# Ph Is To Low



## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

Hello.i just tested my water,and i meassered ph 5

i did a 8 weeks ago a blackwater project with peat...and it turned out that the ph of my tank was 4.5 at 5 (should i put ph+ ?)
so i did remove 2x 50% water changes about every 4 weeks..
and i cleaned my 2 filterpomps a litle bit...not at the same time...dont wanna destroy the good bacterie i know...
what can i do?, do some more waterchange or ph+

what to do ?...with and without blackwater ....cuase i like the blackwater look.....

hope its not a stupid question,im willing to learn...ive read about wild caught fish like low ph...ph 5 or 4.5???
my caribe doing wel and the in captivety bred reds are doing good as wel... 
but i gues the ph should be normal at 6,6 thats what i have for 5 years...

with regards ...


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

any one?...


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

I wouldn't mess with pH+ stuff if you don't FULLY understand how pH is measured, its effects & causes. A stable low pH is better than a perfect pH that fluctuates. I don't understand why to started blackwater then wonder why pH is so low.


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

ok let me ask you another qeustion ,... what to do when the ph level drops, cuased by peat, how to raise it again..for (stablizing)

i had 5 years stable 6,6.... but then again i like the Blackwater i realy DO...









and indeed 6,6 its nothing to do whit my fasination 666 lol








its measered whit a aquamedic ph computer... nice thing..


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

pirana666 said:


> ok let me ask you another qeustion ,... what to do when the ph level drops, cuased by peat, how to raise it again..for (stablizing)
> 
> i had 5 years stable 6,6.... but then again i like the Blackwater i realy DO...
> 
> ...


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

anybody have some knowledge about waterchemistry?


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)




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## Guest (May 8, 2011)

Water changes.

If you have a low pH out the tap, when you add peat it'll lower it further. Changing your water with fresh water at a higher pH is the best way to bring up the pH.
Fluctuating pH is harmful to fish, it can cause pH shock which can lead to the fish dying. Your best just getting rid of the peat if you find your pH fluctuating every time you do a water change.

Most commercial pH products adjust your water KH, and this too can be bad for the fish, it'll cause your pH to fluctuate even further even cause pH crashes.

ps. 666 may not be the actual number of the beast.


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

ty for replaying and make thing clear ....
i did already some major water changes.. but indeed i have to wait until it wil stabelize itself again 
all the peat is out. so i geus i wil do another waterchange this week......
ty .... i geus i need to be patience..
i geus i dont get a blackwater look by peat.... humzz

ps (666) i know its al about numeroligy, 9 is the most selfish number and so on.. shaitan doesnt exist 
the enlightend ppl called sjamaans and alchemist, knew it a long time before, that numeroligy, expecaly about the 9 
and therefore the religieus ppl couldnt understand and called it evil....as so many time,s 
as ppl cant understand something, they will ( sorry dont find the word ....

by the way thnxs for explaining the water chemistry....


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## Guest (May 8, 2011)

No problem









I remember reading somewhere before that the black water effect can be achieved using other products without significantly lowering the pH. I can't remember what, but I'll search around and try to remember. Also maybe if you add less peat you could get the black water effect without drastically lowering the pH. I don't use peat much, but I've read various methods of adding it give you different results. How are you adding the peat?


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

in a panty sok ,and lay it in a filter i made myself, decorated like wood...
its officialy a powerheadpomp for oxenating the surface....but its 2 in 1 
indeed i did it verry slow ,but i overrated a bit that sucks...indeed...
but ok... didnt want to buy a expensive bottle of blackwater extract

that would be cool if you can find out ,how to stable the ph after ading the peat...


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

any one knows about adding peat for blackwater?,and to stablize the ph ?
ph + or what?....


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## mitchb (Feb 26, 2011)

Couldn't you add crushed oyster shells to raise the ph up, or baking soda?


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## Guest (May 9, 2011)

Baking soda bumps up KH, making your water have a higher buffering capacity also bumping up the pH a bit. Shells will bump up the pH though they can be a pain to work with. Do you know what the KH of your water is?


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## Guest (May 9, 2011)

You could add the baking soda to bump up the KH (will also bump up the pH a bit) and then when you add the peat your water will have a higher buffering capacity making the drop in pH lower then what it would be. It'll also make your pH more stable depending on what your starting KH is.

But keep in mind this will require a lot of extra work as after every water change you'll need to stabilize the KH again.


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

okee,yea thnxs traveller.... i get the pict... my kh is 6 d*

okee then i have to use ..baking soda....is that ,natriumcarbonaat,or natrium bicarbonaat?

and whats the maximum kh to raise? thnxs....


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## Guest (May 9, 2011)

A KH of 6 is already good, I bump up the KH of one of my planted tanks from 4 to 8 as CO2 injection can crash the pH if the KH is too low. Also the KH get's used up, so you'll see a drop in pH after a while of adding peat as it's essentially buffering the acid and has reached it's capacity. You could try bumping your KH to 8 although I'm not sure on whether it'll have a significant effect.

You could make your own black water extract using peat and add that too the tank instead of the peat directly and you might be able to get roughly the same effect without the drastic pH drop.

Baking soda also known as bicarbonate of soda or Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is what you want. Read up on it as it's a bit of a delicate process adding the correct amount to get your desired KH.


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

ok i im gonna think about it tommorow, its LATE already HERE..... im realy tired...
thnxs man i realy aprecciate it ...like to find out more about this....


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## Guest (May 9, 2011)

No problem.
Seeing that you've mentioned alchemy in your posts I'm sure you wont find it hard to grasp


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## Gmanx (May 10, 2010)

First thing you need to do is check your KH and Gh, depending on these results will give you a base to star looking at how you can raise your PH. I had a low PH in one of my tanks awhile back with a very low Gh reading also. After a few days of adding aquarium salt to buffer my Gh back to a normal level which in turn brought my PH back up to a more normal level.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

I think adding peat and then trying to buff the pH up is counter productive and asking for trouble. My advice is either ditch the peat or keep the low pH as the fish should adapt to it fine.


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

okee. i thought about it today.and i think that maybe when ihave enough waterchanges ...
the ph will be stable like always...HOPE it will
then again if i wanna start my own blackwater extract,the kh and gh should be raised to what level?
then again i noticed i had a old bulb lamp 40 watt and it makes the aquarium look like a blackwater look...a solution.
but,again ive heard that blackwater has a good ..value to the piranha s ?
so i like to try it ....
but dont wanna risk big problems i LOVE my fish!....
this month i gonna start a marine aquarium, so seasalt i have already ,dont know if i can use that for raising gh? but first i have to test my water....i dont have a gh test yet...

ps.. water is a chemical, Everything is chemicals. 

this is what i found on the net:The "KH" test kit measures the total alkalinity, of which "carbonate
hardness" (KH) is a major contributor. KH is the measure of
bicarbonate (HCO3-) and carbonate (CO3--) ions in the water.

GH is general hardness and is the measure of primarily calcium (Ca++)
and magnesium (Mg++) ions in the water.


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

CLUSTER ONE said:


> I think adding peat and then trying to buff the pH up is counter productive and asking for trouble. My advice is either ditch the peat or keep the low pH as the fish should adapt to it fine.


I agree 100%. your asking for trouble. Just with your peat alone causing your tank to have a low pH your messing with the pH every time you water change.


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

yea. i geus i didnt clean the big filterpumps good enoug, cause i was afraid to dammaging to much....

so the best and save s way is to wait until it stabelize itselfs do frequent waterchange....slow method
i geus im gonna try ditch out the peat in the pump,and keep watching ph again..
maybe everything will stablize..?!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

You are still missing the point. I am saying just leave the pH alone. Do regular water changes not excessive amounts to try to lower the pH. If you keep trying to bring the pH down via waterchanges you will have to keep doing them excessivly forvever as it is not a permanent fix. You will also cause a fluxuating pH with large waterchanges. You could try a bit less peat. Im not sure if black water extract will change the pH to the same degree as peat or not but either abit of BWE or less peat could give you abit higher of a pH.

If you are cleaning the filters as you decided to ditch the peat I would just do it slowly over time as if yopu do it rapidly that is a big pH jump.

Finially like I said before using peat and trying to buff the pH up is asking for trouble as you are messing with things that it sounds like you don't yet fully understand.

Here is an article I wrote up outlining the basics of water chemistry with abit in how the impact eachother:
Aquarium Chemistry


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

ty verry much for explaining... and i will slowly rehabiltate to 6.6 again haha .. ty


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## memento (Jun 3, 2009)

Oi Dutchy









I reckognised the name... mine used to be Combi on Fury









Sounds like you have some troubles with keeping the water stable, caused by additions like peat.
I do not suggest using anything else to raise the params again, for with additions it's kinda like trial and error. It gets up, gets down and that keeps repeating. No healthy circumstances for your fish.

If you like the blackwater look, but don't want further troubles with the params, remove the peat, get the water stabalised with some waterchanges untill the params are okay and then try the Blackwater products of Sera or Tetra.

Tetra Blackwater extract : http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=76

Sera Blackwater Aquatan : http://www.sera.de/nl/producten/garnelen-und-nano-aquarium/wasseraufbereiter/sera-blackwater-aquatan.html


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

loooks like they got this wrapped up

any update ?


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## dcp5082 (Feb 14, 2011)

use sand as a substrate, that increases pH I believe. I have 7.6 pH out of the tap so I have the opposite problem you do lol


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

ty( combichrist..)







ofcourse i know u, ur the dutch piranha guru







but ok ....
i did my diy project cause its cheaper...yea i knwow cheap isnt always good...








so i thuoght wy dont try it myselfs ,,,humz i overdid it a bit and bammm trouble,s
but ok i read that the ph is at most stable for the fish,when i rehabilitate the PH slowly...?
i do this weekend again a waterchange just normal 20%...and hope about a few month everything wil go stable again...
my tapwater has a ph 8 and normaly my tank got a ph 6,6 stable... but ok 
i geus the ph wil fluctuade to much with the DIY peat blackwater project...?
so when i get it right, it is like,if my tank is stable again and i buffer my ph with bicarbonate baking soda 
and than adding peat,the peat should not lower the ph that much ,BUT..the PH will not be as stable again and wil more fluctuade -
when you have waterchanges...? but if you dont mind the extra work ,it could be done?

im i right?
and indeed, otherwise i have to buy the blackwater bottle ,,isnt that not peat to? and what make s the PH stabelize

thanxs all for the help....and advise...


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

i did a little waterchange 20%,and as i already thuoght the ph still fluctuade s just around 5...

so again, waiting for 2 weeks befor the next waterchange..hopfully the ph wil slowly RISE...

the fish feel good, i dont know if the temperatuur make s them spawn or the peat...

but ok, so far so good....


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