Suggestion to decrease my pH for my discus tank?

[sushiray]

I just recently checked my discus tank parameters

AM=NI=NA=0

but my pH had zoomed from 6.4 to 7.4!

thought it was the jungle clear tablets or the juices from the frozen brine/bloodworms or the prazipro. Nope! none of that.

It was suggested I test my tap & lo n behold! pH = 8.8!!
all other readings were zero.

will have to call the water dept tomorrow to see if they increased their sodium hydroxides or other buffers recently cuz my pH had been 6.4 for the longest time with almost daily w/c's.

any suggestions to help reduce it? any natural solutions or do I need to buy an off the shelf product?

or should I let the tank pH stay around 7.4, meanwhile my local tap water is at 8.8.

 

[rudy1964]

i will get a reverse osmosis what i had i was a 55 gallon drum where i storage water for my w/c i set up one at home for drinking water but also used it for the fish

 

[Dragoner]

I heard peat or black water mix helps in softening pH. If you do daily water changes, try storing it and then treating it. Though I've never kept Discus before.

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

Generally, it's either R/O unit or peat. Which one depends on your hardness (kH, gH).

HarleyK

 

[Ullopincrate]

I use an RO unit for mine. You could also try Seachem Discus buffer.

 

[Knowdafish]

R.O. To get your PH low enough with peat would take a heck of alot of peat and your aquarium water would look like strongly brewed tea! If want to be able to see your fish, use R.O. water.

 

[gomezladdams]

Ro is the best way but I was using something like this when I had apistos
http://www.discusnews.com/article/cat-01/peat-bomb.shtml
You can run the blackwater through carbon before using to get rid of the color,but by the time you do all that,you might as well just get the ro

 

[daninthesand]

At the jack Wattley discus "hatchery" they use muriatic acid for swimming pools. their discus water ph is around 5. been there. seen it with my own eyes. the jugs were on the floor.
I don't suggest you do it though unless you know exactly what you are doing.

 

[aqua-nepz]

If you want blackwater with low ph then I sujjest you to use peat,oak leaves,beech leaves or catappa leaves(Indian Almond).But if you just want softwater with low ph then you should probably get reverse osmosis unit.

 

[12 Volt Man]

At the jack Wattley discus "hatchery" they use muriatic acid for swimming pools. their discus water ph is around 5. been there. seen it with my own eyes. the jugs were on the floor.
I don't suggest you do it though unless you know exactly what you are doing.

I have used muriatic to pH down tanks before. works well, but I only did it as prep for in coming fish (ie the tanks were fishless when we would dose).

however, you need to have proper personal protection equipment to use that stuff safely. its hydrochloric acid. muriatic is just a 'trade name'

the fumes can burn your lungs, if it gets in your eye, your blinded..

dangerous stuff. but effective as a pH reducer for places where you need to dose multiple tanks quickly.

and it takes very little to drop the pH.

8 mls in a 110g tank was all we used to use. higher for saltwater applications of course.