My tap water is 8.8 and I would like to lower it without an RO System or Leaching Tannins. Any way?
How to lower PH without RO and tannins?
- Thread starter Icedcoldmine
- Start date
There's no point playing with the Ph value. It has no effect on fish well being on its own. If you want your water softer, you need to use RO. There's no other way. Then again, the Ph value you arrive at via RO water has no bearing on the fish well being. Its the actual mineral content, or the reduction of it, that plays a role for soft water species. So altering the Ph without altering the mineral content is completely pointless.
CO2 reduces the Ph as it affects the ratio of positive to negative hydrogen ions, which is basically what the Ph measures, but it has no effect on the mineral content at all....Except for moving the Ph down, it does not alter any other water specification. Hence fish don't care about Ph move driven by CO2. However, they do care about high levels of CO2 in the water. Some species are not well equipped to deal with that.
CO2 reduces the Ph as it affects the ratio of positive to negative hydrogen ions, which is basically what the Ph measures, but it has no effect on the mineral content at all....Except for moving the Ph down, it does not alter any other water specification. Hence fish don't care about Ph move driven by CO2. However, they do care about high levels of CO2 in the water. Some species are not well equipped to deal with that.
Kind of... pH does definitely have an effect on fish well being on its own. Try keeping fish in pH 2 water! or pH 12. Dissolved CO2 reduces pH by the formation of carbonic acid which is a proton donor (weak acid, puts H+ into the water) and pH is a measure of H+. The "p" in pH is an operation that means "take the negative log" of H which the concentration of H+ (not H-) ion in molar units. pH levels and mineral content are not entirely separable. The dissolution of different metals in water changes pH. If you drastically change pH you will precipitate out some metal species and others will come into solution.
Anyways to OP- why are you opposed to using RO water?
I agree about not messing with pH, you'd be better off getting fish that are comfortable in your tap water, and there are plenty to choose from.
Any fish from the African Rift lakes will find your 8.8 pH perfect.
As will most fish from Central, North America, and Australia.
I used to live next to Lake Michigan, which had an average pH of 8.8)
Even the species that live west of the Andes in South America, will not be bothered by high pH.
The only species to avoid might be those from the Amazonian, west African, and Asian soft soft waters.
Here in Panama, where I live now near to lake Gatun, where pH of it sometimes exceeds 9, and the lake and its inflowing waters are full of invasive Cichla, and plenty of endemic cichlids, live bearers, and tetras.
Of course you could collect rain water, which is usually low in pH and blend with your tap water.
Any fish from the African Rift lakes will find your 8.8 pH perfect.
As will most fish from Central, North America, and Australia.
I used to live next to Lake Michigan, which had an average pH of 8.8)
Even the species that live west of the Andes in South America, will not be bothered by high pH.
The only species to avoid might be those from the Amazonian, west African, and Asian soft soft waters.
Here in Panama, where I live now near to lake Gatun, where pH of it sometimes exceeds 9, and the lake and its inflowing waters are full of invasive Cichla, and plenty of endemic cichlids, live bearers, and tetras.
Of course you could collect rain water, which is usually low in pH and blend with your tap water.
I agree with the comments about not messing with the ph. Your fish will be much better off with a consistent but high ph than they will with a fluctuating but lower ph. My ph is 8.4 and I don’t mess with it even though I keep SA cats. They do just fine in it and are very healthy.
My RO system both broke because my PH was too high and I didn't want to replace filters after a week. I want to keep German rams and SA Plecos, but my water is too hard.
That is unfortunate, I would recommend checking out some African dwarf cichlids like kribensis.
They will lower your pH, but the real issue is water hardness. Do you measure your gH/kH? Dissolved minerals in water won't be removed by adding a low pH buffer, need the RO unit for that.