How to lower pH?

[adrianng1996]

my crs tank have a pH of 7-7.4 like that...how do i reduce it to about 6.5? without co2 and chemicals....will adding peat work? and how long can peat buffer my water to low pH? thanks

[Quicksilver]

I never tried peat so I will leave the answer to those who have more experience with that.
I am currently trying to lower the Ph on one of my new tank and I am doing it using RO water (my RO is below 5).

The main thing is to find out first what gives you such Ph (objects in the tank,gravel etc.).

[adrianng1996]

i used to keep sulawesi in this tank...so i used coral last time...but i removed 98percent of the coral just left some fine ones...

[Quicksilver]

Then that may be the problemm coral and coral sand are a killer, there maybe more coral left that what you may see. Bear in mind that just to reduce 50% of the Ph on my 60lt tank (to cycle i filled the first time with tap water) it took me 4 full water change. Till you keep stuff that can react in the tank everythink you try is going to be only temporary, Ph level can go up and down during small period of time. I suggest to clean up every thing or as last resource use peat in the filter...And cross your finger!

[dxiong5]

Please search the forum before starting a new thread as this topic has been covered multiple times. Here is an article in the library regarding water management: http://www.shrimpnow.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=73

[NeyaNey]

It's probably your taps KH too.

Quite frankly a couple pieces of crushed coral will not IMO buffer a ph from 6's to 7s
you'd have to leave quite a bit behind.
I have several ounces of crushed coral hanging in my 6.6gal to buffer ph up and it still doesn't reach above 6.4 ever (without co2, special lowering soils etc).

[CrystalMethShrimp]

my crs tank have a pH of 7-7.4 like that...how do i reduce it to about 6.5? without co2 and chemicals....will adding peat work? and how long can peat buffer my water to low pH? thanks

Here's how I lowered mine.
You cannot do it without chems or co2...

I mean you can add drift wood but then you'll get yellow water..

I have 7.4 tap water as well...
Originally I tried adding Filtered Brita water which was 6.0pH

brought my tank down to 6.4ph but would always go back to 7.4ph because of the natural buffer in our water. pissed me off everytime

An expert whose been doing this for 40 years gave me some phosphoric acid.
I added 0.5 ml to a 9 liter bucket. then did a water change with the 9 liters.
Voila! it worked...now my ph stays at 6.5 and no shrimps died.


btw my tank is 26 liters. so really it's 0.5 ml to 25 liter ratio.
Just make sure when you do water changes the new water is adjusted to 6.5ph as well.

[NeyaNey]

You CAN lower ph without chemicals or co2.
In fact, it's safer.

I highly suggest not using a ph buffer down or phos acid.
Ph buffer products can swing ph wildly if they don't lower kh too. Phosphuric acid raises phosphate levels possibly causing huge algae blooms.
But don't get me wrong:
If you aren't concerned about phosphates then go for it!

Peat is effective if your kh isn't high.

Ro (di)water is also safest and most effective method IMO.
You'll want to reconstitue it with a commercial product or tap to optimal ph, kh, gh

Special substrates like Ada Amazonia lower ph. Careful as some
release ammonia in the beggining.

My crs are happily housed and well colored in over 7.0ph. The major concern is ammonia toxicity. The smaller the aquarium the more of an issue that is.
Meanwhile I keep my cherrys in a 6.2-6.4ph because the aquariums smaller and therefore more likely to have ammonia.

[CrystalMethShrimp]

is that why crs are kept in 6.5 ph? cause of ammonia?

I have a hob filter so 0 ammonia, does that mean the ideal ph for them would be 6.8ph-7 ph?

RO water wont work cuz of your buffer...my kH is a low 3...and even then using R/O water would just bring it down to 6.4ph then 7.4 in 2 days...

I used a tiny tiny bit of phosphoric acid and it's been stable since.

he's a beginner I doubt he'd dish out a ton of $$ for ADA soil..

[NeyaNey]

Yes. Some say they color better in lower ph but I find that to be an opinion rather than a fact. Many great breeders have SSS in up to 7.6 (maybe higher) ph.
Ammonia becomes more toxic the higher the ph.

Ro water should effectively be about 7.0ph and a KH of 0. However natural co2 in the atmosphere entering ro water can make it signifcanly lower in ph (as low as 5.0 I've seen documented)
No kh=no buffers. A kh of 3 has a natural ph state of over 7. You do want some buffer. Phos acid breaks down some (have you checked your kh?) otherwise ph will lower at night (especially)crazily due to natural co2 buildup.

This is why ph chasing is dangerous risky business and should not be attempted by directions on a bottle. Your kh will continually pull ph back up without added co2 and 0 kh will have no buffers and will cause ph to drop drastically at certain hours.

Most who keep crs in a planted enviroment with low ph are utilizing pressurized co2 at a specific amount or Ada soil or both.