[squideater]

Hi there! I am from Maine, yes that is Northern, Northern New England. I have been in the aquarium hobby for 6 months and have not had the success that I had hoped. I currently have a 25 gallon tank filled with a variety of tetras (who survive in my high ph water), platys, a placo and an algea eater. I have been struggling with high ph and have for the last month been using vinagar to lower my ph and it works, however, I don't know what the long term use will do to my fish. Right now I have cloudy water--vinagar related? Who knows. I just know I want my tank to be happy and I feel the pain of every death.

 

[petlover516]

welcome to the site! the clouding might be from vinegar or the tank cycling. ive never heard of using vinegar, and i hope it isn't toxic.

 

[heights]

Hi there! I am from Maine, yes that is Northern, Northern New England. I have been in the aquarium hobby for 6 months and have not had the success that I had hoped. I currently have a 25 gallon tank filled with a variety of tetras (who survive in my high ph water), platys, a placo and an algea eater. I have been struggling with high ph and have for the last month been using vinagar to lower my ph and it works, however, I don't know what the long term use will do to my fish. Right now I have cloudy water--vinagar related? Who knows. I just know I want my tank to be happy and I feel the pain of every death.

Maine is the location of the famous "Poland Spring." Perhaps this miracle of nature can help you. It's known for it's amazing healing and taste-tacular qualities.

 

[comler]

Welcome!

I've read a little about adding vinegar, which is primarily acetic acid, to a tank to lower the pH. Because pH is a measure of H+ ions, not only does the vinegar in its raw form lower the pH, but as it breaks down it releases CO2 which further helps to lower the pH.

But, I don't know about what else is in vinegar. I'm assuming you're using white vinegar and not an apple vinegar.

I look forward to hearing some experts chime in on this one.

 

[dingdong]

Welcome to the site.

 

[squideater]

Thanks for your welcome! Yes, we are were Poland Springs is and yes, it is the best real spring water on the market, but even here, it is expensive. I just want to use my own tap water. I got the vinagar info from a water expert. He is the guy that works with all the labs and who does your water testing when it is coming out of the tap smelling or tasting hinky. I have tried other products to lower my PH, but this is the only thing that works. I wnat to run a thread to see if anyone else out there is doing this. My pet store expert had never heard of it, but he was going to experiment. Last night, my PH was 7.2 my KH was 80, my GH was 75, nitrites were 0 and nitrates were 40 (using a Jungle test strip except PH where I used an API test kit.)

 

[gypsyfla]

Hello and welcome to the forum

 

[petlover516]

iif u r using tap water, what type of conditioner do u use? your water sounds pretty hard as well. tetras aren't a fan opf hard water.

 

[MediaHound]

:welcome:

 

[JIM]

*w2 good to have you here

 

[Joey]

:welcome:

 

[Chickadee]

Welcome and hope you enjoy the forum. I would not try to buffer my pH at all. I know that there are suggested pH levels for most fish but usually they adjust on their own to pH much better that to try to make it adjust artificially and the chance of a drastic mistake being made is just too high.

More fish die of the fluctuations of buffering than the inability of being able to adjust to the pH level of a water that is outside their range. I would let the fish have a chance of trying to do the adjusting not you adjusting anything for them.

Rose

 

[Oldman]

Welcome to the forum SquidEater.
With a low KH like you have, you can drop the pH fairly effectively by just adding some nice driftwood. I find that fish are much more particular about water mineral content than about pH so I don't worry about pH. When I have soft water fish, I dilute my 325 ppm TDS tap water with RO water to reduce the mineral content. For hard water fish, they get straight tap water. My pH is fairly close to 7.8 in either case but the soft water fish don't seem to mind as long as the mineral content is kept low for them, like yours already is. When I try to drive down hardness, I usually shoot for 100 to 150 ppm of TDS.

 

[squideater]

I appreciate the concerns about buffering water and PH. I have found a simple solution to my problem and my tank is happy and thriving though I have yet to see any babies. I use a very small, measured amount of white vineger in my water. I have had no deaths in 6 weeks.

 

[fishfinder]

That is good news! Is the water clear as well? How much vinegar per gallon do you use?