PH??

[wal999]

Does this sound correct? -- I have hard well water that I dilute with Distilled to come out to a GH and KH of 5. Which gives me a PH of 7.6....is that about right for that hardness?
I wish to have a PH of 7.2, but I do not want to drop my hardness(buffering) levels any more than present. And I wish do do this naturally...No acids or phosphate buffers and no peat. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[catfishmike]

your levels sound fine,but remember that whatever fish you get are going to need to be acclimated VERY slowly if you intend to keep them alive as the water they come from will be diffrent sense your not using tap water

 

[mike the zealot]

what are you keeping? pH is not really so critical if you're not breeding, unless you're keeping discus. you can lower you're ph further naturally with driftwood and/or co2 injection, though. Peat moss seems a pretty natural way to do it to me as well.

 

[Jawz]

ph levels are not very crucial to be at an exact level but very crucial that they stay constant. What is the levels coming out of the well directly?

 

[AndyL]

Originally posted by mike the zealot
what are you keeping? pH is not really so critical if you're not breeding, unless you're keeping discus.

pH isn't critical with discus, TDS (kh/gh) is a much more critical factor. At least for breeding.

 

[wal999]

levels

My levels right out of the well are GH-30, KH-17, PH 8.5. I am keeping freshwater fish such as Tetras and cats. I'd like the Ph to be a bit on the acidic side, but to get that with my water I have to lower GH and KH to around 2. I have tested our river water and it is much softer than my well, but many people have guarded against using this water as contaminates would be too high. Any thoughts on this?

 

[wayne at home]

pH is a function of how much and what dissolved stuff you have in you r water, and how it affects hydroxyl ions, therefore without getting that kH out of the water you will not be able to get, or at least your pH below 7 and keep it there. Stability will be ok as long as you're careful about maintenance.
If you don't want ot reduce your buffering capacity by lowering your kH , I think what you want is impossible, without hitting it hard with acids, which you don't want to do.
Also peat is a natural method, or at least filtering it thro' some other decaying mass to react out all the alkaline ions. Peat/rotting veg is how you get low pH water in nature

 

[mike the zealot]

pH isn't critical with discus, TDS (kh/gh) is a much more critical factor. At least for breeding.

This seems to be true, I did a little research:

http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=6312

 

[wethead]

You really have to watch distilled water, rain water & R.O. water because they are void of many elements vital to the health of all fish, just be careful when using.....Rich