Help needed lowering Ph

Dear All,

My first post on fishtanktv.com so please be patient with me :)

My setup :

65 Gallon Fluval Vicenza Freshwater Tank

Fluval 305 Canister Filter (with Fine, Coarse Medium Sponges, Eheim Substrat Pro and Biohome Ultra Ceramic Media)

Fluval G3 Canister Filter (same media as above)

Peat Balls, Peat Granules, Alder Cones, Indian Almond Leaves

CO2 System with JBL Taifun Diffuser

WavePoint HO LED 10,000K Daylight 36" lighting

JBL Sansibar White Sand

Live Plants (approx 30)

TNC Complete dosing

Fish - Tetras, Guppys, 1 Bristle Nose Plec, 1 Clown Loach, 2 German Blue Rams.

I've had problems with high Ph from day one on this tank - the water from my tap is close to Ph of 8.0 - i've added Peat Balls/Granules, Alder Cones and have today added Indian Almond Leaves in an attempt to lower the Ph

I am carrying out a weekly water change of 10 - 15%, adding Seachem Prime to the clean water and leaving to air for 24hrs. Yesterday I added some API Ph Down to the clean water before adding it to the tank - Ph seemed stable at 6.8 but tested it today and it has shot back up to 8.0 +

Any ideas ? I am at my wits end now - I don't really want to head down the RO water route but am running out of options

Many thanks,

Sandy

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Comment by LED on August 26, 2014 at 11:03am: based on some reading on the web, i've found some complaints on JBL Sansibar sand raising pH level. As for your water being pH lvl 8 thats quite high, however as long as no fish are dying then thats okay but then again some plants cant handle a pH level that high

I would suggest changing your co2 diffuser to a ceramic disc type to increase diffusion of CO2 to the water which will decrease your pH while its on.

are you using pressurized co2 or diy reactor co2?

if you're using pressure then i would suggest using an atomizer diffuser

Comment by nmacog on August 26, 2014 at 1:20pm: Hi - I'm using a pressurised Sodastream 60L canister with a regulator with the JBL Proflora extended CO2 diffuser running 2 bubbles a second. The CO2 seems to be diffusing OK as the bubble is v fine once it reaches the top of the spiral. I'm thinking of changing the substrate to dirt base and then cap it with the existing sand.

Comment by anthony desanto on August 27, 2014 at 3:56pm: Any driftwood? Driftwood will help a little also don't know what kind of substrate you have ?

Comment by nmacog on August 28, 2014 at 7:01am: Thanks for all the advice guys. I went my LFS yesterday and they sell RO Water, £3 for 25litres so am going to gradually introduce it into my tank. Not keen on the cost and hassle of setting up an RO unit so will just buy the RO Water for now.

On another I am going to strip out the JBL Sansibar sand and go with a Dirt Tank - I bought some John Innes No. 3 Compost and some black gravel, along with some DAS air drying terracotta clay.

Comment by LED on August 31, 2014 at 2:15am: true. as for the spiral diffuser its never as good as an atomizer diffuser. i would suggest getting one. I use them in both of my tanks. also the co2 lasts longer and theres less waste. they're very inexpensive and will last you for a very very long time.

Comment by nmacog on September 22, 2014 at 9:51am: I picked up a Precision Bazooka Atomizer Diffuser a few weeks ago - I have the outlet pointng downward diagonally at it - seems to have made a huge difference in CO2 distribution (my CO2 indicator has finally started turning green from the original blue it always was) and my ph is now an acceptable level in the 260L tank.

Thanks again for all your advice guys.

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