pH adjustment

[Cloudwarrior]

Ok hopefully someone will know the answer to this.

current tank is pH is sitting at 7.2-7.5

ive tried to get it down with substrate and driftwood. but not much luck.

bought a *AquaOne pH down product to mix into my water that i use to top for water changes.

 

now, do i adjust this water to the pH i want, or do i need to go lower to allow existing tank pH?

does it average out? will adding 5pH to 7pH = 6pH

 

*this should only be for the short term as i plan to start getting some RO water to use in my top ups and water changes

 

[Madmerv]

I dont agree with the PH down products but i did read your fine print.. It is damn small on my computer.

I would suggest you go with the recommended dose in the water change water and do frequent changes until the tank reaches what you want. Trying to double dose the change water and then dilute the tank could end in tears.

[revolutionhope]

Make sure you allow plenty of aeration/mix time for the pH down to donate all the h+ fully before measuring and adding !

[jc12]

It would probably be easier to help you if we can find out more about your water source.

What are the PH, GH and KH of your water source? What are the parameters in the tank? PH, GH and KH interact with each other so dosing PH down without knowing the other parameters might result in a detrimental PH swing.

If your water source is at PH 6, then something in your tank is pushing the PH back up so no point trying to get the PH to decrease until you identify the cause e.g. rocks, ornaments, etc.

If the source water is at PH 9, then the substrate/driftwood is working but perhaps not at a sufficient level/quantity? What substrate are you using? What is the size of your tank? How deep is the substrate in the tank?

I would start with your water source and troubleshoot from there.

[Cloudwarrior]

36 minutes ago, jc12 said:

It would probably be easier to help you if we can find out more about your water source.

What are the PH, GH and KH of your water source? What are the parameters in the tank? PH, GH and KH interact with each other so dosing PH down without knowing the other parameters might result in a detrimental PH swing.

If your water source is at PH 6, then something in your tank is pushing the PH back up so no point trying to get the PH to decrease until you identify the cause e.g. rocks, ornaments, etc.

If the source water is at PH 9, then the substrate/driftwood is working but perhaps not at a sufficient level/quantity? What substrate are you using? What is the size of your tank? How deep is the substrate in the tank?

I would start with your water source and troubleshoot from there.

water source is filtered tap water at ~7.8pH

unknown GH & KH at this moment until i get time to go buy a test kit.

substrate is Up Aqua Shrimp sand about 3cm deep.

tank vol is 15l 

my top up water is currently sitting at 6.5pH. and i added about a litre to the tank on Friday

 

Tank pH is currently sitting at 7.5

[jc12]

Do you have any rocks/ornaments in the tank?

What is the PH you are trying to achieve? What shrimp are you planning to keep?

I do not have first hand experience with Up Aqua Shrimp Sand but it is not the usual shrimp soil that people recommend using for buffering capabilities.

I suspect 3cm deep is too little to buffer effectively.

@jayc any thoughts?

[Cloudwarrior]

One peice of driftwood. Golden vine I believe.

Hoping to get PH somewhere suitable for CRS breeding. Currently stocked with yellow cherries. And two female CRS.

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[jayc]

24 minutes ago, jc12 said:

@jayc any thoughts?

I thought you would be able to handle this ??

 

@Cloudwarrior, how old is this tank? Has it been through it's cycling, and ammonia/nitrite down to zero?

The cycling process will naturally bring pH down.The more mature the filter, the better it is at reducing pH. If your tank has not cycled properly yet, then keeping the pH at 7.2 - 7.5 is ok for the cycling process. And any attempts at reducing pH should be left till the tank has completed cycling.

Try not to use pH down yet. 

Up Aqua is ok when new and will lower pH a bit. But it looses it's buffering capabilities very quickly. Some say 6 months. ADA Amazonia, CAL Black Earth Premium and Benibachi are probably better choices for CRS.

 

Using Sydney tapwater, which starts out at 7.8 makes it harder to get it down to 6.5. Not impossible, but requires a lot more treatment. Peat will be the most effective, followed by lots of drift wood. The darker the wood the better. The ones that release lots of tannins are much better at reducing pH then the light coloured woods like gold vine, unfortunately. And I see you have gold vine. Alder cones will help as well, and might be your best option here. Check out the alder cones sold by Newbreed Aquatics.

https://newbreedaquatics.com.au/alder-cones-40pk.html?category_id=53

You can put a handful in and when you reach your pH, you can remove them as needed to maintain the correct pH.

RO or rainwater with some remineralising to get GH back up to CRS requirements will help get pH down a lot easier than tapwater. So if you have access to RO or rainwater, use this instead ... after the cycling is done.

 

[Cloudwarrior]

Thanks JayC.
Tank has been up and running for a good 8 months now. Other parameters for water are fine. Getting the RO water won't be a problem. Got access to tens of thousands of litres. Will look at an alternative substrate, preferably one that doesn't give an ammonia spike.
Do you think the peat or Alder cones would still be required if doing the two things above?

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[jc12]

I know @jayc will have a better and more detailed response. :)

@Cloudwarrior CAL Black Earth Premium has minimal ammonia spike based on feedback from others as well as first hand experience myself.

 

[jayc]

2 hours ago, Cloudwarrior said:

Do you think the peat or Alder cones would still be required if doing the two things above?

It depends how low you want the pH to go.

RO water will get it down to around 6.5, with all other factors being equal.

Alder cones will help lower it even further. Better substrate, like CAL BEP or ADA, will help lower a bit more again.

 

So the suggest would be to try one at a time. Going slow in altering pH is better than changing it too fast.

[Cloudwarrior]

Cool cheers. I wasn't going to rush and change the substrate. It's only been in for a few months. I'll grab some Adler cones and start doing my water changes with RO for now

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[jayc]

29 minutes ago, Cloudwarrior said:

I'll grab some Adler cones and start doing my water changes with RO for now

Good decision.

Your first couple of water changes can be done with pure RO. But after that ... don't forget to get yourself some remineralising products and a good TDS meter (pen). I'm sure our sponsors will be able to hook you up.  And they give a 10% discount using the SKF code.