Distilled water to lower ph

Hello everyone. Testing my tank today I got my highest ph reading of 7.6. I know this is not to bad of a level but id like to lower it closer to 7. I've read that RO water will help but I do not have access to this water. I do 25% water changes weekly and the ph drops a bit. I have read that distilled water can lower ph and I was wondering if anyone has used it and seen results? If I was to use distilled water to add 10% of the 25% water changed water back into the tank would this show me the results I am looking for? any information would be great. Thanks

 

Distilled water in its purest form has a PH of 7 but since it comes into contact with air it will absorb CO2 and hence the PH will drop, how much I guess depends on the exposure to the air but you could measure it at the time you want to mix it.

Secondly your KH value would influence how long your PH would stay down for since it is your PH buffer. If your KH is high your PH will stabilise back towards 7.6 and you will have wasted your money as well as subjected your fish to a fluctuating PH.

What fish do you have that you can't keep healthy in 7.6? I have discus in 8.2 and they do fine! I even had eggs once, but were I to breed them I would probably look to decrease my PH.

Tampering with PH would likely see you ending up with an unstable PH which is much more trouble to fish than a stable "high'ish" PH. I recommend you learn to work with what you have unless real good reasons for lowering it.

If determined to lower your PH maybe peat in your filter would be a safer and more sustainable option for a mild PH lowering. I recommend reading the following article on water parameters as I find it an excellent read:

https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/ph-kh-gh-tds.html

 

As with ro distilled water would need to be remineralised. Your tap water is obviously below the 7.6 reading you're getting. Driftwood will lower the pH level but not easily controlled. Seachem make a pH neutral buffer which works well at keeping stable pH and that would be my choice.

As with ro distilled water would need to be remineralised. Your tap water is obviously below the 7.6 reading you're getting. Driftwood will lower the pH level but not easily controlled. Seachem make a pH neutral buffer which works well at keeping stable pH and that would be my choice.

But not sure why you need it to be 7 nearly all fish would find 7.6 to be fine.

 

I'm still very new to the hobby and I just thought a ph of 7 was ideal for most. I current have RCS and amano shrimp, and guppy fry in this tank. I was looking to add cherry barbs and endlers in the future. I guess what I'm wondering is if my ph will keep increasing with time and was looking for ideas to control it.

 

The normal water changes will ensure your pH stays within the 7 to 8 range. The most important thing to monitor is the nitrate levels which should determine when and how much water needs to be changed. It is ideal to keep nitrate levels at somewhere between 20-40 so if you get a nitrate reading of 40 a 50% water change will take it back to 20 assuming there are no nitrates in your water supply.

pH levels should not change very much over time due to natural conditions and the main thing is to keep pH fairly constant rather than worrying about the level unless it is really off the scale.

 

I would just keep monitoring your ph level.
I think the bigger issue is, if it continues to rise, *why* is it doing so?