Best way to healthfuly adjust pH?

Question

For some reason all of my tanks seem to have a problem with keeping a good pH, mines always low(5.5-6). Nothing else is wrong in the tank but the pH. what is a guaranteed way of raising the pH, like to a 6.7-7.5?

Answer 1

First off have you tested your supply water?  (Are you using tap water to fill the tank?)  Test it to get a base for your PH.  DO NOT USE distilled water.  The ph is way too low for fishtanks.  Whatever your tap water is is what your tank should be, if not, now you have to figure out what is dropping the PH.

Chances are it is from the driftwood or wood you have in the tank.  Keepingthis wood in the tank will keep dropping the PH.  To counteract the drop in PH either remove the wood or add crushed coral and/or shells to the tank.  You can do this by adding crushed coral beneath the gravel already in the tank, bag shells and keep them in your filter out of site, or incorporate them into the tank, either beneath plants or hidden in containers.

Doing it this way will bring and keep your PH to where it should be.  The problem with adding chemicals to control PH is that as soon as they run thru the carbon they are removed therefore readjusting is a daily thing.  Having a PH that is stable is the most important and not necisarily the number it is at since most fish do well in a range of PH.  It is the large swings that kill fish.

DO NOT add baking soda to your tank.  Over doing the ph plus adding additional salt is not going to do your tank any good. It will also revert back to 5.5-6 when the carbon filters pull the Soda out.  When asked, most people have no clue what PH (power of Hydrogen) even means let alone how to fix it.

If you like the look of the drift wood inthe tank, use an onion bag or any plastic netting bag and add a few sea shells to the bag.  Place them in the bottom of your filter.  This should bring your ph up slowly and maintain it.  The only other way to do this naturally and without a daily fight, is to replace your real wood with artificial.

Answer 2

     well do you have any drift wood in the tank or live plants that are decaying if you do thats why your ph is so low take them out do a waterchange and give it some time see what happens if this doesnt work go and buy a piece of tuffa rock stick it in and..............magic..!!.and remember driftwood or anykind of wood would make your ph low.......dead dried out coral and certain kinds of rocks would bring the ph up..........oh yea  check the water comming outof the tap. that could be the problem to

Answer 3

you can add bakeing soda to the tank to rase it or put in a pice of coral into the tank but first test your water source see what it's ph level is if it is higher than what your tanks are then you have something like wood in the tank that is causeing the ph level to drop  

Answer 4

Well the more waste your fish produce and depending on how often and how much you are doing in water changes will also affect your pH in lowering. In many cases using driftwoods and stuff in your tank will lower the pH. To raise your pH you can use the buffers to safely increase it, but I suggest slowly increasing it as large pH fluctuations can cause great stress on the fish. Raising pH is much easier to do safely than lowering it. You can also try using rocks like lava rock, crushed coral, texas holey rock, limestone etc. to help increase the pH and hold it steady.

Answer 5

There is a product you can buy at the pet store called "proper pH."  It's a powder that sets the pH of your water at the level you choose.  You could try using the 7.0 one.  I've always used this product when it came to controlling the pH of my tank water.  If you have live plants, you might want to check the bottle to make sure you can mix the two.

Answer 6

you need to find out what is causing the acidic water in your tank then fix it. thats the best way. otherwise i would go and buy some ph up or buffer solution 7 to keep your tank at a steady ph of 7 as constant changing isnt good for ya fish.