How to .....

[benjohnson]

Theres a lot of mention on these forums of people just "Dropping their Ph"

My Question is .... how does everyone go about it ? I only know of 2 sure fire ways to drop your Ph... a Ph buffer, and Hydrochloric acid ( Which probably have similiar properties anyway). There are a few other ways but nothing as effective from what I can tell.

I'm told Ph Buffers can have a serious impact on breeding abilities. Now I don't know if I believe that because surely not so many of you guys would use them if that was the case.... also, That would be fine in a display tank... but how does everyone do it for breeding fish if you dont use a ph buffer of some sort? I think its possible by aging water for longer periods of time, however I've never tried it so i wouldn't know how to go about it . I've been blesed up until this point with the water coming out of my RO unit being a steady ph of 6.4 hence never the need to ask !!


Cheers Guys :D


Ben

[ILLUSN]

in addition to using acid and acid based buffers you can filter your water through peat to lower your ph. the peat releases humeric acids which soften the water and also give that nice black water effect. other then that you can add indian almond leaf to your water which has a similar effect. I've used these and i sware they give the fish a bit of a "pick me up" as well.

[benjohnson]

I was under the impression peat was a bit of a hit or miss... i was told the effect of it was minimal in regards to ph alteration, would you disagree with that statement??

Havnt heard of the indian almond leaf before... ill look into it

[zar]

ILLSN
which type of peat do you use? were you able to find some cheap peat from the nursery that works well or are you using a specific aquarium peat?
i tried some peat from bunnings long time ago with some rams, there's a good chance it killed them, because they died soon after the use. the other day i looked at the bag and it said it had some microorganisms, so i'm not sure what they are and how bad they are for fish..it'd be great to find some cheap peat from the nursery that works well. otherwise i'd go for almond leaves too...

[ILLUSN]

I grow carnivouous plants so i've got some german spagnum peat with no fertilizers or other additives. the tap water i have is naturally soft so the peat brings it down to about 6.5 from mid 7's in harder water the peat would be much less effective

all the peat i found at bunnings had some kind of fertilizer, or a warning saying "may contain fertilizers".

indain almond leaves, sea almond leaves are from the tree "Terminalia Catappa" ben at AOA has them in stock http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=3453&catID=2.

[zar]

is german spagnum peat available in nurseries? i wanna give it a go, not sure where i can get some here in brisneyland.
thanks for the link, i bought some almond leaves already, used it once and was pretty good, i'm planning to use it with my apistos soon again. If using german spagnum peat turns out to be cheaper i'd switch to the peat instead.

[ILLUSN]

I got mine on my last trip to melbourne from triffid park. I'm sure a good nursery or agriculture supply place can get it for you.

[zar]

i'll have a look around. thanks