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help! in my tiger tank, the ph is 7.8-- I wanted to lower that, so I put in some Laguna peat granules(in a mesh bag)- still no change after one week. Tigers are dying here and there- 2 days ago I tried muriatic acid, and voila!
Ph down to 6.8! Approx 4 hrs later, ph straight back up to 7.8 ! !
Yesterday I put 3 jiffy peats in a bucket, and when they swelled up, I tested the water - It had gone down from 7.8 to 7.4 -- SO I thought it would work great. I put them in a nyon mesh bag and added to the aquarium. I noticed the shrimp congregated on this bag at the end where the peat was visible. Looked like they were loving trying to eat this stuff. This morning I checked the water - still 7.8 ! ! I have done water changes with 7.0 r/o water in the past- why am I having such a hard time lowering the ph???

Sheryl --- Sad

Hi Sheryl,

the reason could be the cabonate harderness.
Every acid will react with the harderness and - guess this is correct - be neutralized. So please check the harderness and reply.

Please prevent to big pH differences in to short time...

Edit:

I have done water changes with 7.0 r/o water in the past

I read this to late Is r/o water something like demineralized water? If yes, there should be an other problem. But still may be the harderness if anyhing inside the tank is hardening the water... Any limy(?) things inside?

Br.,
Dirk

The acid will lower the ph, but remaining carbonates in the water will raise it again. That's why the degree of KH is important to know, because it determines the buffering capacity of the water. You need to keep adding acid until the buffer is overcome. This can be a frustrating (and aggravating) process. The shrimp won't appreciate the pH swings either.
R/O water is much easier to work with, since it has very little or no buffering capacity.

So is it best to do a major water change with r/o water and start again with the acid if needed?

Depending on your current GH I would prevent to do a huge water change as it will also be stress for the shrimp. I would so it step by step...

I'm not sure if it is the same with fish and shrimp. But because of the osmotic preasure is a problem for fish I would recommend many small water changes...

Br.,
Dirk

I suggest preparing a container with correct RO/tap water mixed, set to the pH that you want. Add the necessary chemicals/acis to reach the pH desired. Then use this water for water changes.

I'd start over. Make sure nothing in the tank is reactive. Any rocks or ornaments in the tank must be inert. Add R/O water with a little electro-right or R/O -right per the directions for soft water. Add the squezzings from an old filter (you can save your current one too and just use it) to get your cycle started. Give it a day and check your pH.

I put a bunch of pest snails in the tank to hold the cycle and feed them until I'm sure. You may need to add acid- just 10-15 drops, to burn out any residual hardness.

Bog wood over time will make the water very acidic, so it may be good short term, but you'll have just the opposite problem you have now with pH's in the 4's.

Something in your tank is raising the pH. I was running into the same issue as you, it turns out my substrate was not inert like it was supposed to be.

If you have only tried the acid once I would try it a couple more since you have to get rid of hardness. I would be careful if you still have shrimp in there though.

I had 2 rocks in the tank- they are lace rock - no problems with it in my other tanks - however, I took it out and put a drop of muriatic acid on it. It fizzed a little bit, so the rocks came out of the tank. I have just got a Hanna TDS 1 meter, but am not sure yet how to use it. SO now the rocks are out, I added some r/o water treated with muriatic acid in the tank, and the ph is now down to 7.0- I will test it again tonight and see if it has risen- the tank is well cycled, substrate is sand from Home Depot- no problems with that sand in my other tanks!

From my experience

Bog log looks cool and lowers PH.

Lace rock looks cool and can raise PH