lowering pH

[sraiss8210]

Hello.  I'm new to this site, this is my very first post! My question is, what is a good and inexpensive way of lowering pH? I was thinking of setting up a 29 gal discus tank, and right now I'm in the middle of doing a LOT of research.  My tap water is about 8.0, and the water in my 29 gal tank right now is about 7.6, but isn't this too alkaline for keeping discus? I've read that the pH should be 7.2 or below, so how can i inexpensively get it down to that level? Any help would be awesome! So far I am enjoying this site!

Hello and welcome to the forum

Your PH is OK to start with little discus, but to lower your PH and make your water ideal for discus you will need Peat Moss. You can buy the compressed stuff at most LFS's or you can buy it at garden stores like White Rose etc. Make sure you get PURE Peat though.

I am thinking on putting Discus in the new 135 I just got "still deciding between going back to africans or starting with *dicsus"

I would use your tap PH to start then add a filterbag with peat to let it get softer and work your way down to ideal levels.

Hope this helps.

[sraiss8210]

Thanks for the help! People sure are friendly here.   ley*

[luvfishies]

Good post J!

I agree....peat is the way to go to start with.

What size tank are you looking at? You should really have 5 or more to disperse aggression and that would require a 55g minimum.

29g is fine for a bonded mated pair.

Agree with what has been said. ** I have done the peat stuff but when your water is moderately to moderately hard, peat does not seem to work very well for me plus I have a hard time "controlling" the pH.

However, another "cheap" way to lower pH is letting your water age and adding pH down. By aging I mean using a separate container like a garbage can and adjusting the ph before it goes into the discus tank. This pH down does not come from the petstore. I actually buy mine from spa/hot tub stores. It is the same stuff (I check with the specs) and have been using it for about a year now with no effects on the fish. So for a bottle of ph down costed me $6 (I believe it was 500g, pretty big bottle). Something else to check into.

Your welcome

I've been doing a lot of research about the little fella's so I am not an experience discus keeper by any means!

Ron.. You were saying by using peat with your tap water has little effect ? what is the KH of your water? I would guess that the lower your KH is in this situation would play a powerful part with the buffering of your water and how well peat will work with your water.. that is why I asked the new guy what his KH was sitting at

Yes, another way is to let your water sit out and mature just like ron said.. by doing this you can make sure all your chlorine is FULLY gone and you can treat your water for the other nastys AND us peat this way.. it might be a little bit of a PNTA but by doing this you will always have a backup supply of soft,pure water waiting for you.

I would suggest using a big "non shiny" garbage can to store your water in.

Good LucK!
smiley*

Ok sarry... I forgot to ask you what your KH was in my first post

My tap water hardness varies depending on the time of year and weather conditions I believe. Last summer, my kH was around 180-220, this summer around 60-100. That is cool but I tried the peat thing last summer and the only thing that happened was brown water.

I would definitely use a garbage can when trying to adjust ph like Jay says.

[sraiss8210]

Thanks for all the help! I believe the kH of my water is about 200, but like Ron said, it tends to vary.  So peat might not be effective with my water? I think I will buy some this weekend and experiment with it.  What are some good ways of using peat? I've heard of filterbags, putting it in a nylon stocking, adding it to your filter.  I also collected some info on the web about discus, and one discus breeder says he loves using Aquarium Pharmaceuticals "proper pH", another suggested a Seachem product, forgot what it was called.  But I would think using peat would be better? I've never had to adjust the pH of my water, so this is all new to me!  ;D  Of course I will do alot of experimenting with my water before I even think about putting discus in!

When I used peat, I also used nylon stockings in my filter. That would be a good place to start.

About the chemicals, unless you want to spend lots of money, I would go with spa/jazzuzi ph down. It is much cheaper to use then the aquarium ph chemicals (like a lot of the supplies in aquarium stores).

The reason I switch from peat is because it was hard to keep my ph steady especially since kH varied. By adding ph down to a bucket of water, I can control the ph.

Peat would be prefered however since kH is high, peat would not affect the ph to much unless you use a lot (then your water will be dark brown), plus pH would be shifting.