ph question

[nevsfish]

hi everyone i was after some imformation on the ways other members prepared there water.i have good success with using seachem discus buffer but when changing 2000 litres per day it gets very expensive.can any members tell me a more cost affective way of dropping my ph.i have tried keeping my fish in normal tap water ph after aging and the fish are not as happy in alkaline water as they are in acid water.there colours are not as vibrant and disease resistance is lower.i have tried peat and find it a bit to much trouble.regards lawrence

[aussieant32]

have you tried bogwood? It can lower the PH of the water quite effectively

[nevsfish]

i use driftwood in my wild tanks and it does work well but i have 25 tanks and driftwood is not really an option for so many tanks.thanks anyway.

[aussieant32]

no problem. Can I ask why it wouldn't be an option?

What I used to do, was only for about 15 tanks though, was age my water with driftwood in it, not have driftwood in each tank. I was basically doing 100% changes ever 48 hours so the PH never rose above 6.5.

[nevsfish]

if i had a ready supply of wood it would make sense.but i dont know where to get large amounts of driftwood.

[aussieant32]

ah right. You could add Co2 to the water? That lowers the PH. Expensive start up cost but refilling bottles isn't that expensive?

[nevsfish]

sorry i know nothing about co2 but i am trying to keep it simple so complicating things is not the way to go but thanks anyway.

[aussieant32]

Co2 is no more complicated than an air pump to an air stone once you understand it.

No problems though, I can't think of any other way to safely lower it without adding the buffer.

Good luck

[m.ingram]

My sister uses Hydrocloric acid to lower her ph in her discus tank.You can buy it at bunnings and its cheap.

[giorid]

Hi nevsfish,
Have you tried collecting rain water in a large tank so that you have a ready supply when you need it, it's all natural and the ph is within the range the discus like, All you need is to buffer it with discus buffer if the ph falls too low and filter it through seachem carbon (doesn't alter the ph) if it's collected in a city area and off the roof, must be the cheapest way to go, I really can't think of anything else.

[scoob]

I use HCl (brickies acid) to drop the PH.

[ILLUSN]

hcl works a treat just be VERY carefull with it.