killifan Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 I've been experimenting and found that one drop of vinegar to one litre of water will bring theph level down from about 7.3 to about 7 immediately. Is it ok to treat my roofwater with this at this rate before I do a water change? The driftwood in my tank puts my ph to about 7.6 between water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midas Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Whats the pH of your roof water, 7.3? I would have thought this would have been at or below 7 to start with (also should be very soft so will have no pH buffereing capacity, hence pH will be able to change in both directions very easily depending on whether acid or base is added to the water - this is the main problem with using rain water. Also, drift wood should not make the pH rise, it should make it fall (it releases acidic compounds). What else is in the tank? anything that would make the pH go up? eg shell? What kind of fish are you keeping? 7.6 should be fine for most fish. How long between water changes, ie how long does it take for the pH to get up to 7.6? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killifan Posted December 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 my roof water is about 7.3 to start with and goes to about 7.6 over about 3 weeks to a month. The LFS said that was too high and sold me some PH down. I have small coloured gravel in my tank and 2 pieces of terracotta pots. The fish have are 3 swordtails, 2 neons, 1 harlequin 1 Siamese fighting fish, 5 mountain minnows and 2 bristlenose 1 skunk fish. When my fish die there is no visible sign of diease, one day they are fine and a couple of days later are not in sight! The LFS tested my levels last time and there was no nitrate/nitrate/ammonia showing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_from_nz Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 be carefull with ph down (which i might add you probably didn't need as the ph isn't that bad) if you don't like algea as it contains a high level of phosphates which is food for your algea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killifan Posted December 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 thats one reason why I was wondering if i could use vinegar to achieve the same end if necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_from_nz Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 I don't know wheather vinigar is ok to use in an aquarium (although i can't imagin it being too bad in small doses) but you can get phostphate free ph down (but i bet it is deerer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 pH down is usually sulphuric acid and contains no phosphates. It's pH up that's phosphate based... I'm assuming we're talking about the some pH down product (aquarium pharaceuticals - in a small plastic bottle with a yellow label). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_from_nz Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 sory i must have been wrong it was off a list that i was reading that pointed out some had posphates in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killifan Posted December 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 my PH down is in a small plastic bottle with a pink and blue label and it says it is 21% phosphoric acid, not for use in saltwater . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yikes, why do mnufacturers make phosphate based products when they don't need too!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_from_nz Posted December 7, 2004 Report Share Posted December 7, 2004 cause it is cheep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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