My Aquarium currently has a PH Of 8.2, how can I lower it to 6.5-7.0, preferably 6.8?

I have 2 small pieces of drift wood that didn't make any difference in the 46 gallon tank that I want to lower the ph in. Any suggestions? Are there any Relator's that don't get taken out of the water by activated carbon? Please Help! And yes it is kinda necessary to change the PH.My Aquarium currently has a PH Of 8.2, how can I lower it to 6.5-7.0, preferably 6.8?
The problem will be that your tap water is very Hard, a lot of dissolved lime in the water. That makes the pH high, and also buffers it, so it resists any effort to change it. A bit of peat or driftwood wont have much effect.



To get the pH down you have to dump in a huge amount of chemicals to overcome that buffering, then you end up with an unstable pH, and the water still isn't so good for the fish as it's still very hard, and the Total Dissolved Solids is even higher than before.



What can you do?



Let your fish adapt to it, should work with the Angels, tetras and catfish. Not so sure about the Rams and Discus, they are more sensitive to water parameters.



Find a new source of water. Rainwater or Reverse Osmosis Filtered water will have practically zero hardness and a low pH.



Keep different fish, African Lake Cichlids or Livebearers will love that sort of water.



IanMy Aquarium currently has a PH Of 8.2, how can I lower it to 6.5-7.0, preferably 6.8?
The only real reliable way to do this is to use distilled or reverse osmosis water and mix this with your tap water in a ratio that achieves what you are looking for.



Don't use chemical additives to accomplish this or you will end up with unstable water, and that's much worse then having a ph too high. Of course, at 8.2 your ph is good for any fish, but you wouldn't be able to breed certain ones.



You can try peat moss, but you do need a lot of it - basically you need to donate a filter for it and fill it up, and then it will make your water yellow. It's affect on the water becomes more minimal as the ph we are working with is higher.



All those fish will do fine in your water as it is, but the Discus won't be able to breed, if that is a concern. I'm going to be honest with you though you didn't ask - 46 gallons is too small to do Discus and Angels and is a little small for Discus anyway even without the angels - I would stick to angels.



**glad to hear! Honestly for Discus I would go through the trouble of lowering it, but not for any of the others, which I have already proven in my own 8.2 tap water. I can give you a pretty decent list of fish that have done well in it.
Are you talking about fresh water or salt water?

If it's fresh water try a partial water change and maybe use a water conditioner. You can always try live water plants if you can, that will help with a lot of different things.



Is your tank already cycled? It changes ph throughout cycling and you shouldn't have anything in it at that point anyway unless you don't care very much about it.

here is a link for cycling(only because I really don't know your situation)

http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php



you can buy ph lowering and raising kits for I think about $10-30 at walmart (but I am not totally sure anymore because I don't mess with my ph anymore it really caused more deaths than not for me)They should definitely sell the kits at a Pet Smart or a Pet Quarters

here is a link for raising and lowering your ph

http://www.firsttankguide.net/ph.php



$15.88 at Walmart

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.d



I don't know what a ';relator'; is but I am no expert just have some limited experience with fish tanks