How Can I Lower The Ph Of My Local Tap Water

[barb-e]

I just did a couple of test and found that the ph of my tap water if 7.8. The water in my fish tank is 8.0. Both of these numbers are too high for the fish I want, harlequin rasboras. I have heard that if the ph is too high your fish can get sick or even die, which I am strongly trying to avoid. How can I lower the ph level?

 

[Dark Wolf]

there's no easy way. Using products like ph down aren't as useful as you'd think, because they keep the ph unstable, which is just as bad for your fish, if not worse.

My ph is also high (close to 8.5 from the tap). I've found that mine falls gradually over time, not sure why though?

Other than that all i can suggest is maybe mixing tap water with some sort of bottled water, that might help bring the ph down a little

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Adding some bogwood to the tank will help lower the PH. Also peat filtering the water will lower it a little bit as well.

Dont us PH adjusting chemicals as unless you are really careful you end up getting massive PH swings which are much more harmful to the fish then having one high but stable PH.

A lot of common fish will adapt to higher PH and rasboras in general are pretty hardy and should be fine.

Personaly I would say never used bottled water.

 

[stang1]

As someone stated you can add bogwood to the tank to lower the PH but would probably need a large amount to make a huge difference. We use RO water (with minerals added) to keep the PH low in our tanks.

 

[Matty P]

As barney said bogwood or peat filteration are your best option, although they may stain you water slightly.

 

[Musho3210]

why mess with ph, 7.8 is fine for most fish.

 

[rdd1952]

Although your pH isn't optimal for harlequins, they certainly should be able to handle it. Most fish can adapt to a wide pH range as long as it's table. As mentioned, driftwood/bogwood and peat can lower the pH but usually not a lot as quite often high pH water also has a high KH thus enough buffering capacity to prevent the peat and wood from having a significant effect. I would suggest taking a sample of water to your LFS and have them test the KH and GH for you. Hae them give you the actual readings and then come back and post those. What ever you do, don't use the pH adjusting chemicals as they will just keep the pH n a constant up and down swing which is much worse for the fish than a high but stable pH.