Ideas on increasing the Ph...

[Fish_Mike]

I need to find some way to increase my tank's PH from 5.5 to around 6.5. I've got peat in my filter and bogwood, which is obviously causing this, but i now need to reverse this effect. Obviously very slightly, any ideas?

My tap PH is 7.5, but i shan't do any water changes right now as it's still cycling.

 

[rdd1952]

Raising pH is a lot easier than lowering it. Do you know what the KH (Carbonate Hardness, commonly called buffering capacity) of your tap water is? I would assume that it is 0 or 1 since your tank pH is dropping so much. What fish do you plan to keep? Depending on that, a pH of 5.5 may not be a bad thing.

The easiest way to raise your pH would be to remove the peat from your filter. Since you're doing a fishless cycle, I wouldn't worry much about it for now. Once you finish cycling, you are going to do a large watr change which will raise the pH back up to nearer your tap pH of 7.5. From there adding some bicarbonate will help add buffering capacity to keep the pH closer to the tap pH.

The hard problem for you is going to be trying to maintain a consistant pH that is a full point below your tap pH. I don't know that you will be able to do that.

 

[Rodders]

My friend uses a producted called 'PH down' as his tap water is too high. I know they do a 'PH up' as well.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Why exactly are you altering your PH?

 

[Fish_Mike]

Why exactly are you altering your PH?

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To tell you the truth, i'm not pruposely altering the PH. The Driftwood in there is just for ornamental purposes and the peat is there more for the added nutrients.

I'll test my KH in 1 sec and brb:

I've read Ph Up doesn't work because of a high Kh, but even if mine's low, i really don't want to add so much chemicals to it

The fish will be Sevs and Angels and Keyholes. I know they do like this Acidic Ph, but as you can see, a single water change could really stress them out.

 

[Fish_Mike]

And my KH is.... 1*