How Do You Raise/lower Ph

[CluelessScot]

I am rather lucky where i live as the water has a low ph and has low chemicals in it, but how would you raise or lower you ph? Adding types of stones can make your water hard i think i was told and bog wood makes it softer? might be wrong there tho but how do you alter the ph...

Tried to search it but ph under 4 chars ~_~

Kev

 

[Weaver]

Having ph of 7.6/7.8 and very hard water I never need to up the ph although I think crushed coral and baking soda? can do this
To lower my ph I use peat which I stick in a sock or stocking and put in the tank.Not very pretty but it does the job Bogwood is also supposed to lower it

 

[yvez9]

mosy of what you would use will come from the pet store,

to lower ph, peat, bogwood, driftwood

to higher ph, crushed corals, base rock used in marine setups, baking soda.

 

[@ombomb]

Crushed coral = higher pH
CO² = lower pH
Bogwood = lower pH
Peat = lower pH

 

[CluelessScot]

Ah, thanks very much My ph is sitting at around 6.9 ~ 7.1 and its soft, was i rite in assuming that bogwood sofens the water? The guy at the LFS said that my water was perfect for rams but i want to add more bogwood, would that lower it further making it to low for my rams and angel?

Kev

 

[@ombomb]

Adding more bogwood would probably bring the pH down slightly, but the effects are not that dramatic. Rams / Angels would be fine in the current water, but come from water with a pH slightly lower than that so I wouldn't worry about adding some more bogwood. Not sure if it actually softens the water or not.

 

[timmystood]

I need to lower my pH so i'm getting this stuff offline that automatically puts your pH to around 7.5 - Should be good, I'll see how it works!

 

[@ombomb]

Don't use chemicals to lower the pH, they lower the buffering capacity of the water and can lead to a pH crash. Also changing the pH more that .2 / .3 will stress your fish.

Why do you NEED to lower your pH?

 

[CluelessScot]

Thank for the replys cleared things up alot for me

 

[Dubby]

Adding more bogwood would probably bring the pH down slightly, but the effects are not that dramatic. Rams / Angels would be fine in the current water, but come from water with a pH slightly lower than that so I wouldn't worry about adding some more bogwood. Not sure if it actually softens the water or not.

More the tannins, lower the pH. So not always the best colored water

 

[timmystood]

Don't use chemicals to lower the pH, they lower the buffering capacity of the water and can lead to a pH crash. Also changing the pH more that .2 / .3 will stress your fish.

Why do you NEED to lower your pH?

Because it's well over 8!

 

[CluelessScot]

From the tap mines is about 7ish lol

 

[EliteFishy]

Interesting Starwars picture.....

 

[modernhamlet]

Don't use chemicals to lower the pH, they lower the buffering capacity of the water and can lead to a pH crash. Also changing the pH more that .2 / .3 will stress your fish.

Why do you NEED to lower your pH?

Because it's well over 8!

Doesn't change the fact that store bought chemical pH adjusters are bad news and will, as some point, cause serious problems in your tank.

 

[CluelessScot]

Interesting Starwars picture.....

Thanks