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Because of money constrants at this time, I need some advice. I was just given a 26gal tank, bought cansister heater all that bjah bjah stuff. I'm been control the ph in my planted tanks with Co2 but right now this is not possible for this tank because of location. The water is city water Ph 8.9 Kh of 2. Here the question what is a good buffer that will maintain a Ph 7.0. I know dumb question but I never used buffers before. If you know of any good sites that explain buffers and how they work please forward. Thank you

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

Hi,
First, here is a site that explains the whole pH,GH,KH
interaction thing:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marphalk.htm

The site needs some work as the graphs it refers to are
missing but the facts and dialog are all there.

Then, you need to decide if you really need to chemically
alter the water for the fish you have. If your tap water
is that hard (you did draw a glass of water and test it
after sitting 24 hours, right?) then the LFS in the area
are all dealing with it, and most will not be adjusting
their tanks as it is simply too expensive. Additionally,
as long as the fish are not "wild caught" they have been
bred and re-bred, several times over in fish farms that
will have water more in line with yours. So, again,
tampering with the water may not be necessary.

To switch your fish from the one tank to the new one you
ideally, will need to have another tank and use it to
slowly acclimate the fish up-wards to the new tank.
Take a few weeks to do this.

You can modify the water with either RO or DI water mixed
with the tap water. It will take a bit of time on your
part to figure out how many gallons of RO/DI water mixed
with how many gallons of tap water will give you the mix
that you want.

Chemically, you can add powders such as pH DOWN which is
an acid, in powder form, that you simply mix up and
pour in.
pH DOWN is available at practically any LFS for
X $/container, or you can visit any swimming pool supply
store and purchase the same thing for pennies on a dollar.

Naturally, you can modify the water by adding Peat Moss to
the filter and run the tank water through it and back into
the tank. It it will lower the pH naturally, and slowly.
I don't know how much Peat Moss to tell you that you will
need to lower your 8.9 water to 7.0. With a KH (buffering
capacity) of only 2, it should not be a very large amount.

Those are your basic options:
Do nothing and acclimate your fish.
Dilute the water with RO or DI water.
Chemically alter the water with pH DOWN.
Naturally alter your water with Peat Moss.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I really try and avoid chemicals whenever possible. So the peat moss sound interesting to me. This new tank is about 25 gals. (just started the cycling process today) so this I think would be good tank to try it out on. Thanks for the info.



Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams