what's a good driftwood for lowering PH. mine is at 8 and i want to lower it to about 7.5. or are they all the same.
what driftwood to lower PH?
- Thread starter midasman714
- Start date
I'm not sure what wood does better than others but you will get better results by putting sphagnum peat moss in your filter. You can buy a 'bale' of it for like 30-40 bucks and it will last you a LONG time. Your local landscape center may sale them or can order them for you.
i've read up about peat moss but also heard keeping the PH stable with it is tough for a ph novice.
i'll look into the malaysian driftwood, i'm sure i can find a LFS in ca that sells them.
thanks for the quick response.
i'll look into the malaysian driftwood, i'm sure i can find a LFS in ca that sells them.
thanks for the quick response.
It depends on the hardness and the buffer capacity of your tap water if it is even possible for you to lower PH with driftwood or peat.
Usually you would deploy both to keep a stable PH after you chemically treated the water or mixed water from tap and RO system.
If your hardness and buffer capacity is high then you need to be very careful about trying to lower you PH since it will be a problem to stabilize it, and you could end up with a swinging PH and that could be fatal to you fish.
Usually you would deploy both to keep a stable PH after you chemically treated the water or mixed water from tap and RO system.
If your hardness and buffer capacity is high then you need to be very careful about trying to lower you PH since it will be a problem to stabilize it, and you could end up with a swinging PH and that could be fatal to you fish.
Quick overview...
Driftwood and peat both emit/leach tannic acids. Being an Acid it makes the water more acidic, or having a lower PH reading...
So if your tap water has a PH of 8... and your peat/driftwood leach tannins... the your PH will slowly start to drop from 8... For example, let's say a week later it's at 7.0 and you do a water change (using your 8.0 tap water)... So your water change will quickly bring it to (approx) 7.3... then a week later it's somewhere in the high 6's before the water change and a litle higher after the water change...
Eventually your PH will hit a 'bottom' and will not drop any lower... but when you do a water change it will bump back up a few points and then slowly drop back to the bottom point.
Some sensative fish will not appreciate this slight swing, others will not even notice... But I think it would add some mild stress to most fish, but they'll survive. But, this sort of stuff adds up and will probably shave a year or two off the fish's overall lifespan.
To avoid all of this many people pretreat the 'new water' to lower the PH to the desired level before doing a water change.
Another way to avoid this is simply leave the PH alone, which has been by far the best method I've found. I have very soft water with a lower PH and my CA Cichlids breed in it just fine even though the books say they do best in moderate/hard water with a neutral PH... But I've never had fish thrive/breed in tanks with a swinging PH...
Whatever approach you take... best of luck!
Driftwood and peat both emit/leach tannic acids. Being an Acid it makes the water more acidic, or having a lower PH reading...
So if your tap water has a PH of 8... and your peat/driftwood leach tannins... the your PH will slowly start to drop from 8... For example, let's say a week later it's at 7.0 and you do a water change (using your 8.0 tap water)... So your water change will quickly bring it to (approx) 7.3... then a week later it's somewhere in the high 6's before the water change and a litle higher after the water change...
Eventually your PH will hit a 'bottom' and will not drop any lower... but when you do a water change it will bump back up a few points and then slowly drop back to the bottom point.
Some sensative fish will not appreciate this slight swing, others will not even notice... But I think it would add some mild stress to most fish, but they'll survive. But, this sort of stuff adds up and will probably shave a year or two off the fish's overall lifespan.
To avoid all of this many people pretreat the 'new water' to lower the PH to the desired level before doing a water change.
Another way to avoid this is simply leave the PH alone, which has been by far the best method I've found. I have very soft water with a lower PH and my CA Cichlids breed in it just fine even though the books say they do best in moderate/hard water with a neutral PH... But I've never had fish thrive/breed in tanks with a swinging PH...
Whatever approach you take... best of luck!