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PH Help.
Ok, I am on a water well with hard water. My PH is 8.4. I have cycled my (extremely) small system with a fish and everything seems healthy. Fishy is eating well, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates are all good, and my plants appear to be doing well. Should I be slowly lowering the PH, and if so which way is best? I'm tempted to dilute vinegar and slowly add it but that seems a tad rash. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rob Nash on
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i would suggest leaving it as is. The bacteria will thrive at the higher pH
when it comes to nutrient lock out, aquaponics appears to fudge the rules...ive witnessed several systems running at 8.5 and are doing great.
the most common issue with high pH is Iron.. when using Green Sand, it doesn't appear the pH is a factor.
add some green sand every 3 - 6 months and mag (Epsom salt) every 3 weeks. and ...Viola! Big Green Plants!
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Permalink Reply by Noa Villela on
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Great! I did notice that my system seemed to cycle extremely fast. So green sand and mag it is. I will continue to watch my PH and other levels. Thanks for the info.
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Permalink Reply by Jon Paul on
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I use a organic PH down that is commonly used for hydroponics. There are other things that i could be using. If your goal is plants i would slowly lower the Ph to 7-7.2. When adding PH down to fish tanks add it very slowly. If adding directly to the fish tank mix with some water so none of the PH down hits the fish. If the fish get ph down on them you will see them rubbing their sides against the sides of the tank.
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Permalink Reply by john dawyot on
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If I remember correctly our system had a similar problem and we added sulfuric acid I think to lower it. It peaked at like 2 actually than rose. The plants didn't seem to mind too much. A little stunted I think.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Hall on
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How much greensand for a 500 gallon system with a pH of 8.2?
Rob Nash said:i would suggest leaving it as is. The bacteria will thrive at the higher pH
when it comes to nutrient lock out, aquaponics appears to fudge the rules...ive witnessed several systems running at 8.5 and are doing great.
the most common issue with high pH is Iron.. when using Green Sand, it doesn't appear the pH is a factor.
add some green sand every 3 - 6 months and mag (Epsom salt) every 3 weeks. and ...Viola! Big Green Plants!
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