lowering ph

[Priscacara]

I need some suggestions on how to lower the ph in a tank without using any of the phosphate based ph down products. I have 3 tanks all needing the ph lowered to some degree and the only products I know of have the main active constituent as sodium phosphate-monobasic and immediately bumps up my phosphate levels too high.

Also how do you raise nitrate levels? Not something I've had to worry about until I started planted tanks. There are so many products in the shops it gets a bit like diet plans, this MAY do such and such but doesnt actually telll you what it DOES do. I've been using Wardley's sprout but not even sure that it will do anything about nitrates as they dont give any info. A popular product seems to be Flourish but again there is no info about the product on what it actually does and the shops havent a clue.

I've already wasted $80 in pads to filter out phosphate and it hasnt even made a dent.

Cheers.

[LithoMan]

Indian almond leaf I have some for sale do some homework on it

Cheers

And driftwood

[gingerbeer]

SO many products are based around adjusting pH without reaching the root cause. If you are dealing with fish that like low pH, and it matters, then they are probably not so concerned about pH as about water hardness, or moreso TDS. To make it easy I am of the opinion that water softening aditives and the like are a waste of money, as they replace measurable hardness with unmeasurable hardness, and are still included in the TDS. It is all about an academic definition and the fish do not read books.

If we are talking about these sorts of fish I am of the opinion that really you are on the lookout for RO water or rainwater. Anything else is a bandaid and not treating the real problem. As far as bandaids go peat is not a bad bandaid followed by driftwood. I am a big believer in Indian Almond Leaves for there properties including refuge for fry, infusoria and the herbal benefits, not so much the pH adjusting properties but.

Discus breeders tend to use hydrochloric acid to adjust pH without adding phosphates.

Hope something in this helps.

Steve

[Link2Hell]

Les I think that an RO unit would be the way to go

what is the phosphate levels in the plant food like

[Priscacara]

Thanks for the replies guys, always appreciated. The tank causing the problem is a discus community tank although the phosphates are high in the other 2 as well the plants arent dying on me. I've had a chat to Ben at Age of Aquariums and going to try a new plant food (leaf zone), a co2 booster and API ph down that doesnt contain phosphate. No idea on the plant food I was using Chris, it didnt have any details on the bottle.

I would love to go the RO road as well as CO2 but I cant afford it, my budget is pretty much gone now with all the price hikes in services unless I move to a lower rental area. Things were so much simpler with my Africans :-).

[killiguy]

I agree with Gingerbeer absolutely.Most blackwater fish are tuned into conductivity (TDS in another form)and puting chemicals of any sort will increase conductivity.If you have the same water as me(Im not sure if Geelong water and Lara water are from the same source) the pH is high but KH is low ,so eventually the pH drifts down esp if you use peat and or leaves(I use IAL as well)

[Priscacara]

Hi Killi, usually ph around 8.1 and zero kh, gh around 30ppm. Its dropped down to 7.6 ph for now but thats unusual. I have no water storage capabilities otherwise would be great to lower the ph naturally. The discus tank has just been 1 big headache after another but the fish are doing well and look stunning. Its a planted tank so dont want any more tannins in the water than I already have from the wood in there, in hindsight I should have stuck to non planted and saved myself a lot of cash and hassles.