Alternatives of lowering pH for an Apistogramma tank (without staining the water)

[illumnae]

as sera peat does stain the water, would putting africana in a fine-mesh bag and sitting it in your filter (assuming you're using a canister filter) work in lowering the ph to a suitable level? i posted this in another thread but got no answer

[Milk]

Why use a canister filter in the first place??ADA soil do breaks down over period of time and when it does,the particles will definately choke up your filter..And it's going to be troublesome and messy to take out the bag of ADA soil..
Others point to note:
1:If you are worried about Sera peat staining the water, there's products in the market that will take away the stain without changing the water parameter...

Regards
Dimas aka Milk

[marle]

as sera peat does stain the water, would putting africana in a fine-mesh bag and sitting it in your filter (assuming you're using a canister filter) work in lowering the ph to a suitable level? i posted this in another thread but got no answer

i have done that before, but you must be very careful with it, slowly lower the bag down, i mean very slowly. Ada soil gave me a real headache when messed with.

Another alternative is to buy Baxter laboratory's pH down(NA sells it), get a bucket of water, put a little of Baxter's, leave it for awhile, measure the pH of the water and when you are happy with the pH, pour the water into your tank. Done for crs without any casualties.

You might also want to consider adding c02 to lower your pH, but unless you are into planted, this way is not recommended as you must constantly pump c02.

Last but not least, you can get AquaMedi's Black Peat Granulate(Polyart sells it), it boasts to give the ideal water condition for your fishes. I have tried it before, it does not stain your water.

[trident]

One cheap and good way to lower ph without staining the water is phosphoric acid.
Problem is this is not easily available. A squirt or 2 after changing water can lower ph to around 5. If cannot find, can also use artificial vinegar, easily available from most mini mart.

[stormchild]

One cheap and good way to lower ph without staining the water is phosphoric acid.
Problem is this is not easily available. A squirt or 2 after changing water can lower ph to around 5. If cannot find, can also use artificial vinegar, easily available from most mini mart.

Excellent DIY method! Thanks for the tip.

[godprint]

One cheap and good way to lower ph without staining the water is phosphoric acid.
Problem is this is not easily available. A squirt or 2 after changing water can lower ph to around 5. If cannot find, can also use artificial vinegar, easily available from most mini mart.

is this method safe to use on discus??

thanks!

[wiki]

IMO, I wouldn't adopt the phosphric acid method. It's simply too easy to miscalculate or overdo it. Its not just about lowering pH (which most are usually obsessed with). What about kH and TDS? They are all inter-related in water chemistry.

Of course RO units would be ideal but they're simply too costly. A more cost effective way you may wanna consider is using ion exchange resins. But the best I think is still good ol' peat or aged rain water.

Just my 2 cts worth.

[marle]

One cheap and good way to lower ph without staining the water is phosphoric acid.
Problem is this is not easily available. A squirt or 2 after changing water can lower ph to around 5. If cannot find, can also use artificial vinegar, easily available from most mini mart.

Good sharing!

Have you tried it before? Does it affect your fauna? If it doesn't, i might want to try it in the future.

[doppelbanddwarf]

You can use those pH buffers available at most LFSes but again there's a need to calculate so I still prefer the good old peat and ketapang leaves. I like to leave it as it is, ie the brown water, but you can always remove the stain using activated carbon I guess.

Any reason why you don't just spread a thin layer of substrate over the tank floor?

[Milk]

One cheap and good way to lower ph without staining the water is phosphoric acid.
Problem is this is not easily available. A squirt or 2 after changing water can lower ph to around 5. If cannot find, can also use artificial vinegar, easily available from most mini mart.

Using chemical to alter PH value of the water simply involve too much risk..And there's a high chances of over-dose and killing your prized fishes in the process..What i always support is the good old ways of using peat and ketapang leaves.

Regards
Dimas aka Milk

[godprint]

sorry guys, are ketapang leaves easily available? i'm sorry, i have no idea with such technical names. thanks though for advice!

[Milk]

Ketapang are readily available in Local fish shop...It's available at C328 at S$1 per packets...And if you are adventurous..Think you can collect them beside road side as well...But seriously...I will not take the risk..


Regards
Dimas aka Milk

[trident]

For my apistos, I'll stick to ketapang leaves as they are easily available, but they stain the water, try not to use too many leaves so the water is just light brown.

Ian, it's safe for discus, of course don't overdose. Used mostly for breeding pair to induce them to spawn. Take a PH reading from time to time to ensure that PH is within acceptable range.

[doppelbanddwarf]

I collect my ketapang leaves from near Sembawang Park. The common name would be Sea Almond Tree, scientific name would be Terminalia catappa.
Make sure the leaves you collect are healthy and completely dried. I give the leaves a wash before drying them at the window again for later use.

[godprint]

thanks guys, will go look out for them...

induce spawning? cool. i will try that out

[celticfish]

you can use Sera pH Minus.
it is clear and won't stain the water.
i "burned" my apistos by using the higher value.
fortunately they recoverd from my stupidity!
use the lower suggested values as our water in singapore is very soft.
a little goes a long way for this product.

[godprint]

i understand certain chemicals might seem to lower PH values, but there still a certain content that makes the fish think, "there's no difference"

read from a article..

[illumnae]

i was thinking of lowering ph in a large tank (422) as i was considering keeping altums in a ph level similar to their home range...guess i'll have to shelve the idea and just acclimitize them to higher ph as i want clear water and chemicals are costly and risky to use with wild fish =)

for ketapang leaves, what i usually do is to soak them in water for a day first before putting them in my tank. that way, most of the tannins are gone...but ph lowering is affected as well, lowered my ph from 5.2 to 4.8-5.0 (i use africana in the apisto tanks so regular ph is already 5.2). the spawning inducing properties seems to stay though, as 2 of my 3 elizabethae spawns were done when the leaves were in the tank

[Milk]

i was thinking of lowering ph in a large tank (422) as i was considering keeping altums in a ph level similar to their home range...guess i'll have to shelve the idea and just acclimitize them to higher ph as i want clear water and chemicals are costly and risky to use with wild fish

Why not???There's still cheap ways of lowering large tank's ph...and still maintaining the clear waters...If you are really interested,i have a plan drawn up(Pm me for the plan)...As previously,i have plans for Big Low ph tanks as i have thoughts of tank breeding Altum angels..

Regards
Dimas aka Milk