lowering PH

[fideltagamma]

Hi,

I made a search but found nothing on the topic.

My problem is that I have a net 64 gallon tank and I cannot adjust the PH or keep it low. The water changes I make with destilled water. It has a PH of 5,8 and a hardness of 0 GH. I only use this type of water to fill the tank from the beginning. I have paet filtration. I have quite a few plants, some corys, characins, apistos, mangrove wood decorations, backgroud made by myself with no dissolvable material and sand gravel.

But my PH moves back to around 7. And not to mention it, but my hardness grows as well and tops around 8GH.

Is there a way to maintain PH and hardness values, that I can apply to the tank?

Thanks for the answers.

FDG

 

[mikewang]

why do you need to lower the ph

 

[aspen]

hi fdg. if you are not able to maintain a low gh, it is likely your fish will not breed, and if they do, eggs will have a very low viability. obviously, something that you are adding to your tank, or something that is in the tank is adding to the gh, if it is rising. you need to find out what this is. check any rocks, substrate etc in a bucket of r/o.

rick

 

[2la]

Wait, what's the species in question here? I know for a fact A. borellii (for example) will breed successfully in neutral conditions, and I'm sure a few other species (cacatuoides, eunotus) would, too. pH instability can be murder on fish, and it's best to avoid it if at all possible.

 

[fideltagamma]

Hi,

thank for the answers, this forum is quite a help for me.

At the moment I have some sp. Masken, and 2 bit males. So I am just hoping for the sp. Masken to display their skills, if it's possible.

Now I have a GH about 4, a little bit less, but before water changes it creeps up to 6-8 GH, which is a bit too much.

Actually this is a display tank, so I do not really want to breed apistos in it, but I really would like to see them court and maybe laying eggs.

Anyway I don't think the PH of the tank would be so unstable, that it could harm the fish. And one cannot expect staple PH below 4 KH. And the PH in my tank never exceeds 7. But I think 6 or 6.5 would be better for the fish to start courting, and to display themselves a bit better.

FDG