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Permalink Reply by Burgess on February 28, 2012 at 5:51am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4wUP3u0_mk try this out :)

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on February 28, 2012 at 3:31pm

Peat granules are a good option to lower ph, but getting down to a 6.0 is going to be tough.

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Permalink Reply by Burgess on February 28, 2012 at 4:10pm

put peat moss in the filter that will get you most of the way there.

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Permalink Reply by Marc on March 1, 2012 at 1:10pm

wrong section

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Permalink Reply by GSP on March 1, 2012 at 1:15pm

Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you need to do this? Lowering the PH is not the difficult part, its maintaining a consistent ph while still doing regular frequent water changes.

Since most fish adapt extremely well to PH given the proper acclimation, unless you are trying to breed a fish that absolutely wont breed in the current ph, it's just better to let them be most of the time.

There are some exceptions of course, especially in fish that prefer you to raise the ph- which is easier than lowering.

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Permalink Reply by Nick's Wet World (0_o) on March 1, 2012 at 5:41pm

Agreed with GSP, most fish will acclimate very well to most water conditions without any problem, but a unsteady ph ( mormally caused by altering the current ph) is more stressful and can cause death than a stable ph from the tap.

There are a few different ways to  lower your ph, peat moss is one of the most popular way most aquarist use to lower their ph, this is a cheap way of lowering your ph but it's not quite stable.

Seachem has a range of products you can use to lower your ph, ph Neutral and Discus buffer works quite well in conjunction to maintain a stable ph level.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on March 4, 2012 at 4:44am

     After 30 years experience I've learned to stay away from changing my water chemistry.  I don't even use filters because the best filter is the water treatment plant that supplies the water to your home. Google your town with a keyword like water chemistry and you'll get a complete breakdown of your town's water composition, PH, hardness, chlorine content, etc.  If you can't find it just drop in one day or call them.  Your home water supply is, in most cases, the best water you can buy - and cheap! (about .5 cents/gallon.)  Of course chloramine is a problem and, if you have it, you'll need Prime.  Luckily my town just adds a little chlorine which I don't remove it because it kills harmful parasites and bacteria.  But never change more than 50% of the your tankwater with the chlorinated water because it also kills beneficial bacteria and your fish! 

Sorry about the digression.  As you can probably tell, I'm not a water chemistry buff and this due, in large part, to my experience raising Discus - annoying and definitely not worth the effort!  But hey, if you're into chemistry that's cool too. I've just got to warn you that you'll need a holding container to condition the water BEFORE you add it to the tank because GSP's and Nick's comments about fluctuating PH are spot on. My best advice is to condition the holding tank and fish tank with peat and, if you decide to use straight chemicals, proceed with caution .  Either way you'll need to consult with more than one source. Scientists provide the best information but find one who's raised fish. 

PS. I don't know if you're trying to breed Discus or not, but in Indonesia they simply circulate water through their Discus tanks directly from a nearby river.  In my backyard I have a 20,000 gallon man-made pond  and if the water chemistry is good (I'll test it this Spring) maybe I'll throw in some Discus or Altums when the temp hits 75F. Sorry I can't help you more.

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