# Lower PH



## ajanin (Jul 24, 2008)

I'm trying to lower my ph from 8.6 to around 7 to 7.5. I'm using RO water and boiled peat water. My question is (safely) how quick should I lower it and by how much? It has fish in it and i'm worried i might shock them with a sudden ph change. 
Thanks


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

If you are going to adjust pH in your tank you must understand that it isn't actually the pH you are concerned with... it's the GH and KH... actually the drop in TDS that you should be worried about.

So my first question would be, what aquatic animal are you lowering the pH for?

Many do not need the pH to be lowered and I can't actually think of a single fish that cannot do well at 8.6 if it can do well at 7.5
Perhaps there is one though... so you'd best let us know what animals this is all for.

:thumb:


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## ajanin (Jul 24, 2008)

It's not really for the fish but for the plants. I have a gH of 20 and kH of 10 and i'm hoping they would take off if it was lower. I also plan on getting some more bolivian rams online.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

You could adjust water parameters for plants and Rams, but you should not do so without a full understanding.

E.g. if you added 50% RO and 50% tap water (assuming tap matches tank parameters) then you'd have a GH of 10 but a KH that is actually lower than I would have in a planted hard water setup.

If you want to start messing with water parameters, can you let me know if the GH and KH is your tap water? if not, measure your tap.


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## ajanin (Jul 24, 2008)

The gH and kH was from tap water. I am using diy co2. I have a digital pH meter on the tank. I read that boiling peat and adding to the tank would lower the gH. I've been adding it to the tank and checking the pH. I added a watter bottles worth and it lower the pH by .3.

sorry i'm kinda all over the place here


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## ksane (Mar 19, 2008)

Number6 said:


> If you are going to adjust pH in your tank you must understand that it isn't actually the pH you are concerned with... it's the GH and KH... actually the drop in TDS that you should be worried about.
> So my first question would be, what aquatic animal are you lowering the pH for?
> Many do not need the pH to be lowered and I can't actually think of a single fish that cannot do well at 8.6 if it can do well at 7.5
> Perhaps there is one though... so you'd best let us know what animals this is all for.
> :thumb:


I told someone this exact thing on another forum and was told I was a fool and didn't know anything about water and only pH mattered lol But you're _*right*_. 
Sheesh, I'll stick around here and stay away from there.


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

what is your Kh reading?

Have you tried uping the amount of co2? it would lower your ph, and also make your plants happier.



> I told someone this exact thing on another forum and was told I was a fool and didn't know anything about water and only pH mattered lol But you're right.
> Sheesh, I'll stick around here and stay away from there.


Sometimes there are people that just think they know everything. Unfortunately those are the people going around giving advice to new hobbyist.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think the pH matters more to the fish, but the KH and GH support the pH and keep it from crashing and fluctuating...which harms the fish. So everyone can be right...occasionally. :dancing:


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

fish cannot sense pH, nor do they react to pH (within normal life ranges of course).
E.g. if you have Wild caught Discus in water with a GH of 1 and a KH of 1 but a pH of 8.0 they are fine and dandy... the thing is, water with those exact parameters are almost unheard of, so this is why we talk about pH... it's easy to measure, monitor, and it gives us a whack of information about how ammonia, acids, bases, minerals, etc. will behave in the aquarium.

The negative effect of monitoring pH and using it for hobby level info is that it leads to an emphasis on something that (considered alone) is almost unimportant.

You get all sorts of crazy warnings against adding CO2 to planted cichlid tanks (for example) despite the fact that the GH and KH is still within the norms for Malawi or Tanganyikan cichlids, ammonia is used up completely, and the fish are fine with a drop in pH from CO2...

Now that's not to say that the drop in pH and climb back up will never end up harming the fish... one only has to imagine what happens to calcium carbonate rocks or corals and one can see why this topic gets complicated. The warnings about pH fluctuations are good warnings, despite not being quite accurate.

I run the risk of totally confusing everyone by being precise... sort of like me telling folks that jumping off a bridge is fine provided I have a bungee cord setup right... if folks don't understand exactly what I mean by a bungee cord, tie a electrical cord around their waist and jump... well... :roll:

So let me summarize by saying that the pH is not overly important on it's own, so don't mess with adjusting it JUST for plants (so ajanin, just leave it all be) but let's not go around ignoring pH completely unless you're going to go all psychotic on the details like a few of us super-robo-geeks about cichlids!!!

 :lol:


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## ajanin (Jul 24, 2008)

I read all the articles in the library regarding pH and such.(Which i should have done in the first place  ) I remember we also went over this for over a month in chemistry.  I will start adding 50% tap water 50% RO water in water changes to lower the gH (yes I am obsessed with details). Thank you very much for helping me.


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