pH Question

[JG]

Hi all,

I've had peat plates under my substrate and peat in my filter for a number of months, however it doesn't seem to have affected my pH as much as I had hoped. I was using the Hagen peat plates and Hagen Fluval peat in my Aqua Clears.

I was thinking of buying the sphagnum peat from a local gardening center and trying that. Aside from outright buying an R/O unit does anyone have any additional suggestions that they would like to pass along.

My pH is generally 7.2 out of the tap and is quite stable.

J

 

[tjudy]

The only reason your pH would not be dropping using that much peat is that your tap water has a decent amount of carbonate hardness in it. An RO/DI is the best choice if you are looking for soft acid water. You can try a product called Acid Buffer. It will convert carbonates into carbon dioxide, which will in turn lower your pH and carbonates. However, acid buffer increases the conductivity of the water (mS or ppm TDS). Most of the SA and WA dwarfs do not like conductivity much above 50 if you intend to get them to breed.

My advice... RO/DI... Depending on the amount of carbonates you have the DI part of the system will be important to you. RO alone will not usually remove all of a calcium ions if your KH is around 5 or more.

 

[JG]

Does anyone on the forum use CO2 as an alternative to lower one's pH? A friend who is a chemist suggested either R/O unit or adding CO2. anyone have any experience using CO2 to lower pH?

Thanks,

J

 

[JG]

Anyone have any suggestions about the CO2 addition?

 

[chromis]

Hi JG

I've rasied this question before on another forum and the reply I got was "No". You can still try but not really advisable.

I believe their reason is it's very difficult to control the amount of CO2 and if something goes wrong, it can be catastrophic up to a point that you will loose all the fish in the tank. Also, it's easier to regulate water pH using RO as you know exactly what pH it comes out of your RO and you can then balance it out with regular tap water depending on your requirements.

chromis