# Lowering PH



## plakadista (Mar 25, 2012)

Hi guys, 

I was wondering if anyone can help me. My ph in my tank right now is between 7.6 - 8.0. I would like to keep some german blue rams and apparently they have to be kept at around 6 ph. 

Now I want to lower ph on my tank. I only have rainbow fish, and a bunch of shrimps in it. I also have plants but not a lot.

Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


----------



## blunthead (Jan 24, 2011)

vinegar will lower your ph but you gotta be very carfull


----------



## aniroc (Aug 23, 2012)

Peat in the filter and driftwood in the tank are some options. Plants will help too. Certain substrates (Fluval, ADA, Netlea) are specifically made to soften and acidify the water.
You'll need to know your KH as well. Will give you an idea how difficult will be to lower the pH. Mature tanks tend to became more acidic because of accumulation of organics.
I used to research this topic quite a bit until my fish showed me that they don't care about what pH they are in.
That's not to say that you shouldn't aim for ideal pH as long as long as you stay away from bottled chemicals.


----------



## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

You're better off with Bolivian Rams if you don't want to play with water chemistry. I'd avoid any means of softening and acidifying water other than reverse osmosis. That way the water you use for water changes is the same water that's in the tank and it's always the same.


----------



## plakadista (Mar 25, 2012)

aniroc said:


> Peat in the filter and driftwood in the tank are some options. Plants will help too. Certain substrates (Fluval, ADA, Netlea) are specifically made to soften and acidify the water.
> You'll need to know your KH as well. Will give you an idea how difficult will be to lower the pH. Mature tanks tend to became more acidic because of accumulation of organics.
> I used to research this topic quite a bit until my fish showed me that they don't care about what pH they are in.
> That's not to say that you shouldn't aim for ideal pH as long as long as you stay away from bottled chemicals.





mistersprinkles said:


> You're better off with Bolivian Rams if you don't want to play with water chemistry. I'd avoid any means of softening and acidifying water other than reverse osmosis. That way the water you use for water changes is the same water that's in the tank and it's always the same.


This is the other thing im worried about..I dont have RO water and I have always done water changes straight from the tap and just put some prime straight into the tank.. I have been successful with discus doing this.

Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


----------



## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

plakadista said:


> This is the other thing im worried about..I dont have RO water and I have always done water changes straight from the tap and just put some prime straight into the tank.. I have been successful with discus doing this.
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


If you can keep discus in tap water, I wouldn't worry too much about GBRs. Just be really dilligent with water quality. Or, if you want something that'll thrive in your pH, go with one of the pelvicachromis species (kribensis, etc) or Bolivian Rams.

BTW, not to pry, but when you say successful with discus do you mean successful like this:










or like this?:


----------



## plakadista (Mar 25, 2012)

mistersprinkles said:


> If you can keep discus in tap water, I wouldn't worry too much about GBRs. Just be really dilligent with water quality. Or, if you want something that'll thrive in your pH, go with one of the pelvicachromis species (kribensis, etc) or Bolivian Rams.
> 
> BTW, not to pry, but when you say successful with discus do you mean successful like this:
> 
> ...


I wish I had that kind of discus! But I only have the most common ones like cobalt blue ones and the red snakeskin or something..I forgot what theyre called.. and they definitely dont look like the the one on the bottom.

I do have 2 eheim 2715 on my discus tank and I do WC twice a week..

Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


----------



## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

One thing to remember when you buy a fish check the ph of the water they have been kept in if it is close to the ph of your tank water then I would purchase that fish. If you start playing with the ph you will run into a great deal of problems. The only time I have changed the ph of my tank water to suit a fish was with wild caught Altums, the ph of the water they arrived in was 5.5, over a period of 6 weeks I raised the ph to 7.6 and they were healthy and survived until I sold them 8 months later. The reason I sold them I was moving and was offered 2.5 times what I paid for them. I know people who have kept a bred GBR's and not changed the ph. Also lowering the ph may not be good for your rainbows or other fish.


----------



## plakadista (Mar 25, 2012)

bob123 said:


> One thing to remember when you buy a fish check the ph of the water they have been kept in if it is close to the ph of your tank water then I would purchase that fish. If you start playing with the ph you will run into a great deal of problems. The only time I have changed the ph of my tank water to suit a fish was with wild caught Altums, the ph of the water they arrived in was 5.5, over a period of 6 weeks I raised the ph to 7.6 and they were healthy and survived until I sold them 8 months later. The reason I sold them I was moving and was offered 2.5 times what I paid for them. I know people who have kept a bred GBR's and not changed the ph. Also lowering the ph may not be good for your rainbows or other fish.


Thats a good idea. Haha but if the ph is different would drip acclimating GBR's fix the problem?

Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


----------



## george (Apr 11, 2009)

PH is not an issue as long is it is stable. Playing with changing it never yields good results in the long run. Best is to get them used to your PH and keep the water clean.

I bred discus in PH 8.4 so it is possible to keep fishes even in ranges outside their natural environment.



> if the ph is different would drip acclimating GBR's fix the problem?


The way to do it is to use RO water. Put more or less when you change the water so over a period of 6-8 weeks you get our PH to the tap water level.


----------



## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

Just use R/O DI water on the tank all the time and nothing else. Remineralize with R/O right and use a KH booster and you can make the water whatever you want it to be. Better for discus too.


----------



## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

If you are buying them from a local LFS then they are most likely already acclimatized to local water conditions. Putting them in an acid environment would likely be more toxic than putting them straight into a normal tank.

I made the same mistake when those Peruvian Altums were popular a few years back. They were already acclimated when I put them in a more acid environment.

Lee


----------



## plakadista (Mar 25, 2012)

Lee_D said:


> If you are buying them from a local LFS then they are most likely already acclimatized to local water conditions. Putting them in an acid environment would likely be more toxic than putting them straight into a normal tank.
> 
> I made the same mistake when those Peruvian Altums were popular a few years back. They were already acclimated when I put them in a more acid environment.
> 
> Lee


I really like this answer. Hahaha my tank has been very stable for the past year I even stopped testing the water for a while cuz I get the same results everytime.. now im back to testimg and hopefully I het the same results at the lfs..

Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


----------



## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

Lee_D said:


> If you are buying them from a local LFS then they are most likely already acclimatized to local water conditions. Putting them in an acid environment would likely be more toxic than putting them straight into a normal tank.
> 
> I made the same mistake when those Peruvian Altums were popular a few years back. They were already acclimated when I put them in a more acid environment.
> 
> Lee


There are a few ways to go about it. Most easy would be to buy the fish and initially keep it in straight tap water, and then gradually start introducing remineralized RODI water over the next month or two, eventually being fully remineralized RODI.

The other, less kind method, but still functional, is to drip acclimate the fish over several hours before introducing it to the aquarium.

Most of the rams we get here are either pond or tank raised in places like Czech republic, Singapore, Florida, Thailand, etc. They often were raised in more acidic water.

I bought a pair of map angels (aka smokeys) in 2006 and acclimated them to remineralized RO and they did extremely well. They spawned about once a week. I couldn't believe it. I initially had them in tap but changed them over to RO over a period of 3-4 weeks.

Any fish does better when it's kept at the pH that it natively lives in. The idea is not to shock it on the way to achieving that pH.


----------



## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

mistersprinkles said:


> Any fish does better when it's kept at the pH that it natively lives in. The idea is not to shock it on the way to achieving that pH.


This statement would be true of any wild caught fish for sure, but commercially bred fish have been out of those waters for so long it is no longer an issue. Stability as has been said is far more important then the actual ph as long as we are not talking opposite ends of the spectrum. Angels are a perfect example as they will spawn in almost anything short of liquid rock now a days.


----------



## plakadista (Mar 25, 2012)

mistersprinkles said:


> The other, less kind method, but still functional, is to drip acclimate the fish over several hours before introducing it to the aquarium.


I think im just going to try this method. Im not that interested in introducing RO water into my tank.



darkangel66n said:


> This statement would be true of any wild caught fish for sure, but commercially bred fish have been out of those waters for so long it is no longer an issue. Stability as has been said is far more important then the actual ph as long as we are not talking opposite ends of the spectrum. Angels are a perfect example as they will spawn in almost anything short of liquid rock now a days.


Thanks this actually helps me a lot.

Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


----------



## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

darkangel66n said:


> This statement would be true of any wild caught fish for sure, but commercially bred fish have been out of those waters for so long it is no longer an issue. Stability as has been said is far more important then the actual ph as long as we are not talking opposite ends of the spectrum. _Angels are a perfect example as they will spawn in almost anything short of liquid rock now a days._


Not every 7 days.


----------



## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

If the eggs are removed and raised artificially, I have the Angel parents spawn within 7 - 10 days in ordinary tap water, with a ph of 7.6.


----------

