Reply With QuoteProblem solved. Got myself sera peat, powerhouse media and ketapang leave.
Recent water in my area is weird... PH level is way too high.
Recently measure my house tap water to be 8.2 Ph..
I also measure my recent setup, a 3 footer planted tank to be 7.8 ph when co2 is on. Used ph 4.0 & 7.0 buffer solution to calibrate the PH meter.
Tank is housing half ADA amazomia soil, half ADA la plata sand and ADA Uzan stone.
Can i seek help on how to lower the PH level in my tank? Will la plata sand and Uzan stone increase PH level?
Appreciate bros & sis advise. Thank You.
Problem solved. Got myself sera peat, powerhouse media and ketapang leave.
Recent water in my area is weird... PH level is way too high.
Wouldn't the peat and ketapang leaves tint your tank water yellowish? or is that your original intention?Originally Posted by hk75
Yes it will tint. But no choice, at least i get the livestock going.
i'm also looking for ways to lower ph without yellowing water.
I've tried ketapang leaves and purigen together. water is clear but seems ph did not go down much.
Will purigen affect the ph lowering capabilities of ketapang leaf?
Ketapang leaves release tannins (which lower pH), while purigen absorbs tannins, so it sort of cancels out the pH lowering capacity of the ketapang leaves.
The alternative is to setup the tank with enough active soil to buffer the lower pH for you, so if the current amount of active soil in your tank is not enough (ie. alot of sand/rocks but not as much soil), then you will need to adjust your scape to encourage a lower pH environment by changing it to more soil and less sand/rocks. Its all about which factor is your priority, water chemistry or aquascape design.
If your tap water pH and TDS is high (maybe due to older building pipes with decades of mineral deposit buildup), you could consider using a RO/DI system to distill pure water which will have a more neutral pH, so water changes wouldn't shift up the pH so much.
Though for most livestock, the best is still to keep a constant pH and adapt them to those levels, rather than adding things to move the pH up and down (which can result in wild swings if any of the additives run out).
Actually I'm already using RO system. Problem is old scape, old DW and old soil. I took out all rocks as I was told some rocks actually increases ph. Shrimp tank keep pushing 7.5ph, if no WC will hit 8.2-3.
Still looking for a way to keep ph at 6.5 without yellowing water
I am trying to avoid putting low ph addictive to save cost in the long run.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I guess with older setups, the soil has exhausted its buffering ability and the driftwood also finish releasing all its tannins too, so the pH is no longer kept low.
If you really need to maintain a lower pH, then maybe can consider replacing the old soil with new soil. Either remove and replace small quantities of soil in stages over a span of a few days, or just do a tank overhaul and re-do the whole substrate.
What do you do with old soil?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Maybe can rinse and dry it out partially, then pack and sell to others who want older soil that doesn't leach ammonia... there are people who want such soil as substrate but don't want or need brand new soil to start up their tank (or maybe they want to mix old and new soil to help reduce cost when setting up a larger tank).
Personally i usually re-use a portion of old soil mixed with new soil whenever i do any re-scapes too. I also used some of my old aquasoil to put into plastic container tubs and grow plants emersed outdoors, just add a layer of fert tabs/sticks to provide nutrients, works well.
Time for me to go daiso buy more pots! Thanks UA!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks