# Ph Level For P's



## JP3778 (Jan 7, 2010)

Hi,

Just wondering where your ph hovers at? I test my ph at 7.5. I have mod. hard water here. GH=120mg/L and KH=60mg/L.
It's a new setup but doing quite well so far. Nitrites were high but are dropping now. My KH is low at the moment. Added KH booster to up it to above 80mg/L. Not sure how much to add to bring it up. Added enough to treat 60gal of the 75gal tank. Figured i'd start with that and test again in 12-24hrs.

I'd like to post pics of my new set up but having no luck... keep getting a fatal error message









JP


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## JP3778 (Jan 7, 2010)

Hi,

My 90 gal tank has a PH of 7.9. I have a black rhom in there. It's a mature tank and he's been in there for about a yr. I have moderately hard water and wondering what i can use to keep the PH lower. I water change weekly. Taking approx. 25% out per change. I have one piece of Malaysian driftwood inside. What do you think?

JP


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

you can use drift wood, peat, or combination of the two to lower the ph. the thing to note is a stable ph is better then having a ideal ph because if you try to get a idea ph you may have ph swing which is very bad. start by cycling your tank because it does not sound like the cycle is done yet then see where you ph is at and post here and we will make comments if you like. i havent used the peat method but i do use driftwood and seems to work fairly well. post your ammonia nitrites and nitrates so we can see where your tank is at in the cycle too.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

I would just leave it at 7.5, messing with your PH is usually more hassle than it's worth unless you have an extremely high or low PH out of the tap. If you really want to adjust and control your tank water, I would suggest starting out with RO water and making all of your adjustments in a separate container before you add it to the tank... but again, that is quite a hassle -- not something I would bother with in your situation.


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## Onkiebonkie (Apr 5, 2010)

JP3778 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Just wondering where your ph hovers at? I test my ph at 7.5. I have mod. hard water here. GH=120mg/L and KH=60mg/L.
> It's a new setup but doing quite well so far. Nitrites were high but are dropping now. My KH is low at the moment. Added KH booster to up it to above 80mg/L. Not sure how much to add to bring it up. Added enough to treat 60gal of the 75gal tank. Figured i'd start with that and test again in 12-24hrs.
> ...


i think a pH of 7.5 is a bit high. When you raise your KH the pH will raise along with it. i think a KH of 3 is low, but not too low. Are you oxigenating your aquarium alot? when you cut down on that you'll see the pH drop quite a bit and still keep enough oxigen for your fish.


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## Guest (May 5, 2010)

AS fan said:


> I would just leave it at 7.5, messing with your PH is usually more hassle than it's worth unless you have an extremely high or low PH out of the tap. If you really want to adjust and control your tank water, I would suggest starting out with RO water and making all of your adjustments in a separate container before you add it to the tank... but again, that is quite a hassle -- not something I would bother with in your situation.


A lot of times I come into these threads and hear people say that this pH is deadly and that people should use chemicals to change it.

So nice to have some people around who understand the real risk with pH isn't so much precision, it's consistency.


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## Onkiebonkie (Apr 5, 2010)

You don't need to use chemicals at all. I always look at it like this: pH is determined by the amount of CO2 and the KH level. O2 expels CO2, so by controlling the amount of gas changes you can easily control your pH. I control mine with survice movement, just enough to keep enough O2 getting in. I think survice movement can be controled better than the O2-pumps. My KH = 3 and my pH = 7.1 ....works perfect for me.


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## Blackdude (Feb 28, 2003)

If your PH is around your tap water, keep it that way


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