pH Experiments

I decided to test what I can do to condition new Aquarium water in a 5 gallon bucket. So I put in 4 gallons of water and the pump to stir it.

I kept a log of my efforts, with the time, the pH and TDS readings (TDS isn't really interesting, but I have the meter) and then what if anything I did to the water.

5:18 am - start stirring 5:34 am - 8.4 pH, 223 ppm, added 6 mL acid resulting in 6.4 pH 6:13 am - 8.3 pH, 256 ppm, added 2 mL acid resulting in 6.5 pH 6:31 am - 7.8 pH, 281 ppm, added 1 mL acid resulting in 6.3 pH 7:03 am - 7.6 pH, 277 ppm, added 1 mL acid resulting in 3.8 pH 7:20 am - 3.8 pH, 305 ppm 8:13 am - 3.8 pH 8:58 am - 3.8 pH

Well, I succeeded in getting the pH to stay low.

After a couple of hours wondering what to do next, it occurred to me to simply add more tap water to balance it out.

9:16 am - 7.0 pH, 283 ppm after adding more tap water. 12:50 pm - 7.6 pH 14:16 pm - 7.7 pH, 283 ppm 14:30 pm - 7.7 pH, 313 ppm after softening for like 8 mins. 14:40 pm - 6.5 pH after adding a tiny amount of acid 15:34 pm - 7.0 pH 16:57 pm - 7.4 pH

...but, it then resumed rising again. So this doesn't seem to be working.

I also searched the internet for more info, and found this stuff:

Increasing pH is generally easier than decreasing it because you cannot remove the minerals from your water or adjust the buffering capacity of your aquarium without pre-filtration methods.

It seems the choices here are reverse-osmosis water, or rain water.

Any time you attempt to change pH levels in your aquarium, remember that fish are very sensitive to pH changes and if it's done too rapidly, it can cause extreme stress or even death. Fish should not be exposed to a change in pH greater than 0.3 in a 24-hour period.

I wonder how much this has killed some of my fish. Like everyone says to let the bag float in your tank a while and slowly mix in water, but if the fish are that sensitive then I need to mix it way the fuck more slowly. I saw some YouTube videos with interesting approaches, like dumping the bag of fish into a five gallon bucket and then setting a drip of aquarium water into the bucket and letting it drip all day, and floating the bag in his aquarium with a drip from a bucket above, and just occasionally moving more aquarium water into the bucket and removing some water from the bag, over many hours.

Many fish live in tannin-stained rain forest waters. Tannins discolor the water to the point that looks like cola or coffee. These waters are called blackwater, and have a low, acidic pH from the tannins.

A lot of sites are saying that the way to go is peat moss, which will add these "tannins." I was trying that yesterday and it does kind of soften the water but seems to have a limit to how well it works, and doesn't seem to lower pH much, but perhaps I just didn't give it enough time.

pH Experiments

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