bogwood/driftwood and ph...

[cybersymes]

hey there...few things to check...

bogwood/driftwood lower ph...that seems to be the way of it...
in soft water that my cause a crash...is that the deal...[thanks salty]...

my water is hard...and i have added bogwood pieces for decoration...
and also two small sections with plants attached...

is it possible to cause ph problems in my tank...ie a crash...
by having 5 'bits' of bogwood in there...

tank is 40gallon[imp]...which is 48 US []...
wood sections are about medium forearm sized...4 inches long each...
[tapering to points at the ends]...
and i always have a piece of polyfilter in my filter housing...
[if that makes any difference]...
temp is always 25 cent...77 faren...
and ph has been stable in the past at 7.2...

i ask as 3 of the wood pieces have only been in a week or so...
tia...s ...

 

[bandito41]

As long as you do regular water changes the driftwood should not cause problems. I am not 100% sure about this, but it seems logical.

 

[cybersymes]

As long as you do regular water changes the driftwood should not cause problems. I am not 100% sure about this, but it seems logical.

cool...i do 10% [4gallons imperial]...every other day...
hopefully i'm ok...thanks for your reply...much app...

 

[Orion]

The wood releases taninis which can lower the PH. However this only can alter it in small amounts (unless you have a ton of wood in the tank) at best, and if you have hard water then I really doubt that it will change at all.

 

[Seleya]

You should be fine -- if you wish, you can test the pH for a while to monitor any changes. I use a lot of driftwood [Malaysian] in my tanks and have relatively soft water and it doesn't alter the pH much [.2-ish] -- it colors the water up quite a bit with no carbon in the filter -- but no pH troubles.

 

[cybersymes]

thanks guys...i test my water every week...
and the ph is always 7.2 ...
i just wanted to check as new stuff has just gone in...

my wood is malaysian too...
i use a piece of polyfilter to remove the colour...
i like the water to be crystal...

thanks again...

 

[Seleya]

The Malaysian is nice -- has some character and sinks like a rock. Your fish will love it! Try some java fern on it or some anubias if you can get it -- some java moss winding up it is pretty too.

I hear you about crystal water -- one of my tanks is along a wall near the TV so it's viewed sideways a lot and *that one* has to be kept crystal clear or I get 'pee' comments. LOL! The rest of my tanks are allowed to color up -- the tetras look awesome in it!

 

[echoofformless]

If you're keeping fish that are happier in acidic water (ie- tetras, barbs, rasboras, gouramis, bettas, angels) then the driftwood will actually do you some service if it lowers the pH.
All this idealism of a neutral pH kind of bothers me in a way. The fact is that about 70-80% of the fish we keep in community aquariums actually prefer softer, more acidic conditions. I always find myself worrying more about something raising my pH than lowering it. But then again, I also have two blackwater setups, so I might be a little predisposed so to speak. hehe

 

[Big Vine]

Yup, that higher pH water, along with harder water, is more suitable for crustaceans (i.e. healthy shell growth/development). I've read that livebearers tend to do well in slightly alkaline water as well.

But I agree too...most tropical freshwater species definitely seem to prefer softer, slightly acidic water.

Big Vine

 

[cybersymes]

hey hey...i've got both java fern and anubias going on...

might try the 'color' up deal...see how it looks...

The Malaysian is nice -- has some character and sinks like a rock. Your fish will love it! Try some java fern on it or some anubias if you can get it -- some java moss winding up it is pretty too.

I hear you about crystal water -- one of my tanks is along a wall near the TV so it's viewed sideways a lot and *that one* has to be kept crystal clear or I get 'pee' comments. LOL! The rest of my tanks are allowed to color up -- the tetras look awesome in it!