[alt.aquaria] Lowering pH

vanpelt@unisv.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt) (05/11/88)

In article <28712@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu (Ashwin Ram) writes:
>Does your pH tend to rise slowly but continuously,
>or is this only a water-change-time problem?
It's a water-change-time problem.

As I recall, what my friend intended with the HCl was to partially neutralize
the extremely alkaline water with it, then finish up with enough phosphate
to act as a buffer.
>
>Peat bags may help both pH and hardness, although I don't really know if
>they'll handle the extreme conditions in San Jose.
>
My experience with peat is that, though it may be healthy for the fish,
it gives the water a urinous yellow color.  Yeccch.  Carbon filters
help with that.  Actually, that's a good way to tell if your filter is
working -- if there's peat in the tank, the water turns yellow-brown
when the filter is saturated.
-- 
Mike Van Pelt           Unisys, Silicon Valley            vanpelt@unisv.UUCP
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