Indian Almond leaves and pH

[DawnE]

Several weeks ago I put some indian Almond leaves in my 20 gal. My well water has a pH of 8ish after sitting 24 hours. I was hoping to bring the pH down into the mid 7 range for a community tank. I crushed some and put them in a bag in the HoB filter and threw a few (my leaves are small) into the tank.

It seems that I have accomplished this even with doing weekly water changes. Today was 7.6. Now how do I manage them? I don't want my pH to go much lower. I have not removed any of the leaves (in the filter or in the tank). How often should I switch them out?

 

[ange]

Try buffering your water (KH) against pH swings. Wonder Shell is a popular product for that. Note that it will also make your water require more tannins to reduce the pH as well.

Out of curiosity, was there a specific reason that you wanted to lower your pH? I've kept multiple soft water fish (including wild caught corydoras) in water from a karst aquifer and pH in the 7.8-8.2 range without issue. Stable parameters are more important than specific parameters for most applications. The only reason I've ever deliberately lowered my pH was for using ammonia-based fertilizer since ammonia toxicity scales with pH.

[Brian]

What fish are you keeping?  
Would it be possible to maybe buy R/O or Distilled water?  I haven’t purchased water since buying my own unit to make water, but a while back a Big Chain Store had bottle water for 1.00 a gallon.  If you take in your own container it was like .50-.60 a gallon.  Just a thought

Good Luck

[DawnE]

On 5/5/2022 at 5:42 PM, ange said:

Try buffering your water (KH) against pH swings. Wonder Shell is a popular product for that. Note that it will also make your water require more tannins to reduce the pH as well.

Out of curiosity, was there a specific reason that you wanted to lower your pH? I've kept multiple soft water fish (including wild caught corydoras) in water from a karst aquifer and pH in the 7.8-8.2 range without issue. Stable parameters are more important than specific parameters for most applications. The only reason I've ever deliberately lowered my pH was for using ammonia-based fertilizer since ammonia toxicity scales with pH.

I don't really understand buffering. I know it will help prevent swings. So shells will raise or lower my KH? Twice I have tested KH and it was 70-80ppm.

I had fish die when I first added them. My ammonia  and Nitrite were 0, Nitrate was 5ish. Then I found out my pH was higher than I thought. One of the guys at my LFS said I would have issues with pH that high (8-8.2). Apparently their pH is 7ish.

I am trying to decide if when I do a water change, I should have water sitting for 24 hrs to let the pH settle where it will (comes from the tap about 7.4, rises to 8ish in 24 hrs). Or will the rise be gradual enough not to stress the fish?

On 5/5/2022 at 10:15 PM, Brian said:

What fish are you keeping?  
Would it be possible to maybe buy R/O or Distilled water?  I haven’t purchased water since buying my own unit to make water, but a while back a Big Chain Store had bottle water for 1.00 a gallon.  If you take in your own container it was like .50-.60 a gallon.  Just a thought

Good Luck

I have 2 Otos, 6 pygmy corys and 3 Golden Panda Mollies at present in a 20 gal. long.

I do not want to go the route of RO.

[DawnE]

On 5/5/2022 at 5:42 PM, ange said:

Try buffering your water (KH) against pH swings. Wonder Shell is a popular product for that. Note that it will also make your water require more tannins to reduce the pH as well.

Out of curiosity, was there a specific reason that you wanted to lower your pH? I've kept multiple soft water fish (including wild caught corydoras) in water from a karst aquifer and pH in the 7.8-8.2 range without issue. Stable parameters are more important than specific parameters for most applications. The only reason I've ever deliberately lowered my pH was for using ammonia-based fertilizer since ammonia toxicity scales with pH.

So I have been reading about crushed coral. I am assuming Wonder Shell would do the same thing. I was concerned that my pH is already high, but from what I read, if your pH is already on the high side it doesn't move as much as the KH does. Is that your experience?

 

[ange]

Crushed coral and Wonder Shell have different uses. As a rule of thumb, low GH gets treated with crushed coral and low KH gets treated with Wonder Shell. Both can affect the other type of hardness, but they predominantly affect them in the ways that I mentioned.

Before I moved (same water source, different plumbing and water softener) I had water that was so buffered (over 200KH) that the only way to reduce pH and hardness was to dilute with RO. I tried it a couple of times to see if the fish would benefit and there was no noticeable benefit in my tanks. A lot of information on the hobby side of water chemistry is based on trial and error with a little bit of actual science at the root. I'd suggest observing your livestock and seeing if they benefit from the different parameters so that you can figure out what works for you and your fish.