Advice in regards to PH

[#.$]

Im planning on lowering my ph. Really my question is do the tannins in the water lower the ph or is it the decaying matter such as driftwood, peat moss, leaves Etc.

By eliminating the tannins by using carbon or other means reduced the buffering effect? Will it basically be counterproductive, or could it work?

I would like to have clear water although not necessary, also i plan on lowering the ph to about 6.5 - 7. I will not be using chemicals and wabt to do it natural. I understand having a consistent ph is important and having a low ph is not necessary. I would like it in the range to since the fish are south american variety.


Will having the decaying matter be enough to lower the ph or are the tannins needed. I like running carbon and purigen due to pulling chemicals, orgaincs and such out of the water.

So next my parameters
Ph 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 ppm
Water hardness is high
Substrate is sand
Aquarium decor includes driftwood and no plants

 

[BIG-G]

Whenever I start thinking about Ph I like to read this. (Link below) If you skip over the basics and get to the technical stuff deeper into the article there's some good stuff that gets you thinking.
I have read this page several times over the years.
I usually opt not to mess with my Ph much.
It can become a hassle and end up bouncing around which is never good.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/understanding-ph-kh-gh-in-home-aqauriums.113548/?amp=1

 

[Bigfishnut]

A lot depends on the hardness of your water. The carbonate hardness directly effects the buffering of your water. Very hard water is nearly impossible to reduce pH successfully. It will drop temporarily when you add acid and bounce back in a day or two. Even adding decaying wood, peat moss, or other natural pH lowering matter will not help lower pH long term. RO water is easy to adjust your pH...actually too easy. Your pH will swing wildly in a 24 hour period unless you add back some minerals. My advice to you is to just go with what comes out of your tap. I've bred discus in pH of nearly 8 and moderately hard water. In most situations your fish will adapt to your tap water with no issues. Even wild caught amazon fish. You'll have better success with your tap water because it's a consistent source of water for regular waterchanges and emergency waterchanges.

 

[dalto]

As the others have said, before you try to alter ph you need to understand your kh. Out of the tap my kh is 12. Any substance I could put in my tank to lower my kh enough to where I could alter my ph would be in such quantity that it would cause a ph crash.

I am in Texas and I have perfect water for African rift lake cichlids out of the tap. So, naturally, I keep South American cichlids. I have really only found two methods worth using. Remineralize and use phosphate buffers with RODI water or mix RODI with tap. When I bred many species of Apistogramma and needed specific ph values I used the former. These days, I do the latter.

 

[#.$]

Whenever I start thinking about Ph I like to read this. (Link below) If you skip over the basics and get to the technical stuff deeper into the article there's some good stuff that gets you thinking.
I have read this page several times over the years.
I usually opt not to mess with my Ph much.
It can become a hassle and end up bouncing around which is never good.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/understanding-ph-kh-gh-in-home-aqauriums.113548/?amp=1

Thanks I'll take a look at it

 

[#.$]

Now what I want to avoid is pH swings. I'm not trying to drastically changed the pH just closer to 7 rang. The process of lowering the pH will probably be over a course of a month or 2. This way I can better control the drop and know where I need to be. What I want is consistency.

 

[Bigfishnut]

Why,

 

[#.$]

A lot depends on the hardness of your water. The carbonate hardness directly effects the buffering of your water. Very hard water is nearly impossible to reduce pH successfully. It will drop temporarily when you add acid and bounce back in a day or two. Even adding decaying wood, peat moss, or other natural pH lowering matter will not help lower pH long term. RO water is easy to adjust your pH...actually too easy. Your pH will swing wildly in a 24 hour period unless you add back some minerals. My advice to you is to just go with what comes out of your tap. I've bred discus in pH of nearly 8 and moderately hard water. In most situations your fish will adapt to your tap water with no issues. Even wild caught amazon fish. You'll have better success with your tap water because it's a consistent source of water for regular waterchanges and emergency waterchanges.

I haven't checked my hardness in a while but it hard but not crazy hard. I also plan on treating the water for water changes as well. Ro water for the reason you mentioned is why I don't like to use it. A mix of to and tap water maybe a option?

 

[#.$]

The goal is just to get the water to closer conditions a fish would experience in the wild. I've fought pH swings before using pH down and pH up, not something I want to go through again

 

[Bigfishnut]

I keep mostly amazon species...rays, discus, apistos, tetras, small fancy plecos, and lots of other sensitive soft water species from the amazon...including wild caught. Have bred most of these fish as well....all with hard, alkaline water. The secret is being able to do large waterchanges with consistent water. Mixing RO and playing with pH won't gain you anything at all. Will more likely cause problems for you. I keep over 1300 gallons of aquariums and anything but tap water just wouldn't be practical. On an average week I'm changing 600-800 gallons of water, not counting my drip systems! Only certain situations call for toying with your pH...breeding certain apistos, wild caught discus and such