Can Get Below Ph 7.4

[LolaLouie]

I'm trying to get my tank down to around pH 6.8 using peat but I seem to of plateaued at 7.4.

My tap water is 8.0 but I do my water changes with water of pH 6.6-7.0

I also have some peat (not enough to significantly lower the pH but surely enought to maintain it) in the filter and lots of bogwood. iven that for the past few weeks all my water changes have been with water pH 6.6-7 what is making my tank stop at pH 7.4?!?

My substrate is ordinary play sand, I have about 20-30 plants (vallisneria, amazon sword, java fern and anubias), 1 huge piece of bogwood, 2 fairly large pieces and 1 small piece. I have 2 rocks both bought from LFS (they don't raise pH as I tested) and that's it so why won't my pH fall anymore??

If I just put water in a bucket with peat the pH drops to 7 after 1 night and 6.6 after 2 nights so I don't think it can be to do with the buffering of the water?

Any ideas??

I am getting another filter so I can put a full 2 litres of peat in the tank and i'm hoping that will lower the pH but would like to find out why it wont lower now?

Thanks

 

[Callum]

Maybe when your adding your low ph water, the slightly higher ph water in the tank is balancing it out again, no idea why its plateaud though If you've got some spare cash why not try using RO water? It would be more effective than peat.

Also are you supplied by thames water at home or south east water? (you have a high tap ph ^^)

 

[LolaLouie]

i'm supplied by thames water. Yeh very annoyingly high pH.

RO water is more of a problem of carrying it up to our top floor apartment each week. It would just be a pain. I'm hoping when I get the extra peat my pH will break its plateau.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Callum]

I'm lucky im supplied by south east so I get ph 7.6

 

[LolaLouie]

Where do you live? Oh I just saw Berkshire, I live pretty much on the thames so i don't think there's any chance of me getting a better water source

 

[Underwurlde]

Q) Why are you trying to lower your pH?

Andy

 

[LolaLouie]

Because i don't really see the fun of keeping fish in a glass box unless you're going to try to recreate the environment they came from. I don't really like having fish just to watch them swim, i get bored of it.

 

[Underwurlde]

OK, fair enough.

I am the opposite though I must admit: The less time I spend on maintenance & the more time I spend watching my beautiful set-up the better....

I would say this though from my experience: Fiddling with ph is awkward & irksome. Too many variables that will involve constant monitoring & adjustment to get it right. What you DON'T want is a setup with rising & falling pH all the time: This will stress the fish and possibly induce algae. To this end, I think many people would say, that to get optimum pH (and of course GH & KH) that it is best to start with RO water and not try to adjust tap water - I think you'd be on a hiding to nothing with tap water really.

Start with RO water (prices vary) i.e. start with a blank sheet and hence no testing / monitoring (save £££ in the long run & much time). You'll very quickly learn what adjustments to the RO water you'll need to make to get your desired ph (and GH & KH etc.) It will then just be a question of adding a known set amount of adjustment to get that water just right.

Andy

 

[LolaLouie]

Thanks for that!

Everyone keeps saying RO water so i think what I'm going to do is use up all the peat i've got if I find i can get my pH stable and to the level i want i will start using RO water. I really want this peat thing to work though because 1. Peat also makes blackwater 2. Peat is waaaay cheaper than RO water 3. RO water sounds time consuming 4. I live in a top floor apartment and it's not going to be fun lugging gallons of water up the stairs each week (although im sure it will end up being my bf who does it not me and he def. won't be impressed!)

Anyway guess i'll see when my new filter arrives.

Thanks again for the advice!

Oh and about the fish thing, I just feel it's way cooler having a little piece of the amazon in a glass box rather than just some fish! But I also enjoy watching them

 

[Underwurlde]

I'll mention this just in case as you refer to lugging water everywhere in the future. Buy a Reverse Osmosis filter & use tap water to make your own RO water?

I defiantely agree with you though, having a little slice of the Amazon in your tank (or any complete eco-system) is way cool.

Andy

 

[geo7x]

You don't need to fiddle with the pH to recreate an environment, you are going to do more harm than good by having an unstable pH.
As long as the fish are in a constant, steady pH then all but the most fussy of fish will be fine whatever the pH.

 

[LolaLouie]

My pH is stable I change it at no more that 0.2 per week which is much slower than necessary, I water change with water of the same pH and there is no fluctuation within the tank.

 

[geo7x]

I still don't see much point in changing it at all unless you keep chocolate gouramis or something. It's a lot of effort for nothing, the fish in your lfs are going to be acclimatised to your local pH and having to acclimate fish that are used to pH 8.0 into a pH of 6.7-7.0 (which is what you want to achieve, right?) in your tank is quite substantial.
I just don't understand why, there really is no point unless you keep the minority of fish that would die in anything but acidic conditions, it is not worth the risk.
What fish do you keep in the tank?

 

[LolaLouie]

My LFS keeps fish in RO water at pH 6.6 which i guess is partly my reason and also i just like the idea of giving my fish the ideal environment.