Lowering Ph

[KageBunshin]

I have been spending a lot of money on some Buffer solutions for my discus. My tap water is 7.2 but I usually treat it with Discus Buffer until it drops to about a comfortable 6.5-6.8.

Then I thought to myself, Why couldn't I lower Ph in more natural ways? For example using Lemon Juice or somthing. That would make sense wouldn't it?

Or does anybody have anyother ways that you have tried to lower Ph?

 

[rdd1952]

What is the KH of your tap water? If it is high, there isn't much you can do naturally. Running peat in the filter or adding bogwood would help but how much bepends on the buffering capacity you have. One option (may be expensive though) is to use RO water. You can probably buy it at the LFS or you could get a system but they are expensive.

 

[KageBunshin]

What is the KH of your tap water? If it is high, there isn't much you can do naturally. Running peat in the filter or adding bogwood would help but how much bepends on the buffering capacity you have. One option (may be expensive though) is to use RO water. You can probably buy it at the LFS or you could get a system but they are expensive.

I do not have a KH tester ( I know im bad ) I keep my water to age in a 20 gallon with a sponge filter with aeration, A powerhead attached to a sponge filter, and a heater. Thats where I do all my water conditioning.

Imma go out on a limb and ask, Is Lemon safe for Ph lowering... as in a few drops to lower PH?

Please do not flame me, Im just being curious.

 

[Teelie]

It would probably be easier and better to just use R/O water, driftwood and peat to lower your pH than trying to use lemon juice and a bunch of chemical inducers to do it.

 

[KageBunshin]

It would probably be easier and better to just use R/O water, driftwood and peat to lower your pH than trying to use lemon juice and a bunch of chemical inducers to do it.

Unfortunately I cannot afford an R/O system right now, In my holding tank I have a Resin Pillow that softens the water by Ion exchanges. That lowers the Ph a little bit but I use the discus buffer to lower it to my desired range. Nobody is giving me a red flag on lemon drops, but i'll wait for more responses before I deside to experiment.

Driftwood, Peat, Cattappa leaves... All good stuff but I do not like the brownish tint. IN my tank I already have two peices of driftwood that tints the water a slight brown, but frequent water changes keeps it clear. But if I do WC with brown tinted water, the whole thing would be brown. If this was a breeder tank I would not be so picky, but this is a show tank.

 

[Teelie]

You can also buy R/O water from stores. Here it's 30¢ a gallon.

 

[ccg]

The tannis from the drift wood will eventually stop. Might take a while though,

 

[rdd1952]

Not certain about the lemon drops. Never heard of using them before. I'm pretty sure you could probably boil the water before adding it to the tank. To the best of my knowledge, that will remove most everything from it and bring the buffering capacity way down. I guess you could get a filtering system for your tap to remove all the minerals and also lower the buffering capacity.

 

[KageBunshin]

lol... I see. I will try to hunt down RO water. In the mean time i'll stick with my Buffer.

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[wuvmybetta]

I've heard of many betta folk who use lemon juice to make their water more acidic. First you should test it drop by drop to get the perfect combination before adding it to your tank.
Kage, have you ever tried Amazon Rain by Tropical Science? I use it as an additive to my betta water, but it's specially formulated for discus. It softens the water and stabilizes the PH. It's pricey, but worth it.

 

[KageBunshin]

I've heard of many betta folk who use lemon juice to make their water more acidic. First you should test it drop by drop to get the perfect combination before adding it to your tank.
Kage, have you ever tried Amazon Rain by Tropical Science? I use it as an additive to my betta water, but it's specially formulated for discus. It softens the water and stabilizes the PH. It's pricey, but worth it.

haha, I use somthing like that... But the reason im asking about lemon and other sources is so i can save some bucks on chemicals.

Yeah, I know im a cheapskate... but hey im still a high school student.

Thanks for all the feed back!