How do I lower the Ph in my tank? Please help!

[Brickosaurus]

Let me give a little background here. I used to be into fishkeeping back when I was a kid, and I kind of got out of the hobby.

However I did keep a couple of common goldfish in a 30g for the past 2 years, they will be getting a 55g upgrade within the next week! (And a 2 or 3 years after that a 150g)

But wanted to get back into tropical fish. (Specifically a community tank) So I got a 30g setup and started the cycling it.

I was hoping to have 1 or 2 Honey Gouramis, 8 to 10 neon tetras, a bristlenose pleco, and 3 platys. Gouramis are probably my favorite fish! And I really love the look of neons!

But after testing the water (with the api master kit) I found out that my ph is insanely high. So I tested my local water and found out that the ph is high in my area. I live in the Ozarks and the ground around here is LOADED with minerals!

Honestly I'm extremely disappointed. Since the only fish on my list that would do well with that ph is the pleco and plaltys.

And like I said Gouramis are probably my favorite aquarium fish. And I was really looking forward to the neons. I mean I was really excited to get these fish!

I could technically use RO water. But that would mean buying new water every time I do a change. And I'm not in a position where I can do that!

What can I do to lower the ph?

If my area has water this hard, then wouldn't that mean the fish in my local pet stores are used to this water?

I'm just so disappointed and I don't know what to do..

I was also going to be getting 3 55g tanks with everything for only $100! And I was getting very excited about the possibilities of what fish I could put in those tanks!

But now I don't know what what I could put in those tanks besides chiclids..

Any advice would really be helpful!

 

[Trouser Cough]

Is a small water conditioner within reason? RO water is great but typically impractical to buy for water changes and if you get your own in home system they generally don't make much (and they waste a lot). A zeolite resin bed conditioner can often be bought pretty inexpensively and would definitely remove a lot of the calcium and other dissolved minerals. It might add a little salinity to your tanks though.

 

[Brickosaurus]

Is a small water conditioner within reason? RO water is great but typically impractical to buy for water changes and if you get your own in home system they generally don't make much (and they waste a lot). A zeolite resin bed conditioner can often be bought pretty inexpensively and would definitely remove a lot of the calcium and other dissolved minerals. It might add a little salinity to your tanks though.

Thanks! didn't know there were conditioners that could lower ph. I'll definitely look into that! Would it be too much trouble if you could a post a purchase link? Or are they sold at petstores?

 

[duanes]

The reality of lowering pH is not easy, although with a tank as small as 30 gallons it would not be "that" overwhelming.
Buying a few gallons per week of DI water at the grocery store to mix with tap, might suffice for water changes
RO/DI will dilute your tap water a bit, depending on how high the tap water pH is, but that may also depend on the alkalinity (buffering capacity) of your tap water.
Sometimes if buffering capacity is high (based on the mineral content), it's quite the chore.
To lower pH some people add acids into stored for water changes to hit a targeted pH. But....if your water has a high alkalinity it may resist change.

Although when I started fish keeping my goal was to keep Amazonian cichlids, and to this day one of my favorites is Uaru fernandenzypezzi, but....
My tap water pH was always @ 8, with 250ppm total hardness, and an alkalinity of 100ppm.

Because the fish I kept and keep all require large tanks, and lots of high volume water changes, not a realistic endeavor,
The Uaru I wanted, comes from water with a pH of 5, with almost 0 degrees of hardness, and 0 alkalinity, so I never kept it, as it would have been study in disase, and disappointment.
The bacteria that lives in pH 7.5 and above water, would have eventually overwhelmed its immune system, causing chronic disease and eventual death.
Even though I had access to RO, futzing with the acids seem just too much work.
I instead spent the last 50 years keeping the species that are evolved to live in my type water.

There are tetras that come from hard water, not quite neons or cardinals, but tetras no less.
Pterobrycon myrnae is very similar to them, and comes from waters with higher pH into the 8s.
Where I live pH is 8.2, and this is perfect for them, some Hyohessobrycon, Astyanax, and Roeboidies tetras

Robedies above.
I also keep Agnostomus that fit a kind on similar neon shape and place.

But.....All gouramis and most Anabantids I know of ,with the exception of Macropodus (Paradise fish) come from very soft waters with neutral to low pH, so you must be willing to mess with getting an RO unit, and add acids to meet your goal, or they tend to victim to Iridoviruses.
Some people may suggest that if you acquire those from generations bred in th US for many generations that some may have acquired some natural immunity over that time, but I find 100 years of aquarium breeding does not quite dissolve the millions of years of evolution, in low pH water Asian conditions.

To watch fish die from what appear to be mysterious circumstances (almost always simply the wrong water type) is not satisfying to me, so learning to keep fish that come from my type natural waters was, at first, my compromise, but there are so many to choose from, it wasn't that hard.
I have since kept over 100 species of hard water fish, from Central America, east Africa, and Madagascar, and not been disappointed.

 

[Brickosaurus]

The reality of lowering pH is not easy, although with a tank as small as 30 gallons it would not be "that" overwhelming.
Buying a few gallons per week of DI water at the grocery store to mix with tap, might suffice for water changes
RO/DI will dilute your tap water a bit, depending on how high the tap water pH is, but that may also depend on the alkalinity (buffering capacity) of your tap water.
Sometimes if buffering capacity is high (based on the mineral content), it's quite the chore.
To lower pH some people add acids into stored for water changes to hit a targeted pH. But....if your water has a high alkalinity it may resist change.

Although when I started fish keeping my goal was to keep Amazonian cichlids, and to this day one of my favorites is Uaru fernandenzypezzi, but....
My tap water pH was always @ 8, with 250ppm total hardness, and an alkalinity of 100ppm.

Because the fish I kept and keep all require large tanks, and lots of high volume water changes, not a realistic endeavor,
The Uaru I wanted, comes from water with a pH of 5, with almost 0 degrees of hardness, and 0 alkalinity, so I never kept it, as it would have been study in disase, and disappointment.
The bacteria that lives in pH 7.5 and above water, would have eventually overwhelmed its immune system, causing chronic disease and eventual death.
Even though I had access to RO, futzing with the acids seem just too much work.
I instead spent the last 50 years keeping the species that are evolved to live in my type water.

There are tetras that come from hard water, not quite neons or cardinals, but tetras no less.
Pterobrycon myrnae is very similar to them, and comes from waters with higher pH into the 8s.
Where I live pH is 8.2, and this is perfect for them, some Hyohessobrycon, Astyanax, and Roeboidies tetras
View attachment 1509581
Robedies above.
I also keep Agnostomus that fit a kind on similar neon shape and place.
View attachment 1509582
But.....All gouramis and most Anabantids I know of ,with the exception of Macropodus (Paradise fish) come from very soft waters with neutral to low pH, so you must be willing to mess with getting an RO unit, and add acids to meet your goal, or they tend to victim to Iridoviruses.
Some people may suggest that if you acquire those from generations bred in th US for many generations that some may have acquired some natural immunity over that time, but I find 100 years of aquarium breeding does not quite dissolve the millions of years of evolution, in low pH water Asian conditions.

To watch fish die from what appear to be mysterious circumstances (almost always simply the wrong water type) is not satisfying to me, so learning to keep fish that come from my type natural waters was, at first, my compromise, but there are so many to choose from, it wasn't that hard.
I have since kept over 100 species of hard water fish, from Central America, east Africa, and Madagascar, and not been disappointed.

I'm just confused at how other people keep these fish (like neons) in my area. I live less then a mile away from I huge mineral rich cave, so I'll try and test my grandparents water and see of that's better

Since a have a 30g I currently can't do cichlids. Apparently platys and bristlenose work well with that water. I love paradise fish! I'll have to look up how well they do with platys. Any other good species that would fit in my tank?

Thanks for help! I hope I'm not asking too many questions. I really do want the best environment for my fish.

 

[duanes]

Are you on a private well?
If others in your area are on municipal water, or further from the mineral source, which might be the reason.
Adding tannins to your water "might" help using peat, or Roiboos tea, they are antibacterial, and in a small tank may slightly drop pH.
Tannins will tend to stain your water brown (the color of tea), and some aquarists don't like that.
About half the year, my tanks get quite brown with tannins, because they are outside, and influenced by tannins dripping in from surrounding vegetation, and falling leaf litter.



Any fish from Mexico south to Panama will work in hard water (including many other live bearers beyond just platies).



Above swordtails, mollies and Xenatoca eiseni, all from the hard waters of Mexico
Most rainbowfish from Australia will work.
Any fish from the rift lakes of Africa will work

Above Gulares Killifish,, and a number of other Killi's work in higher pH, hard water

Above is a dwarf Synodontus catfish, from the hard waters of the rift.
Just avoid Amazonian species, or those from western Africa, and Asia

 

[Brickosaurus]

Are you on a private well?
If others in your area are on municipal water, or further from the mineral source, which might be the reason.
Adding tannins to your water "might" help using peat, or Roiboos tea, they are antibacterial, and in a small tank may slightly drop pH.
Tannins will tend to stain your water brown (the color of tea), and some aquarists don't like that.
About half the year, my tanks get quite brown with tannins, because they are outside, and influenced by tannins dripping in from surrounding vegetation, and falling leaf litter.
View attachment 1509625


Any fish from Mexico south to Panama will work in hard water (including many other live bearers beyond just platies).
View attachment 1509627View attachment 1509628 View attachment 1509626


Above swordtails, mollies and Xenatoca eiseni, all from the hard waters of Mexico
Most rainbowfish from Australia will work.
Any fish from the rift lakes of Africa will work
View attachment 1509629
Above Gulares Killifish,, and a number of other Killi's work in higher pH, hard water
View attachment 1509630
Above is a dwarf Synodontus catfish, from the hard waters of the rift.
Just avoid Amazonian species, or those from western Africa, and Asia

Thanks! According to the test results the ph is 7.4 which I didn't know was apparently safe. I'll have to double check just to be sure

 

[duanes]

Thanks! According to the test results the ph is 7.4 which I didn't know was apparently safe. I'll have to double check just to be sure

Yes
a pH of 7.4 is particularly high. fine for neons, and most gouramis
Especially when compared wiyj my 8.2 pH water

 

[Brickosaurus]

Yes
a pH of 7.4 is particularly high. fine for neons, and most gouramis
Especially when compared wiyj my 8.2 pH water

Once i double check, I'll go ahead and add the fish. If I see any sign of stress or harm to the neons and gouramis then I'll change the water to ro slowly so they can acclimate. (I just found out that my local grocery store sells ro water for 39 cents a gallon)

And yes. I am on a private well, so that might explain a few things. I'm not wanting to breed my fish so 7.4 should be fine, and I'll make sure to keep it stable

 

[duanes]

There are a few things to consider when testing aquarium and tap water.
Always rinse the vial at least 3 times before a test, and try to be exact with volume.
You are dealing in ppm (parts per million) so the margin for error is high.
and after each test rinse the vial another 3 times before doing another test, if there is even a smidgen of residual left on (even dried on) it can skew results.
If I had access to DI water that's what I would use to rinse with.
And when testing for pH, use normal range pH reagent first, if it's at the top of its range, then test with high range reagent.
i would also recommend doing at least 3 tests for each chemical species to get a good result.
You are not wasting reagents, many aquarists end up with expired reagents, so don't skimp.
I was a chemist at a large drinking water facility, and any deviation from standard protocol often ended up with dumping skewed results, and starting over.