Lowering PH for Aro's: Driftwood.... Anyone with experience?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Hdeuce;2085743; said:
Yes driftwood lowers the ph and yes ph up and ph down are both bad to use in fish tanks , however they both work as well as driftwood use the damn driftwood you should have no problem , and ph is mostly approx. anyway as long as you are close the fish will be healthy unless you drastically change the ph level in the water they live in.
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Thanks... I will keep this in mind, but I'm done with the idea. The second poster was right, if I don't know what I'm doing to the best of my knowledge, which I don't have time to do right now, I'm better off not trying until I am. PH is something that you don't want to mess with unless you're 100% ready to tackle the problem.

Also, for future reference this is a good thread on it: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/fre...-questions/53324-salt-my-freshwater-tank.html
 
The 2nd poster IS right.
Trying to lower pH in hard water is a losing battle because it's highly buffered and resists all change-up OR down. It's stable as the day is long.
 
Ksane;2085762; said:
The 2nd poster IS right.
Trying to lower pH in hard water is a losing battle because it's highly buffered and resists all change-up OR down. It's stable as the day is long.
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So softening your fish tank water is a myth??
 
Ksane;2085762; said:
The 2nd poster IS right.
Trying to lower pH in hard water is a losing battle because it's highly buffered and resists all change-up OR down. It's stable as the day is long.
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hmm is that a grammatical correction of my using 'was' instead of 'is'? yikes..
 
No, I was just stressing it, Daveman lol
Patrick, softening your water is certainly not a myth. The 'myth' is trying to soften it with pH lower products. The easiest safest way to soften your water is by mixing it with RO water. But you need to understand water chemistry, kh, gh, etc before you go that route.
If your kh (carbonate hardness) is 14 like mine is and you want a kh of 7 to raise (not breed) Discus in then you'd have to mix 1/2 RO water with 1/2 tap water. If you wanted to breed your Discus they need a kh of 3-4 so you'd have to mix 75% RO water to 25% tap water. Automatically and safely 'softens' your water. It's easy to grasp once you understand it, you have to make the change gradually also-never all at once. Does that make sense? (I usually over-explain things).
Edit: But my Discus are being raised in kh 14 water and are doing awesome in this super hard tap water. The key is super low nitrates as with any fish.
 
Ksane;2085810; said:
No, I was just stressing it, Daveman lol
Patrick, softening your water is certainly not a myth. The 'myth' is trying to soften it with pH lower products. The easiest safest way to soften your water is by mixing it with RO water. But you need to understand water chemistry, kh, gh, etc before you go that route.
If your kh (carbonate hardness) is 14 like mine is and you want a kh of 7 to raise (not breed) Discus in then you'd have to mix 1/2 RO water with 1/2 tap water. If you wanted to breed your Discus they need a kh of 3-4 so you'd have to mix 75% RO water to 25% tap water. Automatically and safely 'softens' your water. It's easy to grasp once you understand it, you have to make the change gradually also-never all at once. Does that make sense? (I usually over-explain things).
Edit: But my Discus are being raised in kh 14 water and are doing awesome in this super hard tap water. The key is super low nitrates as with any fish.
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Hi Ksane, so basically you're against PH up/down products, which is very understandable. Now, can you make clear your position on driftwood? Is this a fool-proof way to have a good PH level? This goes back to my original reason for posting this:

1. Can driftwood lower ph?
2. Will it bring it down to a suitable level for an Arowana? Or, will it go down and down and down where you have to monitor it and take some kind of action?
3. Does it really take a few months before the tannins come out to bring down the PH? Will it come off gradually or will it happen suddenly where I have to be concerned about the Aro's?

My local pet store sells driftwood, so I might just buy it there instead of picking it up at a local lake. From looking at the sticky thread on this forum on posting Aro tank set ups, it looks like the majority of people have driftwood in their tanks which makes me lean towards getting one.
 
Daveman, you need to get a kh test. Most fish shops should have them, don't get the test strips, get the liquid test, you have to know your kh 1st. Given the fact that your tap pH is high then I'll bet your kh is high also. pH isn't a good indicator of how 'hard' your water is though. Because your straight-out-of-the-tap can show a lower pH than water left in a container with a bubbler for 24 hrs. The reason for that is undissolved CO2 gasses. I don't even screw with pH tests, fish don't 'feel' pH, what they feel is the 'total dissolved solids' in your water. Which is your kh and gh readings. If you've got hard water (which it sounds like you probaby do) then you can stuff driftwood in there all the way into the New Year and it's not going to soften your water. Because hard water resists change in either direction (up or down) because it's so well buffered & stable.
The extra minerals in your hard water shouldn't hurt your Aro. Fish normally from softer water can adapt perfectly fine to hard water, but fish from hard water living in soft water-they do poorly.
I've got driftwood in my Oscars tanks but it's not to attempt to soften the water, it's because I like how it looks.
PS Much of what I learned about water chemistry came from articles and publications from an awesome marine biologist named Neale Monks in the UK. He can explain things in such a way that it all becomes clear. It's because of his patience and his alone that I try so hard to explain things so that people understand.
If I can help you in any way, don't hesitate to ask.
Edit: If you want to do the best you can do for your Aro and are willing to go the extra mile then I'd quit worrying about water chemistry and concentrate on water quality. If you can keep your nitrates below 10 you'll be doing him far more good than any amount of water softening, I promise.
 
Ksane, thanks for that explanation. I'll look into KH and GH when I get the chance and will bookmark the post, definitely appreciate it.
 
interesting post! :popcorn:
 
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