P.h. Down?

Chrs · Jul 10, 2009

I need to lower my P.H. from 8.0 to 7.0. Whats the best type of P.H. down?

afishdude · Jul 10, 2009

Why are you trying to lower it?

drobbyb · Jul 10, 2009

It's best not to mess with your pH. Fish are very adaptable. Just because it says that they prefer a pH of 7 dosen't mean that they can't adapt to a pH of 8.

indigoj · Jul 11, 2009

If you really need softer water (eg for discus or other very sensitive fish) then the most consistent way to keep the water softer and stable is to invest in an RO or HMA filter (they attach to your pipes on the sink not the tank) - As others have said though, fish can adapt and if you are buying locally then chances are they have already been living in similar water.

Chrs · Jul 11, 2009

I was told that my cories would not last very long in my tank and that I would need to lower it for them and my ram.

drobbyb · Jul 11, 2009

My brother has some cory cats in his african cichlid tank with a pH of 8.2. The cories are 3 years old and still going strong. They adapt.

Tolak · Jul 11, 2009

You have to understand the relationship between hardness and pH before trying to lower pH. Hardness stabilizes pH, generally water with a higher pH is harder. Hardness value is the amount of dissolved minerals in the water.

The problem you will probably have is pH rebound. The pH will go down, the hardness, which stabilizes pH will bring it up to its original value. To do this properly you have to remove the minerals, which is what a RO unit will do. You can then add a variety of acidic substances to lower the pH, or alkaline to raise it, then add back minerals to stabilize the pH.

Bignose · Jul 11, 2009

drobbyb said:
My brother has some cory cats in his african cichlid tank with a pH of 8.2. The cories are 3 years old and still going strong. They adapt.

I second this anecdote. My bronze cory catfish are in a tank with a pH in the 8.2 to 8.4 range. And, when I do a water change with cold water, they start spawning. They much be pretty darn happy in that water to be spawning.

What kind of cory catfish is an important question. Some are sensitive, some are very adaptable. So, Chrs, what kind of cory catfish are they?

Chrs · Jul 12, 2009

They're peppered cories. And what about my bolivian ram?

kribensis12 · Jul 12, 2009

They should be fine. But, I don't know if they will spawn or not. I had angels in my pH of 8.4 and they spawned, but the eggs never hatched( they just went bad). I think my waters pH may have had something to do with it.

DiscusKeeper403 · Jul 12, 2009

kribensis12 said:
They should be fine. But, I don't know if they will spawn or not. I had angels in my pH of 8.4 and they spawned, but the eggs never hatched( they just went bad). I think my waters pH may have had something to do with it.

Actually more so the TDS in the water, the eggs couldn't get fertilized because they became too hard.