Wood And Ph

[Steve H.]

I know, or have read that wood will lower your water PH.

Will wood naturally lower water PH to a stable point and hold it for a length of time?
Or is it prone to fluctuations of the PH?

I guess I'm trying to figure out if wood is a viable method of lowering the pH of my local water in order to keep certian species that prefers a more acidic pH.

Thanks!

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

Steve, IMO it depends on the type of wood, and even then it is going to be minimal. Also as you conduct each water change the effect will get less and less. Are you trying to shift the pH a lot, or just a little? What is it just now, and what is your desired pH?

Another point of note, is that a stable pH which might be slightly to alkaline for your fish will always be better for them, and your tank in general, than a pH that keeps shifting up and down.

 

[minnnt]

My ph has dropped 0.4 and is now stable at 6.8 and has been for some time.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Wood will lower the Ph by no more than 1.

Tom

 

[minnnt]

Wood will lower the Ph by no more than 1.

Tom

Not really accurate though due to a number of things such as:

Type of wood
Age of wood
Size of wood
Size of aquarium
Number of water changes
Amount of water changed (%)
Actual chemistry of your tap water.

There are too many variables to simply say it will lower it by more than 1.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Wood will lower the Ph by no more than 1.

Tom

Not really accurate though due to a number of things such as:

Type of wood
Age of wood
Size of wood
Size of aquarium
Number of water changes
Amount of water changed (%)
Actual chemistry of your tap water.

There are too many variables to simply say it will lower it by more than 1.

I said NO more than one


Tom

 

[minnnt]

Doesn't matter really as it is impossible to determine the amount it affect the water.

 

[Steve H.]

Steve, IMO it depends on the type of wood, and even then it is going to be minimal. Also as you conduct each water change the effect will get less and less. Are you trying to shift the pH a lot, or just a little? What is it just now, and what is your desired pH?

Another point of note, is that a stable pH which might be slightly to alkaline for your fish will always be better for them, and your tank in general, than a pH that keeps shifting up and down.

Thanks for the reply!
My local water has a natural pH of 8.4. The fish I have now love and thrive in it.
But I've been kicking around the idea of a amazon tank and most of those species like more acidic water...the Discus in particular. So I am looking to lower it about 1.5 or so.
I guess I am just looking for a cheaper out for lowering my local pH than purchasing an RO system.
And was thinking that perhaps wood could be a natural solution to my water issue.

 

[Steve H.]

Wood will lower the Ph by no more than 1.

Tom

Not really accurate though due to a number of things such as:

Type of wood
Age of wood
Size of wood
Size of aquarium
Number of water changes
Amount of water changed (%)
Actual chemistry of your tap water.

There are too many variables to simply say it will lower it by more than 1.

Thanks guys! I guess that is what I was looking for, but didn't really want to find.
Although the wood will lower my local pH it looks like there are too many variables to make it reliable to hold a stable pH, so I don't think I should consider using wood as a method to lower my local pH, and consider purchasing an RO/system.
Thanks for the quick response's!

 

[Aqua Tom]

Simple answer is, altering Ph is way to much hastle, we have chemists on here that shy away from doing it. It is just too much work to keep on top of.
I have high Ph & used to stress about it, I have since relaxed a bit & stocked accordingly. Now I have a nice happy tank that is a joy to watch even though it has a high Ph.

Think about it. You alter the chemestry of your tank & get a Ph of lets say 6.5, great, wonderful, fantastic. Now its time for a water change, oh dear, now I have to match the water going into the tank to the Ph in it as I have adjusted it out of sync with my tapwater.
This will have to be done at every waterchange.

RO water is a way around this but very expensive.

My advice is to just leave it & stock tolerant fish.

Just my humble opinion & in no way gospel.

Tom

 

[minnnt]

Ro is the best way to go if you can setup the system out of sight.

If the fish you want to keep require soft water with lower ph then it should be considered seriously imo.

 

[Steve H.]

Thanks guys!

Deep down I knew that RO is the only way to go for the project that's been bouncing around my head lately.
I would really like to try a Discus tank, and have been researching to see if this would even possible for me. Been looking at filtration and water parameters to see what it would take to maintain them.
Most keepers recommend minimum 3 wc's per week. So, you are right Tom. Messing around trying to match change water to the tank water would be a complete head ache.
Already going to be challenging. Trying to match a 85-90 degree water temps of 45 gallons of change water for a 50% wc seems daunting without a plastic garbage can and another heater.

Just trying to work this all out before I attempt such a challenging fish.

Thanks for the insights!

 

[Aqua Tom]

Before going any further, what is the HARDNESS of your water? Kh & Gh?

This is completely different to Ph.

Ph is a measurment of acidity.

Kh & Gh are measurments of minaral levels.


Tom

 

[Steve H.]

Before going any further, what is the HARDNESS of your water? Kh & Gh?

This is completely different to Ph.

Ph is a measurment of acidity.

Kh & Gh are measurments of minaral levels.


Tom

Don't worry I haven't gone anywhere yet. This has been my research.
Surprisingly, my local water is quite soft for having such a high pH value. I have not tested it in quite some time, but the last time I tested it it was soft/slightly hard around 3Gh if I remember correctly.
I do remember for sure that it was right on the upper end of soft and the lower end of slightly hard.
I will have to get an accurate test kit for that, and double check.
But for now in my planning stage water hardness was less of a concern than pH. Seeing that the water hardness was much closer to what is required for Discus than the pH is.

All still planning and researching right now though.

 

[Steve H.]

Before going any further, what is the HARDNESS of your water? Kh & Gh?

This is completely different to Ph.

Ph is a measurment of acidity.

Kh & Gh are measurments of minaral levels.


Tom

Don't worry I haven't gone anywhere yet. This has been my research.
Surprisingly, my local water is quite soft for having such a high pH value. I have not tested it in quite some time, but the last time I tested it it was soft/slightly hard around 3Gh if I remember correctly.
I do remember for sure that it was right on the upper end of soft and the lower end of slightly hard.
I will have to get an accurate test kit for that, and double check.
But for now in my planning stage water hardness was less of a concern than pH. Seeing that the water hardness was much closer to what is required for Discus than the pH is.

All still planning and researching right now though.

Just read that even using RO water I will need to mix it with dechlorinated water to add back back some mineral content.
So either way I would be mixing water to try any match it to the tank parameters every water change.:
Maybe peat?