NO3 with water changes.
Carbon won't do anything for this - it's a totally different thing.