Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all, I have been searching through the forum on ways to lower the pH in a system, and havent been able to find too many answers, any ideas??

Good question. I also don't remember seeing much about lowering PH.
From memory I think feeding less may assist.
Will keep an eye on this thread for the answers.

Someone mentioned add vinegar, but there must be a better way

From reading that thread the best I got was

Which is expensive.

Or when the system matures the PH may drop.

Or limstone chips in the GB's

or pine needle bog. not sure about that.

or a can of coke. I don't think so.

Any other suggestions out there.

Any type of limestone is a no no
I`ve used moss peat in the past as a temporary fix to high ph but it isn`t a very long lasting solution. Acid is probably the easiest option but i wasnt keen on using it.

What is your pH currently Jessy?

The added benefit of using phosphoric acid is the bi-product of phosphorous. Also, at $20 a litre tops, it is really chicken feed considering you will use so little of it, and it lasts forever as far as I am aware. I could send you a bottle for $20 plus post if you can't get it up there for any less. pm me if you want, I could even send half a bottle and post would only be $5 .the main advantage is that it works undisputed, and the only experimenting required is how much to add, and in our experience that amount is very small.

What Monya said or some people have used lemon juice (citric acid)
Mature systems have a tendancy to acidify which is why you buffer them.
As has been said before, ph is a logarithmic scale, adjust ph very slowly or your fish will not be happy.

Hydrochloric acid (sometimes called muriatic acid), is also fine to use, though you don't get the benefit of the phosphates as Monya suggested. It should be easily obtainable at a pool shop (possible Big W/KMart/Bunnings etc in the pool section), and it should be cheap (I can get 20 litres for about $35 from the local pool shop).

Do read the label though - vapours and splashes in the eyes are the most likely causes of pain...rinse with lots of water...

Only add a small amount at a time, until you get a feel for how much is required for the change you want - fish don't like rapid changes in pH (can kill them).

My pH is sitting around 8.0 to 8.2. It seems far too high, 0 nitriate, o nitrite and 0.25 ammonia at the most . Thanks for the suggestions, will have a good think about it before adding anything. Some of the fish are still the original stock i started with , and the new bacth of barra are here in 2 to 3 weeks. So I would love to get the parameters in a good zone.

how come when I used the search engine for pH down, nothing came up????

The forum search engine is one of the great mysteries of life.
Well it is for me

Well most certainly don't add any limestone.... ... would make matters worse...

Often people are battling the opposite problem Jessy... and employ a barrel of oyster shells (or limestone) as an external bio-filter that also has the effect of moving pH... the opposite direction you wish to go...

But ... it's a thought... if you needed the extra filtration, then you could use an upright blue barrel (or half) and fill it with an acidic medium...like coco-coir.....just use it as a trickle filter...

You could just incorporate a coco-coir growbed... but the stuff just gets too wet IMO...

Coco-coir usually has a pH of between 5.5 - 6.5 ... it will discolour the water for a while... but the fish shouldn't mind... certainly not the Barra anyway....

Thanks mate, makes sence, might add anouther pond and a heap more grow beds incorperating the coco coir as the biofilter , for a massive expansion.