PH issue please help

Afternoon everyone, I am having issues with lowering my ph in my 125g community tank I have 2 discus so the ph is kinda an issue and ive added neutral regulator to lower it to 7.0 but it hasnt even lowered it at all. My question is what products are the best to lower my ph to 6.8 for the discus? I am a first time discus owner and never had to deal with ph lowering products. Please help

water tests are
ammonia 0ppm
nitrites 0ppm
nitrates 20ppm
ph 7.6
high range ph between 7.8 & 8.0

 

discus and ph problem

Hello everyone, I'm having an issue with lowering my Ph and i've tried using neutral regulator to at least lower my ph to 7 but it did absolutely nothing to the ph in my tank. I have two new discus recently added to my tank so I know the ph needs to be a lot lower than 7.8 that's my high range ph level.The ph in the bag from bring them home from the LFS was 6.8 Is Ph down a good product to use to lower the Ph or are there better products to use to lower the ph to 6.8? I've never had to use ph buffers before since my other fish have been doing fine with the higher ph that my tank is at now. I know driftwood is supposed to lower the ph but I only have 2 small pieces and they wouldnt effect my water because there too small to do anything in a 125g tank. I have live plants as well but they are house plants but they seem to be doing good fully submerged. I just don't know what products are actually good for lowering the ph someone please help me with this as I don't want my discus to die and I don't want to be out of a lot of money that I spent on the discus.

 

I would try peat. The liquid ph⬆️ And ph⬇️ Don't work IMO. I have tired the ph⬇️ And it just took it down very very little. Fluval makes a peat product which would bring the ph down naturally. Or try and look at this website they are the US suppliers of Biohome they sell a all natural peat product. And the shipping time is great! From CalI to Honolulu it took only 3 days once I placed my order in. It should be the same for you (they use priority shipping). But I think for now the best thing until you can get something that will slowly bring the ph down is to keep a stable ph. If your ph keeps going up and down it will stress out the fish. I think tetra also makes a peat product. I think it's call pillow softener. The liquid ph stuff only brings down the ph for a little while and it goes right back up. That's what happened to me. And I have heard that it did the same thing for others as well.

Here is the link try and check it out......




Good Luck!

Maybe you can ask your LFS to hold the discus until you can get something for your Ph. Or maybe return it to them until you can get your water parameters good for holding Discus. Or maybe if you have a smaller tank ask your LFS if you could have or buy some of their tank water that had the discus. Dont mix their water with yours. If you don't have a extra tank maybe a plastic tub or 5 gallon bucket but you need to make sure to aerate the water as well as change the water if you don't have any type of filter.

I am just thinking of things I would do if I were in your place.

in your tank what kinds of fish do your have? Are they compatible with low pH?
pH is something that you want to bring down slowly if you have other fish in the water. Those fishes are acclimated to the ph of that water and if you bring the ph down too fast you could send them into shock and they could die.

plus to bring down the ph in a 125 it would take some time especially if you want to bring down the ph slowly.

I think the best is to return the fish until you have the correct parameters for them.

or if someone else could chime in and give their advice. I am trying to look at the whole picture and not just the discus and their ph.

Sorry and Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the link and the reply I will have to look into it. My ph stays at 7.8 its never really changed because the ph level coming from my tap is already at 7.8. The neutral regulator is a powder from Seachem which is supposed to be a good product but from my opinion its its should have dropped the ph a little but it did absolutely nothing to it. This ph thing can get confusing at times in specially when products don't work

 

Don't do anything! Messing with the pH is very dangerous with fish... Have you tried an almond leaf? Chemicals will likely harm your fish more than anything.

 

The other fish I have are compatible I have 2 angels who are very peaceful corydoras 4 dwarf gouramis and a cromide I also have 2fancy plecos a golden nugget and a bristlenose and 1 common pleco to do the majority of the cleaning on the glass he sticks to himself and doesn't bother anyone else in the tank. The LFS I bought them from is over an hour away. And the other LFS around my house I woudnt trust them with because every time I go into there shops half there stock is either sick or almost dead. I do have another tank but I have other fish in it and they are aggressive my rainbow shark attacks everything and I have a chiniese algae eatter in there with him. But the discus seem to be doing okay with the ph being high but I know that won't last long. Aprox. how long does it take to lower ph in a 125g tank?

 

what does an almond leaf do? Ive never head of using an almond leaf in an aquarium before.

 

An almond leaf does lower the pH. And fish love picking food off of the leaf! Now if you want you could put a divider in your other tank, so you can move the other fish here, but that other tank will have to be BIG. if the fish are fine don't do anything... You can add an almond leaf thou.

 

I have 2 male gouramis and 2 females I made sure of that when I bought them so they don't fight over the female. They all have their own spaces in the aquarium. I have 3 emperor 400's and do water changes every 3 days approx 35g every water change. The 2 plecos don't get bigger than 6" and the common yeah he's already grown bigger than the other two I have. My angels are still small about 3 or 4" at the most. And I wish I had room to add a divider in my 20 gallon but unfortunately there's not enough room. And my rainbow is to aggressive to even see other fish he would seriously hurt himself trying to fight through a divider. He's so bad I'm just going to give him back to the LFS I really don't want to because he's beautiful but he can't live in a 20 gallon and be fully happy.

 

What else is there to use beside the almond leaf for the pH? I've had large pieces of driftwood but they leeched way to much and my water was to yellow. Something that will lower the pH slowly there has to be something I can buy at a fish store.

 

If you want to bring your ph down, I would say do it NATURALLY and SLOWLY. But I would do that in another tank or container. And then once the ph is to where you want to it be slowly add it to your main tank. This is something that cannot be rushed. Having BIG ph fluctuations can kill your fish that are in your tank.
If you are looking to bring your ph down in a shorter amount of time I would use some kind of peat. Again DO NOT use those liquid ph↕️ they don't work and are not good for your fish. Plus for a 125g you would need ALOT of that stuff and it would cost a pretty penny and it doesn't work.
IMO peat is the best and safest way to bring your ph down. But it is a process since you already have fish in the tank.

Its like your on a double edge sword........
on one hand you want to bring your ph down for your discus BUT on the other hand bringing down your ph to suit your discus can kill your fish that are in the tank already.

So.......

For now the BEST thing you can do is to leave your ph alone. The BEST thing for ALL your fishes right now is to have a stable ph.
if you can get one of those big plastic rubbish cans I would fill that with water and then add the peat to it. And let the ph come down naturally. You would have to aerate the water while you are waiting for the ph to go down. And then once you are at the ph you want you would take out let's say 10% from the 125 and add it back. I would do this everyday until you reach the ph you desire.

or the best thing for both your tanks is to get another tank just for your discus.

I am sorry for making it confusing I am just listing your options.

again the BEST thing right now for your fish is to have a stable ph

Good Luck!