Proper Ph Powder Bad?

[Albaba]

Ive been using Proper PH 7.0 powder to condition my tap water for some time now. I have however heard that this stuff is high in phosphates and therefore can really encourage algae growth.

Just wondered if there was any other way of conditioning my tap water and having it at ph 7.0?

Ali

 

[thegnu]

what is the pH of your tap water

 

[Albaba]

About 7.4 - 7.6

 

[arabballin]

im also interested whether this stuff works or not and if its any good. I heard its bad for planted tanks.

 

[three-fingers]

IMO, it's a waste of time adding chemicals to your tank.
Its expensive and can cause problems if they stop manufacturing it or your lfs stops stocking it.
If you want to lower the pH in your tank you should add bogwood, Indian almond leaves or one of the other many natural acidifying materials.

Also, why do you even want a pH of 7? I don't know of any fish that require pH 7, all the fish I know prefer it either alkaline or acidic, not in-between (though lots can still thrive at pH 7).
The only reason you could possibly want to do what your doing is if your keeping fish that need acidic water with fish that need alkaline water, which is really not a very good thing to do since you are meeting neither of these fish's needs.

 

[supermatelot]

As long as your PH remains constant and not extreme in either way then most fish will be happy-they adjust.The fluctuations will upset them.Most of the products available for water tweaking IMO are for the sole benefit of fish shop profits.Bogwood is the best answer as whenever you add water the levels will always adjust to the buffered level it creates.

 

[Bignose]

About 7.4 - 7.6

A difference of 0.6 pH units is almost insignificant. What is important are the issues that are being brought up in this thread, namely a constant unchanging pH. The next question is, what is the KH of your tap water.

There are many, many fish that will live very long, very happy lives in water with a pH around 7.4 to 7.6. What fish are you wanting to keep?

 

[aquaticadmirer]

Well I can vouch for it adding a ton of phosphates to the tank...my brother had been taking care of my tank for a while when I was away at school and it got slightly neglected. I came home and tested the pH and it was at 6.0, so I added a bunch of the stuff over a week or so (little did I know it's better to just do regular water changes, since the tap is usually about 6.6).

Well I was having algae issues so I tested the phosphates, and they were off the charts. The tester only goes up to 10ppm, which is supposed to be a navy blue color, and the water in the tube went almost black immediately. This was about a month ago, and my phosphates are still really high...they're just not going down!! The tap has very little phosphate so I guess I'll just keep at those water changes!