help decrease ph,kh

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Howdy,

many fish from the Amazon live happily in hard water, they only need soft water to breed. Thus, unless you plan on breeding neon tetras, you may be just fine with the water you have. Besides, it appears your plants are doing fine. They may not take a change on pH too lightly, you are risking massive plant loss.

HarleyK
 
I guess the real question is why? If everything is fine then I wouldn't change it.

Also, having a lot of plants in the tank without CO2 supplements will raise the ph. CO2 will lower it. you really need to get a kh and gh test.
 
well i got a expensive wild caught amazon fish who stresses out when under wrong conditions. if the plants go than i can get new ones but not the fish
 
i'm struggling to understand why you won't buy the RO???? if you cannot replace the fish, then i'd be saying you gotta wear the costs of gettin the right water to keep it sane and healthy. Also making assumptions about water conditions is never a good idea really ... assumption is truly the mother of all f**k ups. get the hardness test kits and find out exactly how hard your water is first, then plan how to manage it.

IMO RO water is definitely the way to go
 
I second that. Was about to say the same thing. I will add on bit that was left out. The first mistake was to get a fish that isn't compatible with your set ups or the facilities to make proper changes.

You may want to consider taking it back to the seller if it's not too late for a refund and look into something else. Since you haven't stated what the fish is or any other real details it's kind of making it harder to help you.

*pH is not a reading of hardness, but of acidity level.
 
i tested tap water before and after a couple drops of lemon juice. and it will lower the ph because of the acidity of the lemon. tho i would be skeptical about trying it in my tank because the quik drop in ph may stress out the fish. and on top of that im sure lemon juice may not be good for fish. i know its good on salmon lol.
 
Nothing in this thread makes any sense and seems like a gigantic troll to me.

1.) You haven't tested any parameters yet you need to change them
2.) You haven't named this "expensive fish"
3.) You've tried "driftwood, oak, peat, almond leaves" yet can't spend money on RO/CO2
4.) You won't use CO2 even though it's heavily planted and you need to lower your pH
5.) You're willing to risk massive plant loss (expensive) but you're not willing to spend the money to get an RO system to fix all your problems permanently
6.) Adding juice... Really?

I'm not trying to be mean, but come on. If this IS serious, please just get the real long term solution which is an RO system. You can probably find one used if you look.
 
You still haven't given sufficient information on what type of fish or hardness levels. Essentially, you are wanting to soften the water you are putting in which means taking particles out of the water, mainly CaCO3 an other carbonates. A much more difficult task than adding them. you will then lower the ph closer to neutral 7pH.

The DIY ways like peat moss or in your case lemon juice just adds acids to the water. Citric acid I believe reacts with CaCO3 to form Ca(C6H5O7)2 + 3 H2O. I have no idea if calcium citrate is good for your tank. Also, if you using lemon juice, you are better off using just citric acid. At least you wouldn't be putting other organic material in your tank from the lemons.

The fish is also probably more affected by the hardness of the water and not the alkalinity because of osmosis and buoyancy. So we get back to removing particles. Reverse Osmosis is the most cost effective way to do this. Continually buying Peat Moss and gallons of lemon juice, in the long run DIY methods will generally far exceed the initial cost of a good RO system.

Or don't buy soft water wild caught specimens. Stay with locally bred or wild caught fish from hard water.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom