pH altering properties of substrates

**illumbomb** · 8th Feb 2009, 12:33

used ADA Amazonia - pH 6.8

Also note that I am using distilled water for all the above "non-scientific" tests as they are said to contain less pH buffering substrances. I recently tried adding peat granules in a bucket of tap water and the pH was brought down to merely about 6 as opposed to the expected 4 to 4.5 when using distilled water, something which I have tested quite a few times already in my emersed cryptocoryne tank.

See post 11 for grand summary.

**Jervis** · 8th Feb 2009, 16:36

Very informative. Thanks for the great effort!

**illumbomb** · 22nd Feb 2009, 14:56

SUDO Medaka Pink Sand - pH 8.0 or more

SUDO Crystal Orange Sand - pH 7.4

SUDO Real Brown Sand - pH 7.8

SUDO Bottom Sand - pH 7.2

used ADA Amazonia mixed with lapis sand - pH 7.0

See post 11 for grand summary.

**Verminator** · 5th Mar 2009, 20:36

I've been stuck on the subject of which substrate to purchase for along time. After reading through this thread over the last month or so i have to admit i think its helped me decide. Extremely usefull, this aught be a sticky if it isnt so already.

**illumbomb** · 6th Mar 2009, 01:06

Haha, glad that you found it useful but I don't really know how you could interpret and make sense of these data.

Let me just clarify again the many limitations you would have to consider when trying to make sense of these data:

I uses bottled distilled water as the base as they are more constant as compared to tap water which pH may fluctuate depending on what how the water authority controls their processes. For many people using tap water, it may not yield silimar results as tap water has higher buffering capability then distilled water.
As pointed out by others earlier, I do not have a consistent measurement of amount of water against substrate. The test is carried out usually in palm size tupperwares, water level is maybe 4 to 5 cm high while substrate is about 0.5 cm high.
No calibration was done using my liquid pH tester so the results might not be too accurate.
I tested the pH usually at about week 2. The pH might fluctuate there after and I would not have captured such changes, especially for mixed substrates (see below, the lapis sand + ADA Amazonia substrate pH has rose to about 7.5 from the previous 7.0 after a few more weeks.

Well, hope that your decision remains correct!

**illumbomb** · 11th Jul 2009, 17:44

live sphagnam moss - pH 5 to 5.5

used ADA africana - pH 6.2 to 6.4

See post 11 for grand summary.

**BFG** · 25th Jul 2009, 22:18

I hate to bring this up, I just saw this thread, but why did you include used ADA soil and also a mix combination of Amazonia and Africana ? All the sample are from a single composition right so every sample should be equal state of composition and not a mixed sample that might show a different outcome. And are the mass of each sample equal to the other? A lesser amount of sample might not reflect the actual ph value when the other sample has more amount of quantity/mass.

**illumbomb** · 26th Jul 2009, 11:36

Hi BFG,

I usually buy used ADA soil from forumer for growing my cryptocoryne, that is why I only tested the pH of used ADA soil. As for why I tested pH of a mixture of ADA amazonia and aficana soil, it again was because one of the batch of used ADA soil I bought from a forumer here was already in mixed form (i.e. africana and amazonia), so I tested the mix before using.

I already qualified in my posting (see post #45) and would like to qualify again here that all these test are non scientific because there is no calibration, no accurate measurement of quantity of substrate vs water, etc. Therefore, do not trust 100% of what you read here. Worst still, the tests are done with bottle distilled water (which I use for growing my cryptocorynes and of course there is no basis to follow this at all too, it's just that I had started off using it so continued to use it since my cryptocorynes are growing satisfactory "don't fix what is not broken") and the results are completely different when you use tap water. The pH also changes with time. So make reference with care guys.

**o2bubble** · 26th Jul 2009, 11:50

bro illumbomb, thanks for the great effort to conduct the tests. Just want to point out that amazonia will slowly lose its ph lowering properties over time. A brand new one should lower the ph to around 6.6 at least with kh buffered at 3. I have not yet measured that for amazonia 2 in my new tank but i heard its even lower.

**illumbomb** · 10th Oct 2009, 22:08

coconut husk - pH 7.0 (measured after 1 week as the water will turn too brown after that)

See post 11 for grand summary

**illumbomb** · 20th Dec 2009, 22:04

Magic soil - about pH 6.4

lawn sand (my friend told me he bought it from Far East Florist) - pH 7.0

this is so far the sand I tested with the lowest pH, but it is very fine

see post 11 for grand summary

**betta_luRver** · 8th Jan 2010, 10:44

Bro, have you tried using garden compost?

**illumbomb** · 10th Jan 2010, 23:20

Nope, never before. Have you?

**betta_luRver** · 11th Jan 2010, 08:39

Originally Posted by illumbomb

Nope, never before. Have you?

I'm trying at the moment. A bro here with quite an extensive collection of crypts growing them well in compost and they are flowering nicely! I'm experimenting at the moment.. Hope it works!