How are you lowering pH?

[gvv]

Hello,

On the cichild-forum.com I read that people use RO, peat-moss, rain water and also Sodium Bisulfate to lower the pH for New World Cichlids.
I just want to know, what are people in Ottawa use in order to lower pH (and also hardness) of our tap water?

[don]

Hello,

On the cichild-forum.com I read that people use RO, peat-moss, rain water and also Sodium Bisulfate to lower the pH for New World Cichlids.
I just want to know, what are people in Ottawa use in order to lower pH (and also hardness) of our tap water?

Meuritic Acid

[luvfishies]

Muriatic Acid is a very strong acid, and not something I would use without a lot of experimentation in a bucket!

Personally I filter over Peat for the Discus and Angels and softwater tanks. My water is about the same pH as Ottawa water, but the KH and GH is higher, I do believe, and the peat works well enough for what I use it for.

[Marx]

im going to use peat aswell.. for my new 75gal..

im going for 7.2ish ph.. right now out of tap after a day of sitting my ph is 7.5-7.6

so i want it lower.. to keep fish happy.. (no discus)

[Greg]

As an aside, Luvfishies do you have any angel fry available?

Thanks, Greg

PS Sorry to diverge...

[saltydog]

All of my New World cichllid tanks contain driftwood which may act to lower PH, does anyone know? I do not use peat.

I do 35%-50% water changes directly from the tap with Severums, Jack Dempsys, & Pacus. The result is a large PH swing but my fish show no obvious signs of stress (i.e. laboured breathing, loss of appetite, or paling of colour).  Jack Dempsys & Severums have bred successfully without effort on my part.

[dpatte]

To lower pH, I use CO2 injection for the plants. This makes the plants grow like crazy and decreases the pH as much as 1.5

[artw]

saltydog just out of curiosity what is your starting PH in the tanks before your 35-50's ?  
mine must be abnormally high because I never see a change. hmm...    maybe it might be less stress on your fish if you get your ph up higher

[Evan]

I have drift wood in one of my tanks.  From my experience it does not lower the PH.  (I have read that it will though)

I have discus, I do not lower the PH in the water.  I age the tap water so it is stable (it becomes the same as the tank PH)

I have had no sickness and all of my young discus are growing well.

[gvv]

Thanks a lot for all your responses!

[Marx]

Mopani wood has a very small effect on water chemistry.. except tannin..

Malaysian bogwood lowers ph and plays with Hardness. and leeches tons on tannin..

driftwood of other sorts are pretty much inert..

hope that helps..

[Nelson]

Mopani wood has a very small effect on water chemistry.. except tannin..

Malaysian bogwood lowers ph and plays with Hardness. and leeches tons on tannin..

driftwood of other sorts are pretty much inert..

hope that helps..

I concur about Mopani wood - I've got 10 pieces in my 120 and it hasn't affected my water chemistry at all.  It's been leeching for months but I can live with that.

[artw]

thats one thing I miss with the driftwood is the tea coloured water
well there is nothing to say I cant load my tanks with it

hmm anyone interested in some wild caught driftwood from a relatively clean undisturbled lake in northcentral ontario?

[dpatte]

wild caught driftwood? male or female?

(and yes, I'd be interested)

[Marx]

If its safe sure!! but i wonder what it has soaked into it... I've heard norther Canada period has a high concentration of Nickel and Uranium in the water..  how would that effect the tanks?

[gvv]

If its safe sure!! but i wonder what it has soaked into it... I've heard norther Canada period has a high concentration of Nickel and Uranium in the water..  how would that effect the tanks?

No more breeding :lol:

[saltydog]

Art,

Initial PH of water in these tanks is generally 6.2-6.6.  Tapwater is usually around 8.6

One way to lessen the shock is to match temperature closely & to refill slowly, maybe even in stages, over a period of several hours.

[luvfishies]

Greg, no Angel fry ATM, but they are making all the moves again. So in a couple of months I should have some more littles.

As for Mopani wood, I've found that it DOES affect pH and KH. I actually used to use it to "age" 5g buckets of water for the discus changewater. My tap went from 7.8/5 to "untestable"/1KH, and went a dark orange-brown, just lovely!

Evan, discus fry actually do better in slightly alkaline water with some hardness to it. It's only when wanting to breed the suckers that TDS and pH really become crucial.

[Evan]

True,  I have read that slightly acidic waters will help improve hatch rates.

[zapisto]

Well,

you have different way to lower the PH.
i am a south american dwarf cichlids lovers ,and i have an extraordinary chance to have water from my tap coming out at 6.8.

but sometime i need PH around 4.5 so i have no choices.
and on top of the PH i need really soft water.

So i use RO/DI but your have differente way (all have pro and cons).

- RO/DI
- Peat
- some chemical addition (including acid)
- Oak leaves
- magic Almond leaves
- Aulnes fruits
- rain water
- etc...

me i use in order of my preference :

- RO/DI as base
- magic Almond leaves who have antibacterial properties
- Oak leaves who also give the fish somewhere to hide and etc....
- rain water
- Aulnes fruits (coming from europe)
- peat