Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All,

Could you please suggest if almond leaf reduce Ph or suggest the best alternative, in my system Ph level is showing around 8.6

Hydrochloric acid (Muriatic acid) used to treat your top-up water to a pH of 6.0 and held there for at least 24hrs (may take multiple additions of the acid) prior to using the water for top-ups.

This will greatly reduce the carbonate level in the top-up water, so you aren't constantly adding more carbonates into the system. This will enable the natural acids produced by the Nitrification process to reduce the carbonate level in the system sooner, so the natural pH decline may occur sooner.

Adding acid directly to the system in the small amounts that would be considered fish safe, would just cause pH bounces, ie: If you dropped the pH from your 8.6 to say 8.2 (about the maximum you should drop it in any one 24hr period), the next day you will find it will have bounced back up to the 8.6, or very close to it, as the acid will have dissipated but there will still be high levels of carbonate left in the water, albeit ever so slightly less than the day before. This process would need to be repeated many times to get the carbonate levels in the system down.

Thank you sir

You're basically trying to gradually lower the system water pH by adjusting the top up water before it's added. Try not to alter the pH of the system water by more than 0.4 pH units at a time, you want a gradual change to the system water to help avoid stressing the fish. Initially the additions won't have much affect but late in the process small amounts may make large changes.

If you are using media that contains lots of calcium carbonate, this process probably won't work and you may have to switch to some other media.

Where did the almond leaf treatment idea come from? I can't image they are particularly acidic, nor would the related peach leaves be.

Hello Sir,

I am using clay pebbles

Hello Sir,

I saw few videos from youtube where there is message that almond will decrease Ph in aquarium, so wanted to try that ...
Tried using the same but its gradually increasing than Ph level was before.

I am planning to use Phosphoric Acid , i think this will be the ultimate weapon to reduce Ph.

Excessive use of Phosphoric acid can promote algal growth.

Hydrochloric acid (Muriatic) is a better option. It's cheaper, generally easier to access, and once in the system it dissociates into Hydrogen (water) and Chloride. The Chloride is beneficial for fish health, assisting in developing and maintaining their protective slime coat.

Excessive use of Phosphoric acid can promote algal growth.

Hydrochloric acid (Muriatic) is a better option. It's cheaper, generally easier to access, and once in the system it dissociates into Hydrogen (water) and Chloride. The Chloride is beneficial for fish health, assisting in developing and maintaining their protective slime coat.[/quote]



Ok , Thank you