Bringing down of pH level in tanks.

[Augustine_81]

Hi everyone, i got a 3 Ft Fish tank, with magic soil , gex and Aquaclay mixture as fertilizers and substrate.
Been running my water for roughly 2 months.
Recently just bought a couple of Altums angel and i wanted to
bring down my water ph level with Azoo water softener and Ketapung leaves, but it seems it always hover around ph 6 only. ( using both ph tester kits and digital ph pen both red ph 6 only)
Thru the instructions of the Azoo pack , 1 bag can bring it down to roughly to ph 5.5 in a 3 Ft tank. ( btw i am using 2 bags now)
How can i bring it down further?
Thanks and advice pls..

[catohcat]

I think your next choice is lime juice but it's a short term solution. Make sure dilute it with water before you pour in. Or you can try CO2.

[trident]

Can try artificial vinegar (cheap) or those commercially packed PH down (more expensive)

[bbpippen]

or you can try co2 injection.

but so far, peat and ktp water gives the best effect.

[k3nlim]

Magicsoil takes abit of time to go down to the expected ph..Mine took 2-3months to get down from 7 till 6.2.. If not you can try use peat

[hii]

why need to bring down below 6? the soil will become too acidic and it is not good for you plants.

I don't know if this good ph level to keep Altum Angel. Most of the Amano's tank in ADA style 2007 & 2008 mentioned ph 7 for their tank.

[d2sign]

Found this, hope it help:
Altums do best in water that is very soft (1 to 6 DH) and somewhat acidic (pH 5.8 to 6.6). Obtaining these water conditions can be achieved rather easily with the use of peat. Placing peat in an outside power filter or canister filter does an excellent job of getting the pH and hardness down to levels at which the Altums thrive.

Complete article can found here:
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/...al_fish/100992

[windcharm]

I heard some of them uses Lemon!!

[d2sign]

Guess lemon and lime juice are the same as bro catocat describe, it's a short term solution.

[WaterH2O]

Your article says (PH 5.8 to 6.6) and your water now is already at 6 which is within this range why need to go down to 5.5 which goes out of this range?

[Augustine_81]

My current Altum suffer from "burns" from higher Ph , thus i wanted to bring the Ph further down.
I was told this fact from an experienced Altum keeper.
He got a tankful of Altum and was not sucessful at first until
he brought the Ph down to 5.5 and water temperature of 26 degrees.
Just sharing what he told me.
If you guys have any other input please share. Thanks alot!

[Panut]

Why does higher PH burns the fins? Higher PH ~7 ?

[Augustine_81]

He told me that the fish are not able to adapt to the sudden change in the Ph level. Just like we humans , having dry and oily skin.
Thus, there is a need to bring down the Ph that is near or close
for the Altums.
That was what the uncle in the fishshop told me.

[raglan]

Hi Augustine. No need to get such low pH for altums.
But if you want to,
HCL or Muriatic acid will bring down the pH extremely strongly, in your WC water. Cheap too. No added chemicals or ions that you don't want, from softeners and such. HCL does it all.
.
Danger: never add water to acid. only add acid to water. wear protective goggles and gloves and keep baking soda handy in case of spill or splash.

burns most likely from transport and the drip acclimation. It is a real problem, drip acclimation. Many reasons for this, which I can elaborate on in a separate thread

[hii]

That's remind me of Chemistry class in secondary school day. Pour acid to water rather water to acid....

But if the acid will hurt skin won't it hurt the fish too? I guess have to mix in the other tank without fish to get the ph level than and slowly move the water to the tank with Altum.

Direct pour acid into the tank is very dangerous cause you never know how fast the ph level drop in seconds, too fast also cause the fish die...Altum no cheap.

[raglan]

That's remind me of Chemistry class in secondary school day. Pour acid to water rather water to acid....

But if the acid will hurt skin won't it hurt the fish too? I guess have to mix in the other tank without fish to get the ph level than and slowly move the water to the tank with Altum.

Direct pour acid into the tank is very dangerous cause you never know how fast the ph level drop in seconds, too fast also cause the fish die...Altum no cheap.

Always add to WC water first, in a separate container.But pH shift within aquarium parameters means nothing. Only if it goes up and there is ammonia in the water.
pH is the least parameter to worry about.
Altum seem not aware of pH shift, and no cichlid ever died from pH shift, over many experiments. Back and forth all day long, or lengthy times and then shift. No visible harm ever !

Now, if you use buffers such as commercial blends to alter the pH drastically, you may expect to see deaths ! But that is not from the pH, it's from 800 or so TDS of buffer blend.

If you keep TDS pretty stable, no problem.
Dave

[dagger13]

just put peat in your filter it will definitely bring your PH dpwn

[bossteck]

Guys,

I would like to highlight raglan's advice (post number 16) above, which is a very good point.

Always prepare the water which you would use for your water change in a seperate container in advance.

Some of the methods suggested here, like the use of peat and ketapang leaves WILL bring the pH down, but these methods usually takes a longer time, so you will do more harm if you do large percentage water changes thinking that your bag of peat / ketapang leave in your filter will 'take care of things'.

It goes without saying that you should measure the pH of the prepared water first before doing water changes.

Cheers!

[Daniel_123]

I suggest that you buy a buffer.