What are the best ways to lower pH?
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bettasngoldfish
Maria
Ph of 8 is fine and will be much more stressful for your fish if you start adjusting it.
sissy
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ph at 8 is normal not really high I keep mine around 8 .But to lower ph just add water
Mmathis
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That is an OK pH reading! Don't mess with it! With pond fish, the important thing is that you want a stable and consistent pH more so than a particular reading. My pH runs around 8 as well.
What you want to be concerned with is the KH, or carbonate hardness of your water. You can get a test kit for this. The KH is what "buffers" the pH and helps prevent swings or rapid changes that are harmful. If your KH is low, there are things you can do such as add crushed oyster shells to the water to raise the levels.
But leave your pH alone. Do continue to monitor it, but it's not necessary to do it several times a day. You will find that a morning reading is going to be different than an evening reading, which is also normal.
What you want to be concerned with is the KH, or carbonate hardness of your water. You can get a test kit for this. The KH is what "buffers" the pH and helps prevent swings or rapid changes that are harmful. If your KH is low, there are things you can do such as add crushed oyster shells to the water to raise the levels.
But leave your pH alone. Do continue to monitor it, but it's not necessary to do it several times a day. You will find that a morning reading is going to be different than an evening reading, which is also normal.
Meyer Jordan
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Leave the pH alone. Any reading between 6.5 and 8.5 is considered comfortable for all aquatic life including fish. What is important is, aside from daily fluctuation, that the pH remain stable and not subject to wide swings.
Yes to all of the above. And also - time. As our pond has matured, the pH has lowered without any intervention on our part. We were initially concerned about our relatively high pH but then read a lot and learned to just leave it be. We stopped testing our water after the first year. A few weeks ago I got some pH strips for another purpose and for kicks tested the pond pH and was surprised to find it was around 7.5 - more of a guesstimate as the strips are not terribly accurate, but definitely below the 9s we used to get five seasons ago.
Someone smarter than me may know why that happens - I'm just sharing it to reassure those who may be pHanatics like we used to be!
Someone smarter than me may know why that happens - I'm just sharing it to reassure those who may be pHanatics like we used to be!
Meyer Jordan
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Certainly not claiming to be smarter, but the answer is....mature biofilm, basically.
Mmathis
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Marshall
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My pond PH is 8.5 and has been that way for literally years and my koi seem more than comfortable but I would add that even though a 8.5 is okay I would say it warrants more checks to the PH as that is close to the upper end. I agree with all others (who know much more about koi than me) that bringing it down is not really needed. My newest pond and batch of koi PH is 7.0 and again they seem okay with that too. The thing I try to do is not intervene and change any parameter unless absolutely needed. Nature is both spontaneous and clever so I leave it to her to manage most things.
Marshall
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PS: Most adjustments people make are merely for aesthetics and serve little to no benefit to the living creatures in the eco system when it comes to turtles in my experience. Fish are similar and I think we should be more trusting of nature as the animals are.
tbendl
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From what I understand they just like it to be stable and within range (b/w 6.5-8.5).
Mmathis
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Meyer Jordan
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Sometimes there is confusion, especially with novice pondkeepers, on this subject. A pH of 7.6 is what is considered the optimum level, but 6.5 - 8.5 is considered the range of tolerance. It is much the same as you having a particular temperature at which you are most comfortable, but there is also a temperature range which you 'tolerate' that causes no discernible discomfort. Get outside of that range of tolerance an you will probably start complaining.