[takasumi]

Hello all. Here's a question I bet that you've all heard before. I just couldn't resist asking it again.
I have a 44gallon pentagon. Brand spanking new. The PH is at 7.6. This is too high for my lovely little discus that will be inhabiting my wonderful new tank.
I've added Ph down and amazon buffer to this aquarium. The Ph will go down to 6.8 for about an hour than spike back up to it's original 7.6.

My question: Do I have to take out some of my pent's water and add r/o to decrease the PH levels?
Will they go down naturally with time?

This is bugging me tonight.

Any info will ease my troubled mind! Thanks.
GH at 8
Kh at 3
Ph at 7.6
Ammonia's at 0ppm
Nitrite's at 0ppm
Nitrate's at 5.0ppm
Temp's at 88.6 F

 

[justshoe]

Whats your ph coming out of the tap? Any limestone or other rocks/substrate in the tank high in calcium carbonate?

 

[takasumi]

I never thought of taking a reading of tap PH! DUH!
This is odd. The tap PH is reading at 7.4.
When I initially set up the aquarium I used 20 gallons of r/o water. Maybe I should've used 35 gallons? Hmmmmm?????....

 

[justshoe]

yea taps pretty hard water then. Yea you can try more r/o water. Maybe some driftwood in the tank also. *** heard the tannins in it will drop ph some.

 

[prov356]

The Ph will go down to 6.8 for about an hour than spike back up to it's original 7.6.

It's the KH (buffers, alkalinity) that's the cause of the pH bounce. Reduce the KH value and you can keep the pH down.

Easier said than done, though. Diluting with RO will do that, yes. The nitrogen cycle occurring in the tank over time will do that as well. I've seen discus buffers that claim to do that, but don't know how well they work. Maybe that's what you already have with your 'Amazon buffer'.

But anyway, focus more on reducing the KH value in order to avoid the pH bounce. You can't permanently lower pH without considering KH. If whatever you're adding doesn't drop the KH enough, it'll only temporarily drop the pH. Think of KH or buffers as actively working to keep the pH from dropping.

There a good article here.

 

[Cook.MN]

Your KH and GH actually look pretty good.

What part of MN are you from? I ask because out in the Western sticks the tap water is a lot higher in KH/GH.

 

[takasumi]

I'm on the Eastern edge. It's by St. Paul.
Ever heard of Woodbury? I'm near there in a city called Oakdale.
We're actually pretty close to 3M. Hmm.... maybe that's the cause of all my problems?
I know that our water's been contaminated by scotchguard and other trace elements of numerous chemicals.
My father's the chemist. He could tell you more about the sticky of the situation than I can.
I do, however,know that our GH here is 27. AMAZING! We don't have well water, either.
Just junk for water.

Anyway, people. I used 20 more gallons of r/o. Buffering the water that's already in the tank with a water softener pillow(it seemed to work for me before).
Time will tell, I suppose? Tanks for the KH info! I needed that.