pH issues

[Mr. Bubbles]

Hello All

I am hoping some can help me. I have down and IBC chop2 system. I don't have fish in yet because I can't get my pH to come down at all. I have tired Murray's suggestion of Lemon juice, and nothing not even a budge. I then used pH down and still nothing. 

My husband thinks that the pH is at 7.6 however I believe it is at 8.2. 

We have 3/4 inch Arizona river bed rock in our grow beds.

We really would like to get our pH down so that we can add fish.

Please Help!

Tiffanie

[Jim Troyer]

Hi Tiffanie: 

You can add your fish now without any problems, my goldfish, mosquito fish and tilapia don't seem to mind 8.2 pH at all.  The plants like lower pH however.

Here in Arizona we use pool acid or muratic acid (same). to bring down the pH.  I am adding about 8 oz PA to a 500 gal fish pond daily.  There is a problem with buffering here, it other words the system gains pH on it's own due to the dissolved minerals in the water.  There is some kind of issue with the lemon juice and plants so it should be avoided in large doses or long term.  I lived with high pH for several years until I decided the plants needed the lower pH, everything lived, it just lives better at a lower pH...

Sounds like your pH confusion is a result of testing with both high and low range pH from the kit.  8.2 is what most of us get from the city water supply here in Arizona.  If the low test is blue add a few drops of any acid to a small sample of water, (vinegar or the lemon will work) and retest both ranges.  You will know which is right by the one that moves...

I mix my acid with water in a 5 gal bucket and let it drain into the sump through several 1/8" holes to meter it in nice and slow.

Another thing you should check is the rock.  Pour some acid on the dry rocks to see if they foam, if they do, you will always have a pH problem

good luck, 

Jim

[Alan]

You can add you fish at this point, I started my cycling process with feeder fish just in case I screwed things up (hahaha) and my pH was at 8.2 when I started. The fish survived the cycling, and my pH went down to 8.0 after the cycling process was finished. We did have plenty of aeration, and the amount of fish to water ratio was very low to keep the stress on the fish as small as possible.

Lemon juice is naturally antibacterial and will cause issues with the bacteria culture that helps convert the ammonia into nitrites as well as the bacteria that turns nitrites into nitrates (which is ultimately what we are after) to feed the plants. The pH during cycling is good at 8.2, the bacteria actually likes it near that level.

How far into the cycling process are you? Has your ammonia and nitrites spiked yet? Over time, I've heard the pH actually falls depending on your setup and many folks have to buffer the pH up using eggshells, clam shells and the like. 

Jim is correct on testing some of the rocks. I used vinegar to test my river rock, if it foams you may want to source some other pH neutral media. Usually its the limestone that causes issues from the rock we've sourced around here.

Hope it all works out!

Alan 

[RupertofOZ]

Forget the lemon juice... probably the silliest idea Murray has ever had...

 

You'd need a truckload of lemons... to even make a dent... and as the above poster pointed out... would cripple you bio-filter doing so....

 

Use Muriatic Acid... to treat your top up water... and over time, with the natural acidification through nitrification... your pH will fall...