Sustaining lower ph level for long term

[Growe]

hi,

need some advices on sustaining lower ph in long term. My tank : 3 feet, 65 gallons ~ 240 L tank

I used ADA Amazonia II, used 3 bps CO2 injection for 5 hours every day. When the ADA substrate was first used, ph was good at 6.6 (which is the level i aim). However, after 3 months, the ph get back to 7.0 again. I used peat in filter and add black water additives but yo no avail. My water source is ph 7.0. Water change is 50% every 2 weeks

Some folks say add vinegar or add lemon to add acid. Have anyone try them for a planted, tetra and shrimp tank?

Any other tried method out there? How to sustain 6.6 ph in longer term. Don't want to change substrate every 3 month- Shiong!
My aim is 6.6 ph again.

[collins]

does using a CO2 reactor help? it dissolves more CO2 into the water and should bring down PH a bit more. adding lemon jiuce and vinegar sounds like eating Hokkien mee leh ... hehe

[eviltrain]

i added vinegar to my shrimp tank before.

[collins]

i added vinegar to my shrimp tank before.

care to share what happened next?

[binniez]

Hmmm.. Alan bro.. Maybe trying increase the co2 rate? Mine is from a manual regulator.. But i think i need to lower the rate coz its making my ph 6.4..

[illumbomb]

I believed the water used will play a part too.

[kelvin]

Hi,
could you happen to have some rocks in your tank that may causing your water hardness to rise?
I personally tried using lemon in fish tank for a prolonged period and to no ill effects. however, the acid effect doesn't last for too long; perhaps another 3 days later you've got to add lemon juice again. By the way, be careful when you drip in the lemon, it has a pH of about 4, so maybe around a tablespoon of lemon may already cause a drop of 0.5 to 1 pH point for a tank of your size.
Hope this helps.

[David Moses Heng]

Would having peat under the ada amazonia II helps?

Off course prior to that, the water will be conditioned using K leaves and waterlife products.

Advise please.

[illumbomb]

From my experience, using distilled water or RO water will allow you to reduce the pH easily and sustain the low pH. Of course, with such a large tank, these options would be expensive. The next best alternative might be using rain water?

[bryan]

How about having a bag of peat in the filter? You can get them from brands like sera and jbl.

[eviltrain]

pH went lower, but bounce back within 2-3 days. that was when i'm using azoo soil. now for ADA II soil, its hovers around 6.4 - 6.8

[Growe]

Thanks for all the ideas and experiential shaing.

Yes, many advices on CO2 helps to reduce the ph to 6.8 during light on (also when solenoid on to pump CO2) is true. But after the night light out, I measured the tank and it bounces back to 7.0 again. I have Sera Peat in filter and dose black water but don't seem to help. I always thought Black water additives is supposed to be acidic, I tested, it's not!

I was quite amazed that when I bought 20x fire leg shrimps, the water in the bag was ph 6.6. Remember in a bag at least 2 days. That shows how commercial breeders are good in keeping the ph low! Must learn trade secret.

ADA soil cannot last, after 5-10 water changes, your ph will swing back to the ph of your water source.

[kelvin]

Maybe you would like to post some details of what's in your tank; plants, filter media, hardscapes etc.? That way, we can better try help you on troubleshooting.

[Rod]

Kelvin and Illumbomb are on the right track

I have a simple rule.....

high ph(tangs/mbuna) ADD chemicals...easy

Low ph(wild bettas/apistos) REMOVE chemicals
however it's very difficult to remove chemicals....best remove water and replace it with water that has no dissolved solids....RO water or Rainwater

No doubt you probably have high Kh (carbonate hardness) and therefore the tank is well buffered....add acid(co2 turns to carbonic acid) and it will be neutralised in no time
so either your tap water has high Kh or there is something in the tank.....substrate or rocks or decoration that is increasing Kh and buffering from ph change

Remove any possible in tank contaminant and add rainwater.....It's easy to add any further nutrients to maintain good plant growth

IMO......Lots of people go wrong adding acid.... If you have high Kh you are just chasing your tail and may end up with acid water that is high in dissolved solids.....
Acid water in nature is rainwater filtered through decaying vegetation....just repeat nature's receipe for Best results!!!

[jiajuen900]

erm.... maybe your test kit does not measure the ph accuratly.
Anyways what is the reason why you want to lower the ph, i think keeping a constant ph is more important than trying to a achieve anothet ph level

[Growe]

Mine is a 4 feet (240 liter) tank with the following live stocks: 30 Cardinal tetra, about 50-60 cherry shrimps, another 30 fire leg shrimps, 3 SAEs, 5 otos, 5 yamato. As to decoration, 5 pieces of small rocks, 1 drift wood.

I placed ADA Amazorina II for 2 inches and top with Ocean free river sand for 1 more inch to hold my plant root.

In my eheim 2028, it uses its eheim mechanical filter and Eheim PRO filter media with Sera peat.

I maintained my KH at 4-5 using Potassium Carbonate, so consider well buffer.

For fertilizers, I dose Potassium Phosphate, Calcium Nitrate, Potassium Chloride and Dr Mallick MICRO daily. Nitrate level is 10-15 ppm, Phosphare level -0.2 to 0.5 ppm.

Thinking that my shrimps and Tetra and my plants would love more of ph lower than 7.0 for them to flourish. since it simulate more of Amazon river condition for better colouration. Make sense?

[jiajuen900]

Hmmm... I think leaving the ph as it is would be fine or if not better. Altering the ph of your tank water may do more harm than good.

You could try measuring the ph of water directly from the tap and compare to that of the tank. To see how the ph is altered.

If you still want to change the ph, stop using potassium carbo nate and increase the co2 if you already are injecting co2.

Note: Adding chemicals is not a good option. It is more difficult to maintain the ph that way. This could cause fluctuations in ph which would prove harmful

[kelvin]

yes jiajuen900 is right. However, if you still want to decrease the pH, why don't you try adding in ADA malaya soil. According to ADA, it can create a pH of 5.5, has NH4 of <0.01 (which should not be a problem if your filtration bacteria is established) and phosphate PO4 is also low at <0.01. I tried that before in one of my tanks with shrimps.

Downside is: The Malaya Soil is a lighter colour than your Amazonia II and there may be some colouring effect initially that is associated with any addition of new soil.

Disclaimer: Me having no casualties in my experience doesn't warrant that you'll have no casualties as well. Am just trying to offer you a suggestion.

[Growe]

Roger!. Maybe should just let thing be. Maybe one of this day must roll my sleeve and gather some dry leave from my place and try some natural way of creating humic acid. Anyone know whether there is commercially available liquid form, fertilizer grade humic acid available?

[jiajuen900]

though advice is still not to medal with water chemistry. It is difficult to maintain a certain ph level that way and may prove to have many problems