DIY pH down?

[wellbiz]

I have heard of people using peatmoss to lower PH, as it leaches into the water... I have read of people putting it in their filters.... Might be something to look into...

Jason

[anonapersona]

If you can find out what is raising the pH to 8.0 and stop that, the normal biological processes will tend to lower the tank pH. Starting at 7.0 you ought to get to 6.5 pretty easily.

Basically, in trying to lower pH or soften water, what you need to do is to remove things from the water, not add.

You can use filtration to remove those things, like an RO unit ($$$). Or you could cut the water with a bit of distilled water, but not much, maybe up to 25% or so.

If you can get pure rainwater, then filter that to remove pollutants (floss and carbon) you can add some of that to the tank to dillute the salts and minerals and such that make the KH and pH what it is.

Peat works because it absorbs the minerals and it adds acids. Search on Peat and you will fins info on how to brew up peat tea to add to the tank to lower the pH and KH.

But, all that is worthless if there is something in the tank that is leaching carbonates into the water. As the pH falls, the leaching will be worse.

I think you need to get some muratic acid and test the gravel in the tank, the vinegar test is not dependable.

Hmm, does someone know which test kit it is that has acid in it? I vaguely recall that there is one kit, like KH or GH, maybe?

[Ace]

Sure your tap water is neutral? If you can't find the source of the material that cause the ph rising,pH lowering stuff might not work cause the source will rise the pH back!

wellbiz it is an asian red arowana....

[wellbiz]

Originally Posted by Ace

Sure your tap water is neutral? If you can't find the source of the material that cause the ph rising,pH lowering stuff might not work cause the source will rise the pH back!

wellbiz it is an asian red arowana....

Ace, That is a truly awsome fish.....

[Cyberian]

I'm sure there is absolutely nothing wrong with the gravel.

Perhaps is the aquarium salt I been using. Not too sure if that raises pH levels or not. I'm trying to get rid of the odour some of the plants carry. I constantly add more plants to my aquaria; therefore, I'm contantly adding new doses of salt to get rid of the smell.

[George Willms]

Salt is not going to get rid of the smell and is not going to help your plants either. Water changes are the way to go if your planted tank has a smell.

[tombsc]

You could try this :

http://fp.marksfish.f9.co.uk/peat.htm

[fishyboy]

I agree ace that fish better clean your house lol

[ginnie5]

http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/peat%20page.html
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/doc...oftening.shtml
I used to try and mess with my water. It was a royal pain. The water where we used to live was truly horrible though. Kh and gh were off the charts. I stopped counting at 50 drops! Ph constantly was swinging. i tried a tap water purifier for a while but that would be too $$$ for so many tanks. I ended up using a water softener pillow. Now thankfully I have really good water. I think that if I needed softer water than what I have I would go for rainwater. I checked the levels on it one day just for the heck of it.....no kh at all. so it seems that if you want cheap that would be the way to go. I don't know how many gallons per day you need but I have seen ro units for like $100..bare bones whatever that means. Good luck!

[digger]

Originally Posted by Cyberian

Neons will only mate in slightly acidic water. That is what I'm trying to do. I want my neons to have fries. I'm well aware that neons can survive fine in up to 8.0 or so.

And you said you weren't an extremest Breeding neons certainly isn't the easiest thing to do. Not only do you need water with a ph of 6.8-7.0 you also need very soft water. That means getting the total disolved solids down. The way you do this is by using RO water. So you're looking at spending at least $300 on a decent RO unit.

[Nordic]

I have managed to trigger spawning in neons a few times by adding washed riversand to the tank, however the eggs are very sensitive to, erm, well everything including light, I would definatly not suggest you try this in a planted tank. I think i had them spawn 4 or 5 times, on each occasion I could see the eggs, on each occasion they all went rotten.

[secretagent]

I heard that peat moss works in lowering the PH and was about to suggest Like brewing it in a pot then using the exese Water and adding as nessesary. I also would forewarn you about the stench it gives out and draining might be a hassel. WELL GooD Luck!!!!

[Rikko]

I'd read a lot about people using muriatic acid to lower their pH.. It's never been a big issue where I live so I've never bothered. Peat works well to soften and drop water's pH as well.

What you might find easiest is to head to a nursery (or pool supply store?) and pick up a bottle of pond pH down (pool pH down may work too, but I wouldn't vouch on how accurate it is).. It will probably go quite far and be affordable. I can get bottles of pH down for about $20CDN and I believe it'll do 1250 US gal.

Or, DIY CO2 works quite well. Brewing it with yeast rather than pressurized cylinders is far cheaper but can be a little flaky - I have good luck with it, anyways. Mine cost me about three bucks to make with a pop bottle and some airline hose, plus whatever you want to do for a diffuser.

Also, did you do a gravel test? I am extremely suspicious of any substrate in the tank when something is going awry.. pH doesn't just go up for no reason. Draw some tap water and test the pH. Add some washed gravel from your tank to that water and shake it up for a few minutes. Maybe even let it sit for a few hours. Now test the water again. If it's higher, you have your culprit. Use a very small amount of water in the gravel to make it work faster.

[Rolo]

Guys, this post is very old and the the writer of it has been inactive for over 4 months. Don't think he's looking for any help.