stonedaquarium Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 hi guys, just want to solicit for some advice as to how to keep the ph stable... i had the chance to get a buddy to score me some RO water which i added some seachem equilibrium to get a TDS of 200 now the Ph when i tested the water when i added the equilibrium was 6.6 to 6.8... i then added the water to a new tank running a sponge filter with a pretty strong air pump... this morning i tested the TDS was still pretty much constant around 210 ro 220. but the PH went back to 7.2? how do i keep it stable? would the aeration cause the PH to go up or should i just use an HOB instead? the substrate im using is the ISTA Ph 6.5 planted substrate. which is supposed to buffer the substrate... any advice how to keep the ph stable? or should i just simply change my substrate to ADA amazonia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 From what I understand, RO water is just your tap water but all cleaned out. So let's say my tap water is 7.6 PH after 24 hours of aeration, RO water coming from my water source would come out as 6.2 PH but after 24 hours of aeration, my RO water will have 7.6 PH. RO water does NOT change your PH. The only way to have a stable PH is with a substrate that buffers PH. stonedaquarium 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonedaquarium Posted December 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 funny thing though is i still have RO water left over and the PH is still 6.8 this is being run thru ang airstone in a bucket.... the only other thing that could have changed the ph possibly is the addition of mosura rich water which is basically fulvic acid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 The RO water I use comes from the store at a pH of about 6.6-6.8. The kH is 0 so it is very easy to effect the pH, after adding in remineralizer I get a gH of 6 and kH of 0 when i add it to my tank with non buffering substrate UP Aqua shrimp sand the pH after a day goes to 7-7.2. I use a little bag of fluval peat about a tbsp in the filter compartment brings the pH down to 6.4 and stays there very consistently. I dont think you have to use an active buffering substrate unless you are trying to maintain very low pH below 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonedaquarium Posted December 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 but wont adding peat affect the GH of the water? reason i ask is i just want to keep my water stable at 6.8 ph as i noticed my fire reds and rilis breed better @ that ph... though they are now in a tank @ 7.4 ph which they are doing well.. i just want to find the sweet spot for them to breed like wild fire... lol I got some peat granules here with me will try to place them in a stocking and sink them in the tank... as I am using sponge filters for my tank... which i wonder if they are the ideal filters to use for shrimp tanks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 It wouldn't hurt to steep the peat in boiling or close to boiling water for a few minutes first. My granules wouldn't sink at first and that helps and you can remove a lot of tannins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Sponge filters work great. I have two tanks running only sponge filters and one tank for my golden bee shrimp running a sponge and HOB filter. Mainly he HOB is just a place to put things like purigen, peat and to run the water through a polishing pad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonedaquarium Posted December 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 thanks rye guy... i might just simply try to place some peat in an old stocking and just attach it to a stone... i dont mind the tannins in the tank... just as long as it keeps the PH stable at 6.8 and as long as peat does not affect the Gh of the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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