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Need help lowering PH (discus)

Discussion in 'Discus' started by jrow8162, Feb 10, 2010.

  1. jrow8162

    jrow8162 Thread Starter Member

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    Hope I put this in the right place....

    I'm having issues with my PH in my new Discus tank. All of my other tanks sit at 7.0 but this one just jumped to 7.6. One of my Discus is crazy stressed and probably gonna die. I did a 30% water change, added some stress coat, and under the advise of my LFS added a half dose of Seachem Neutral Regulator. Anyone have any better suggestions? I just added driftwood last night and already have some live plants in the tank...
     
    jrow8162, Feb 10, 2010
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  2. buzz4520

    buzz4520 Well-Known Member

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    when i got my oscars, our water out the tap was around 8.2-8.4 and i wanted to get it lower for them so i went to my lfs and went to the pond section and got a bag of peat granules and some mesh bags. i put some of the granules in a mesh bag and put in the filter, check the parameters the next day to see how much my ph went down, tryed to drop it no more .2 to avoid the "ph swing" stress.
     
    buzz4520, Feb 10, 2010
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  3. jrow8162

    jrow8162 Thread Starter Member

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    Yeah, I don't want it to drop too fast. I just want to get it down and keep it down. I use my tap water and prime in all of my other tanks and the PH stays at a steady 7.0. I cant figure out why i'm having such a hard time with this tank...
     
    jrow8162, Feb 10, 2010
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  4. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    lowering ph:
    *mixing in/diluting with RO (reverse osmosis) water
    *peat - can put in pantyhose and stick it in your filter where the media would go (which has already been suggested)
    *adding additional driftwood
     
    MOD_Dawn, Feb 11, 2010
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  5. WhiteGloveAquatics

    WhiteGloveAquatics New Member

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    Becareful with peat, you need 100% organic peat nothing else.

    always start small, peat is known to crash a ecosystem when concentrations are to high(ph can go from 9.0 to 3.0 in a matter of hours so be careful


    you want the best way to lower Ph, I am assuming its planted, get some driftwood and Co2.

    I am building my discus tank and our tap is 8.7 with over 300ppm on the Gh I believe.

    If you can get your hands on brown fallen oak leaves, they will also drop the Ph. and the leaf litter IMO looks alot more natural and the tannins it releases are exceptional for the inhabitants life longevity and overall health( think superfish, the lower the Ph and more tannins in the water...yeah fish take on superhuman health qualities as in perfect immune system and very very less subseptible to disease or parasites.)
     
    WhiteGloveAquatics, Feb 11, 2010
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  6. Michael M. Noyes

    Michael M. Noyes New Member

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    Hello, @jrow8162 Hope you are doing well. Not only you many people face the same problem with their discuss water tank. To my opinion If you want to low your Ph level then you need to add some natural item like driftwood, peat moss, and almond leaves. You can also use osmosis filter for a more stable your Ph level.
     
    Michael M. Noyes, Oct 25, 2019
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