lower ph

[tieman]

My pH is to high, what is a good way to lower it. Ive had 3 new fish die, im wondering if high ph could of caused it.

[Thunderkiss]

Any acid will lower your pH. Caveat emptor, it is powerful stuff.
And before worrying about pH alone, more tank parameters would greatly assist in making future suggestions.

Temp?
pH?
Tank size?
How long has it had fish in it?
how many fish/what species?

and anything else you may have done to the tank you feel may be helpful.

[Damon]

The info you requested thunderkiss is incomplete and pretty much useless other than species of fish. A KH reading is the most important factor when altering PH. If your fish were bought locally, odds are they are on the same water system you are and thus are acclimated to what you are using. Changing water is not to be done lightly and should only be attempted under extreme situations.

[Fishfirst]

The three most important questions here are:

What is your pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?
What species and how many?
How large of a tank?

answer these and we will be able to go from there... more than likely your pH will be in the 5.5-8 range... we can match your fish to your pH instead of you getting a pH decreaser and have you go against the grain of your tank.

[MyraVan]

I agree 100% with Fishfirst. We have quite hard water here, and the pH is naturally 7.8. There are lots of fish we can keep in this without any problems.

Adding plain acid is a *really* bad idea. Once you've used up all your buffering and the pH starts to drop, you'll have wild pH swings which is *very* bad for your fish...

[tieman]

I dont know what my pH is, because my test doesnt go that high, its above 8.4

Temp is around 78
Tank is a 55G
currently i only have 3 fish, all guppys.
and a few small ghost shrimp
i had a few others(pleco, 4 other guppies), but they didnt make it..
Alot of brown algae too

i live on the beach, all the lfs's are inland, 15+ miles, i dont think we are on the same water. 2 of the guppies ive had for 7+ months. they where going great up until last month, now they hang out at the top of the tank alot. im not sure why, i did introduce a male into the tank at that time. and the male isnt looking to well either, the last few days, he seems to be having problems sometimes, he swims in circles alot.

all other tests are fine, only the pH is high, i dont know what my KH is, because i ran out of drops for that, ill have to get some this week.

[TheOldSalt]

Ah, you live on an island. I used to live on one as well, so I understand your problem.

If you want to lower your pH, try replacing about 30 of your gallons with distilled water. The purple-capped stuff from WalMart is really good.
After things settle down a bit, the hardness will have dropped considerably and the pH should drop a little bit as well, but not as much as you'd think.

At this point you can get some peat and put it into a filter media bag or even some pantyhose. Rinse it off in distilled water until it isn't so dusty and water staining. Don't worry too much about some brown water because you'll never get rid of all of it. Put the peat into a filter and let it rip for a few days. Check the pH every couple of days to see how it drops.

Once the pH is down to around 7.6, take the peat out of the filter. Make another water change with distiled water, about 20 gallons this time, to remove the brown color and finish the job. Add more carbon to the filter for extra polishing.

The end result should be a lot closer to what you want. It'll still be good for guppies, but also good for things like loaches and barbs.

As for your brown algae, well, that's life on an island. Your silicate levels are probably off the scale, and as such the brown stuff is there to stay unless you replace all the water with distilled, which would give you a pH of 7.0 and a very low hardness. Fish can't live in pure distilled water, though, so you'd have to add some electrolyes, which your LFS might have in stock as an accessory for the Tap Water Purifier. otherwise you could add a few gallons of tapwater, some amazon extract, and do the peat thing again for a week. Using substrate good for plants is also a huge help.
Ta-DA! Now you can keep and spawn tetras, for after all that the pH will have dropped again down into the 6's.

It's a lot of trouble to go to to get rid of the silicates, but those phosphate/silicate removers are even more trouble and they don't work as effectively.

[Damon]

O.K. I'm voting for The Old Salt for president!

Seriously though, you may want to invest in a diatom filter for your tank if it is as bad as it seems.

[Thunderkiss]

The info you requested thunderkiss is incomplete and pretty much useless other than species of fish. A KH reading is the most important factor when altering PH. If your fish were bought locally, odds are they are on the same water system you are and thus are acclimated to what you are using. Changing water is not to be done lightly and should only be attempted under extreme situations.


False.

Altho very clinical and sterile in nature, these questions form a very important basis from which to postulate further questions.

Old salt did a very eloquent job in his response, i can't think of anything else to embellish, cheers!

[Damon]

False? I think not. The nature of the question was the lowering of the PH, not the type of fish affected by it. While not very detailed in my answer, the answer was in its truest form, scientifically speaking.

[Thunderkiss]

And, as i stated, the questions i asked were to be the basis of future queries. Therefore, i fail to understand how my questions weren't pertinent.

[Damon]

Agreed. You asked why the PH need to be lowered. I simply gave the basis on how to lower it.

[tieman]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt @ Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:28 am Ah, you live on an island. I used to live on one as well, so I understand your problem. If you want to lower your pH, try replacing about 30 of your gallons with distilled water. The purple-capped stuff from WalMart is really good. After things settle down a bit, the hardness will have dropped considerably and the pH should drop a little bit as well, but not as much as you'd think. At this point you can get some peat and put it into a filter media bag or even some pantyhose. Rinse it off in distilled water until it isn't so dusty and water staining. Don't worry too much about some brown water because you'll never get rid of all of it. Put the peat into a filter and let it rip for a few days. Check the pH every couple of days to see how it drops. Once the pH is down to around 7.6, take the peat out of the filter. Make another water change with distiled water, about 20 gallons this time, to remove the brown color and finish the job. Add more carbon to the filter for extra polishing. The end result should be a lot closer to what you want. It'll still be good for guppies, but also good for things like loaches and barbs. As for your brown algae, well, that's life on an island. Your silicate levels are probably off the scale, and as such the brown stuff is there to stay unless you replace all the water with distilled, which would give you a pH of 7.0 and a very low hardness. Fish can't live in pure distilled water, though, so you'd have to add some electrolyes, which your LFS might have in stock as an accessory for the Tap Water Purifier. otherwise you could add a few gallons of tapwater, some amazon extract, and do the peat thing again for a week. Using substrate good for plants is also a huge help. Ta-DA! Now you can keep and spawn tetras, for after all that the pH will have dropped again down into the 6's. It's a lot of trouble to go to to get rid of the silicates, but those phosphate/silicate removers are even more trouble and they don't work as effectively.

i already started doing water changes with Distilled Water, currently doing 5 gallons 5 times a month. i guess i should step that up a bit.

im only 3 water changes in, and my ph is already dropping i think, its a solid 8.4 now. i only mentioned the brown algae because i wasnt sure if that was causing the pH problems.

a hour or so after my last reply, my 2nd oldest guppy died. i now only have 2, a huge older female, and the male

i dont live on an island, just the beach of the west coast, sorry for the confusion. im pretty sure my tap water is bad, because it tastes like crap, very dirty, if i was a fish i wouldnt like it. there is a local water delivery service available, they deliver like 5 gallon jugs of water, they have a distilled water as a option, would distilled drinking water from a place like this be acceptable, or is there a difference between this and the stuff i buy at my local store?

thanks for your help

[TheOldSalt]

Water service water is probably just fine, but first find out what all they do to it. If they ozonize it or chlorinate it or whatever, it won't be so good after all.

Actually, ozone wouldn't be so bad, but you'll have to aerate the water vigorously for a few days to get the pH back down again.