Maintaining Ph Balance

[Jaznlou]

our tap water is 8.5 ph , we are using ph down to gradually reduce it so we can have pleco`s and angel fish in our tank but it only reduces it 0.3 a day,, Question is now we have ph 7.0/7.5 how do we maintain this ph during water changes ,, is there a product out there that turns the new water from 8.5 to 7.0/7.5 instantly ??? any help appreciated thanks

 

[Colin_T]

I found the best way was to drop the PH of the tap water in a bucket befor eusing it in the tank. Simply make the water up in a bucket, add the PH down and aerate it. Check the PH and keep adding the PH down until the pH is where you want it. Then use that water for the water changes.

You can have a bag of peat sitting in a bucket of water. Over a course of a week or more it will drop the PH. It might make the water brown tho.

You can use a reverse osmosis (R/O) unit to remove any minerals in the water and that should help drop the PH but they waste a lot of water.

The other thing is to just leave the pH high. Most captive bred fishes can tolerate a high PH. If the fish are wild caught then keep them in solft acid wter.

 

[dave_gray2077]

Ok.

Firstly how big is a tank. Depending on the size its going to get expensive on Ph down mixtures or acid buffers.

Unless you breading or have very sensitive fish Ph is not something you relay need to worry about.

If you really want to reduce the Ph to recreate a natural climate for your Angles invest in an RO machine. http/www.ro-man.com/ is good. also try the site sponsors Osmotic's. Both provide good RO kits for about the same price.

Using RO water is simple if you as sure you want to go down this route. Raw RO water has only trace minirals it it so for the health of the fish you need to re-mineral it. You can

a) User a commercial miniral addative....EXPENSIVE
B) Cut the water with de-chlorinated tap water as specific ratio. You would have to mix some test batches and test the Ph\GH\KH after 24 hours on each one. Once you have the right mixing ratio just add the water to the tank. CHEEP

NOTE: don't do a large water change right away to drop the PH. Just continue with normal water changes and slowly substitute the normal water with the cut RO water increaing the amount of RO water used each change by about 10%. This is to prevent massive PH swings.

You need some GH\KH to stop massive PH swings so try and and for about 6dgrees.

That is an explanation of the best way to alter Ph. If you want to do it. It is also the cheapest.

Just for your information I have 2bn Plecs in Ph 8 GH 14 KH 16 water and they are fine. Along with cardinal tetras. The plecs are only 3 months old but they show know sign of trouble and the cardinals are approaching there 1st birthday with only 1 casualty.

 

[rdd1952]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Adjusting pH is a very tricky thing to do, especially when you are trying to lower it. Most fish can adapt to any stable pH. The pH adjusters seem to keep it in a constant swing. The problem is that most high pH water also has a high GH & KH. The high buffering capacity makes moviing the pH very hard.

The method dave_gray mentioned would be the least stressful to your fish. Having said that, the water in and around London has pretty much the same properties as yours and there are members in that area that are keeping very delicate fish and rays with no problems. It can be done.

 

[Jaznlou]

thanks for all your help , we have checked the water PH with a more accurate testing kit and it is reading 7.8ph on the basis of this and your advise and our local shop we are now the proud owners of 2 L018 golden nugget plecos and a golden loach(suckermouth) ,,,, altho the plecos are in hiding which is normal i hear, how long do you think it will take then to come out and show themselves??? ,,, the loach on the other hand is licking every bit of glass in the tank , all 174Litres of it,, once again thank you all

 

[rdd1952]

If it is possible to return the golden loach, I would. It is actually a golden chinese algae eater. They do eat some algae when they are young but as they get older, they get much more aggressive and try to suck the slime coat off other fish. IMO, they are really not suitable for community tanks.

 

[rabbut]

I agree with RDD above. Also, two L18 are likely to fight, so you should also look to remove one, unless you have a tank in excess of 6 foot.

I have had my L18 for arround 4 months now, and I still rarely see it. This is the thing with owning fincy plecs. All the joy is in finding them without ripping the tank apart

On a more serious note, they require bog wood in their diet, so make shure you have some in your tank

If I rememer rightly, L18 rarely breed in captivity, so they are probibly wild caught. They will require soft acidic water. I would use RO to lower the pH, as the pH adjusters are just too risky with such delicate fish Some LFS sell RO if the cost of a unit is too great for your budget.

HTH
Rabbut