JaredL Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 29gal with 10 Rasboras, 3 Otocinclus, ~50rcs, 10 panda corys, ~12 plants, 2 pieces of driftwood. Water from tap is at least 16dgh and 16dkh(test strips maxed out). Ph around 8.2 Wanting to lower ph to around 7.5. My current plan is to start mixing tap water with RO water to achieve desired ph. I would use this water for small water changes to slowly bring down ph and hardness. Is this a sound plan? I'm concerned about losing stability of my ph as it lowers due to the driftwood in my tank and other possible factors I may not have considered. Also concerned about the health of my shrimp as I know they need hardness in the water. Please share any thoughts or experiences you have with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleepy Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Why are you trying to lower your PH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomCatMatt Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 What you have planned out seems sound to me. I buy RO from my local fish store and they recommended what your doing. Nice thing is you have hard/high pH water so if you pH drops you can just add some primed water. My tap water is a 8.2 and i do a 80RO/20Tap ratio and it works for me. You'll just have to experiment with your ratio. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaredL Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 1 minute ago, Sleepy said: Why are you trying to lower your PH? Mainly just for the experience/curiosity. Most of my fish come from softer water in the wild. And although they all have been doing fine, I'm curious to see what changes. Perhaps some spawning will occur? Behaviors change? Plant health change? Maybe the fish will just generally be happier and healthier? These are the things I'd like to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaredL Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 7 minutes ago, AtomCatMatt said: What you have planned out seems sound to me. I buy RO from my local fish store and they recommended what your doing. Nice thing is you have hard/high pH water so if you pH drops you can just add some primed water. My tap water is a 8.2 and i do a 80RO/20Tap ratio and it works for me. You'll just have to experiment with your ratio. Thanks for the info! What did you bring your ph down to? Did you encounter any stability issues? Stability is my biggest concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleepy Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 1 minute ago, JaredL said: Mainly just for the experience/curiosity. Most of my fish come from softer water in the wild. And although they all have been doing fine, I'm curious to see what changes. Perhaps some spawning will occur? Behaviors change? Plant health change? Maybe the fish will just generally be happier and healthier? These are the things I'd like to find out. I see. Sounds like a decent plan a lot of people seem to chase numbers so I always caution against that especially PH let us know how it goes 🙂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomCatMatt Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, JaredL said: Thanks for the info! What did you bring your ph down to? Did you encounter any stability issues? Stability is my biggest concern. Im at 6.8 ph and havent had any issues. the tank im referencing ive had going for 6 months now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishkeeper125 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Normally its unnecessary to lower ph. But another way I've seen people do is, not changing water which over time acidifys. But this method is normally used when you have a planted tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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