how do i lower the PH of my water?

Question

i have a tester kit...and my water PH is 7.7.....which is too high for my fishies.....and i have this product thats supposed to lower the ph down to 7.....but i didnt work......and i changed like 1/4 of the water today.....and my tank is 20 gallons

Answer 1

Are your fish wild caught? If not, then 7.7 is fine. Farm raised fish are born and raised between 7.5 and 8.5. If you don't know whether or not your fish are wild caught, email me and I can tell you. When you see pH recommendations, those levels are almost always for wild caught fish.

Answer 2

Your fish are currently living in the water you are trying to change so the ph can't be too high for your fish to live in or they would be dead. The odds are your fish will live just fine in your water though if you have a soft water fish and want it to thrive or breed here's an answer your quesion:

Get a Reverse Osmosis (RO) filter which will take most of the minerals and buffering capacity out of your water. Then place peat moss in a filter(s) which you can run in your aquarium and/or RO holding tank and you'll quickly have soft low ph water for your fish. Dried Canadian peat moss is the best. Remember with low ph, soft water you don't have buffering capacity so you must be very careful with feedings and water changes. You have to keep a high level of maintenance to keep the water stable because it will be more prone to swings.

Be very carefull changing the ph of the aquarium. I've never had a problem slowly lowering the ph of my aquariums for soft water low ph fish though I have had them receive what appeared to be burns from the water if the ph was raised quickly (improper water change).

Life would be easier if you just got some hard water higher ph fish like Central American or African Rift Lake fish though I can't resist a wide variety from around the world so changing the water is necessary for a small percentage of these fish. Make sure you truely need to change the water for the fish you have because the odds are very high that they will be fine in the water you have.

Since you are doing this with a 20 gallon I hope you have some nice wild microgeophagus, apistogrammas or certain killifish you're hoping to breed. Once you have the water down to an art get a big tank and try some Altum Angels. They are my favorite fish in the world though need soft low ph water.

Answer 3

Changing the pH of your water is not a difficult thing to do. What's important is to be sure you need to. The kind of fish you have determines the water conditions you'll need, based on where the fish is naturally found. You want to simulate natural conditions for the fish, pH, alkalinity, etc.

The disclaimer aside, if you've determined that your fish needs a completely neutral pH, try Neutral Regulator, by Seachem. It will raise or lower your pH to 7.0 in safe increments. You essentially use it whenever water changing. Perform massive water changes at your own risk, since every time it will go right back up to 7.7, then slowly go back down. This can stress most fish.

Answer 4

If you decide you want to change the pH in your aquarium, and you are lucky, then your water will not contain any buffers. This makes changing the pH very easy. If you are lowering your pH, you add an acid to the water and as this acid neutralizes all the bases in the water, the water becomes neutral. As you add more acid to the water, the pH continues to drop and the water begins becoming acidic. You can continue this until the pH is where you want it.

However, if your water contains buffers, then things become more difficult. Again, if you are lowering the pH in the tank, you add an acid which needs to neutralize the bases that are in the water as above. However, even after the bases are neutralized, the water will maintain a high pH because of the buffers in the water. You will need to add enough of your acid to neutralize the buffer. However, usually, when you are overcoming a buffer in the water, by the time you have added enough acid to overcome the buffer, you will have enough acid in the water to cause a precipitous drop in pH.

Though almost all fish are very tolerant of a wide range of pH in the water they live and thrive in, sudden and/or drastic changes in pH, as those caused by overcoming a buffer in the water, are almost always harmful. Not only to your fish, but also to your plants and to your biological filter.

Of course, in most cases buffers in the water are good for your tank for this very reason. If the pH is buffered to a specific value, then things that are added to the tank will have a harder time changing the pH, so your water will remain more healthy and stable.

Now, remember, if you are changing the pH of the water, you will need to do this every time that you do a water change, and slight variations in the treatment of processing of the water you are using can make dramatic changes in the behavior of these buffers. Also, objects in the tank can also make a big difference in how the water is buffered. This means that you cannot, reliably, adjust the pH of your water before you put it in the tank, and this, in turn, means that if you are messing with the pH in your tank that you will have to subject your fish to this pH roller coaster every week when you do your weekly water change.

And all this for a pH change that probably isn't necessary!

Good luck

~ GG

Answer 5

So what makes you think it's too high? Are your fish really stressed out or are they basically swimming round looking and acting fine?

7.7 is perfectly ok for pretty much any fish you find in a pet store. I would strongly suggest you not try to adjust your pH, ESPECIALLY with fish in the tank. That will certainly stress them badly as the pH bounces around from all the chemicals.

Please, for the health of your fish, don't try to change it. It's also good for your sanity to not try to change it as it will drive you out of your mind trying to get it just right unless you really read up on water chemistry in some detail before you even start.

MM

Answer 6

I would suggest Jungle Laboritories Correct pH. It is a fast dissolving premeasured tablet that makes caring for your aquarium faster, easier and more convenient than other brands of tablets and capsules. Simply drop two tablets into your aquarium. The fizzing action assures you the ingredients are working immediately. Correct pH also helps to obtain a neutral pH of 7.0 by gradually buffering the aquarium water. Correct pH also stabilizes aquarium water to protect fish from sudden changes.

Answer 7

A pH of 7.7 is fine for virtually all fish.

Please do NOT use any products to try and change the pH of your tank. This is very hard to do correctly and the resulting pH swings are very, very bad for your fish.

There is almost no reason to change the pH of a tank. Virtually all fish will do fine in a wide variety of pH and in fact the vast majority of fish in petstores have never been in water parameters that match their native environment.

It is far better for fish to be in a stable pH than the "correct" pH.

Answer 8

I am guessing by the fact your tank is only 20 gal that it is not a salt tank. It is hard to get high ph in a salt tank.
If you have a fresh water tank you can use PH-Minus made by Miradel. You can pick it up at Petsmart.
If you have a salt tank I would suggest this site....
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.php#7

I have used both these methods and they have worked well.
I hope this helped!! Good Luck!!

Answer 9

7.7 is fine.

you wont need to add the chemicals to the tank. It could be just the natural ph from the tap water. But most fish these days have been bred to handle a wide range of water ph. So you wont have to adjust the water ph to the wild conditions.

Answer 10

You gave very few details which makes answering your question difficult. Read up on the type of fish you have and make the determination from there. You can safely change the pH contrary to what some of the others are saying if you use the proper chemical. Fish thrive best in water conditions that closely match their natural habitat. I use Seachem Neutral Regulator which slowly adjusts the pH level and it works like a charm. My fish are healthy and happy.