Natural pH down?

[Rob]

Hello everyone!

We are having an issue with high pH. It's settled right at 8.0, which as you know is fine for the fish (koi), but the plants are displeased. We've tried some fixes, but the biggest issue is we have is that our fish tanks are right around 4000 gallons each, so any fix has to be in pretty big scale.
Further, we need to do it organically if possible.
Thoughts?

[Glenn]

Any quick fix or wild swings in pH will not be good for the fish. But very very small adjustments CAN be made in the downward direction by dosing very very small amounts of plain white vinegar. I think you should dose no more than a fluid oz. (a small shot glass in the U.S.) ahead of your grow beds, assuming you have around 4000 gallon beds to support your FT. And then test but don't add more for at least 10 hours.  I have seen 1 oz. lower the pH of 3,000 gal. from 8 to 6.5 within a half hour. And in my opinion that is too quickly and risks shocking/stressing the fish. The real problem is in what caused the high pH to begin with. Preventing it from getting that high through gradual planned treatment and small water changes ahead of time would be worth a pound of cure.

 Good luck, I hope this helps.

[Jeff S]

Ah a fellow Michigander. Don't see to many out there. Check out the Michigan group. We need a bigger more active base. Back to your question, check out Nate Storey at Bright Agrtech. He has numerous informative videos on every aquaponics subject and they are real information. This might be where you want to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCKYREoBos8&list=PLAPahqrfGZZnt...  I've watched all his videos and go back from time to time when I have questions.

[Rob]

Thanks for you input everyone. We are trying what you've suggested, and everything seems to be going okay :-)
@Jeff S, if you can tell me where to sign up for the Michigan group (because you're right, there aren't very many of us), I'd be more than happy to join. Reply to this thread with how to do this please.
Thanks!

[Jeff S]

There are actually a couple of groups. I try to post regularly to keep them showing active.

http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/group/michigan-aquaponics

[Jeff S]

This is another group. Doug sent out an email a couple of weeks ago saying he was going to try to activate the group again but I haven't seen much activity there either. If you want to see what I think a good group looks like check out Arizona Aquaponics. They're pretty active.

Rob said:

Thanks for you input everyone. We are trying what you've suggested, and everything seems to be going okay :-)
@Jeff S, if you can tell me where to sign up for the Michigan group (because you're right, there aren't very many of us), I'd be more than happy to join. Reply to this thread with how to do this please.
Thanks!