Will doing a water change lower my ph?

my dad keeps saying it will make my ph worse and my ph is over 8.5 and it wont go down with chemicals so ya its a waist to buy crap like that. so will a water change lower it, and if so how much water do i need to take out.Will doing a water change lower my ph?
I am surprised no one has mentioned adding bogwood or driftwood to your tank. It will lower your ph becuase it will begin releasing acidic tannins, this is probably the most natural way to lower your ph. It will be slow but it will drop, and the more wood you add the lower it may drop. But I caution you, it will turn your water brown, that is the tannins leaching out of the wood. It will leach these tannins for a long time.



After that, the next best thing would be purchasing an R/O unit which pulls all of the impurities out of your tap water, and use that unit with a bit of the waste water that it produces for your water changes.



Adding chemicals like phDown is actually really tough becuase you are dealing with exact chemistry and it can make your ph very unstable and cause extreme swings through out the course of a day or two.Will doing a water change lower my ph?
What's the pH of your tap water? Take some, let it sit for a day in a wide-mouthed container, and test the pH. If it's lower than your tank, then yes, it will help. If it's not, then no, it won't lower it.



Additional: Okay, so the problem is your source water. There are two ways to fix this. The first, and best, way is to pitch the money for a reverse osmosis filtration unit. This will hook up to your plumbing, and provide you with pure water. It will have no alkalinity, and therefore, a very low pH. Mix this with tap water, to reach the appropriate pH. Mix some in a gallon jug, and you'll figure out how much of each to use, such as 1 part tap to 2 parts R/O.



The other way is as the other guy suggested below me. You can use commercial products to try to adjust your pH artificially. However, do realize that many of these, especially with lowering your pH, can cause your pH to become unstable, and fluctuate. Raising pH is far easier than trying to lower it using this method.
It will only make it worse if the pH of your tapwater if over 8.5 which I find unlikely. Your pH is spiking probably because of too much Ammonia. Since it's a new tank I'm willing to bet you don't have enough bacteria built up yet to process the fish waste products. Best thing to do is daily 10% - 20% water changes until the tank balances which can take up to 6-8 weeks. Get yourself a testing kit. Make sure it includes pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. When you hit optimal levels for each you can start doing weekly water changes.



Additional: Ok so your tap pH is 8.5 so water changes won't help except to get rid of the Ammonia without some more help. Buy a pH balancer and add it to the fresh water BEFORE you do water changes. Test the pH of the water before you add it to the tank. It should be 7.0. If not put in more balancer. Once you know your fresh water is 7.0 then use it to do the water change on the tank. Be diligent. Do this everyday until you bring the pH to ideal levels. You will fight this until the bacteria start processing that ammonia. Ammonia is a base and makes your pH go up.



Last thing: you will always need to 'condition' your water with a pH balancer before you add it to the tank.
Unfortunately, the Ph is the level that would come out of your tap water before adding it to the tank as well.. so no doing a water change will not have any affect on the Ph level of the tank water. As long as the Ph level remains steady, your fish should adjust just fine.
you can add some mild acid like lemon juices and this can lower it a bit, but sometimes its hard to lower it when your tap waters that high. Your best bet is to choice fish that are ok with alkiline conditions like African Chiclids. For the plants it might be too hard. I haven't had luck with adjusting the pH with commercial products.



PS. Try filtered water from the store and check its pH, it could be lower. I can't remember the other safe acids that can be added.
Putting more water in there, probably wouldn't help at all. It may make it worse.

As far as saving your plants, I recommend perhaps putting them in another tank, if you have one, with conditioned tap water.

You can have a home for your plants, so they won't die. (Not permanent, though)

That's all I can think to tell you.

Good luck, though.
I think your freaking over nothing....



First of all how many test kits have you used to verify this result?



Second if your fish aren't dieing then you have no problem...



third..city tap water fluctuates in pH level 3-4 times a years...



fourth...90% of fish you buy are locally bred so there already living in the same water your using so why are you trying to change it?



bottom line..your fighting mother nature head on and you will lose....



short of a 2-3 inch layer of peatmoss under your tank substrate or a peat moss filter bag.....your toast....



the other way is a giant bag of argonite...(depending on which way you need to swing the water...





Either do nothing see what happens in the long-term....



Buy fish that like less acidic water.......



your tank has the same pH as seawater..big deal....



water hardness is far more important that pH in terms of fish health if that makes you feel better...





good luck...