Ph Of 7.8--How To Lower Without Chemicals?

[kittystough]

I tested my new tank for the first time tonight (just got the kit in the mail). The tank is 10 days old. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates were all 0 as I did a 25% water change 2 days ago. BUT the pH was 7.8! My platys seem fine except the yellow one does dart around at times whereas she wasn't doing that when we first got her. How can I naturally lower the pH of the tank? Could this high pH harm my platys? All the neons died...now I know why. I have both plastic and real plants in the tank.
 
How do I know if my tap water is the source of high pH? I read some confusing articles that said you have to test your tap water after it sits out for 24 and then again at 48 hours to know the true pH. I have read that driftwood is good as well as peat to lower pH. One thing about the peat is it says it suppresses algae growth, but we have a snail and I do want him to have something to eat
 
Thanks for the help!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That pH is not a problem for platies, and there's no reason to try to lower it.   Did you cycle your tank?  How did you cycle it?  The death of the neons may have been related to ammonia poisoning.  0 nitrates is very unusual in a 'cycled' tank.  Did you shake the bottles vigorously (beyond vigorously actually)?
 
 
 
The darting could be 'flicking'.

 

[kittystough]

It was not until 2 days after I set up the new tank that I learned of cycling.

 So it is still in the cycling process. Initially, I let the new tank settle for 24 hours and then bought our fish and added them to the tank (neon tetras all died). Yesterday I added API Stresszyme to help speed the growth of beneficial bacteria. Today the tank pH is up to 8.0. I tested some of my tap water that has been sitting out for a few days and it was 8.0, so now I know the culprit. I went ahead and ordered some driftwood so maybe that will help a little especially since down the road I want to add in neon tetras again.
 
As far as cycling, I didn't learn about needing to change out 25% of the water every few days in the beginning of cycling, so I didn't change the water out until day 8. I plan to test the water every few days and then go to weekly once the tank is a couple months old. I haven't cleaned out the gravel yet and thinking I am not right now since one source said that removing the sludge from the gravel could raise my already high pH. Does this all sound correct?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The pH is likely NOT the culprit with the neons... more specifically, the lack of a cycled tank is much more likely as the culprit for the neons.  Neons can handle high pH for brief periods of time, but not ammonia.  
 
 
You are going to have to test the water DAILY, not every few days.  The ammonia will build up quickly and you need something to deal with it.  Since you have virtually no bacteria, the answer is water changes.  You would benefit from adding plants to your tank to help uptake nitrogen (ammonia) from the water.  Floating plants are great at that, but fast growing stem plants (which can also just be left floating are also good).   Moneywort, hornwort, frogbit, water lettuce, etc.  Lots of options there.  Floaters are best for this as they are close to the light, have access to the air to grab as much carbon dioxide as they want, and nitrogen is essential for fast plant growth, so they will actually grow very quickly.  And the more they grow, the more ammonia they will use.
 
 
Ammonia above 0.05ppm FREE ammonia is lethal to your fish.  
http/www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/FreeAmmonia.php
Use that link to determine how much of the ammonia is actually 'free'.  At higher pHs, the ratio of free ammonia to total ammonia is much higher than lower pHs.
 
 
 
There is likely (or should be) very little 'sludge' in the gravel as its a brand new set-up.  So that is unlikely to be in anyway a culprit in your pH.  If the tap water sitting out is at a pH of 8.0, then that is the level of the water, and so there is nothing in the tank that is responsible for that.  Its the tap water.  
 
 
As I said before, that pH is not a problem for the platies.  Nor is it a problem for any livebearers.  They prefer water with higher pHs like your tank.  
 
 
 
How big is your tank?  A larger tank with higher pH like this has a great number of options for fish that actually prefer this type of water.

 

[StevenF]

I agree that Ammonia is most likely harming the fish.  However if you still want to lower the PH the only way I know how to do it is by using distilled water. or a mix of distilled and tap water  That would lower the mineral content of your water  (calcium, magnesium and others) in your aquarium and that would help lower the PH.