Sorry for all the sudden questions.

I checked my PH levels and it's reading 7.6 how do I lower my ph level. I checked my Ammonia levels and it was reading 0 PPM.

Tonymel19, You might find some useful information here: http://www.fishpondinfo.com/chem.htm

I do know that you can buy ph down or ph lower for aquariums. I just have a pond so I can't be of much help but you may find the answer in the link above.

tia

Tonymel19,
How low do you want the pH to be? Are you shooting for 7.0? What do you keep, that's alive, in your tank?

My aquarium water is a consistent 7.2, and I keep tropical fish in there (see sig. below for details). I used to try adding some pH neutralizers bought at the fish stores ... but they seemed to cloud the water or clog the filter. Maybe I just purchased some bogus stuff, but I didn't want to try too many different things for fear of making matters worse.

What works for me now is to use RO (reverse osmosis) water, as well as one or two decent sized pieces of driftwood. Haven't had to add any chemicals to the tank since. It's very rare that I lose fish anymore ... whereas before, when my pH was all over the map, I lost fish left & right. It's a bad feeling when things keep going wrong.

The RO water I get is from a dispenser outside of the aquarium & fish store. I got the driftwood at the fish store ... good collection from which to choose, and probably better than something found at the river.
I used to just use tap water ... treat it for chlorine ... treat it for pH .... then into the tank a day or so later. For whatever reason that did not work for me. Ph would not remain stable ... plus the other stuff mentioned above.

It has been about six or seven months now that my pH is stable, and life in the aquarium is good.

This is what works for me.

PG

Just saw some of your other posts ... you've been busy. :)

So the pH question is for your 50 gallon, right?

Yes it is for my 50 gallon tank, right now I have Guppies, Platies and zilla the Pleco. I'm worried that the high PH level will harm zilla. I don't have his driftwood in yet, hopefully when I do that will help with the PH level. I'm still pretty new to having fish. I've had two 5 gallon tanks in each of my girls rooms with a few guppies in each for about a year, we've had good luck with those tanks.

Tonymel, you don't need to lower your pH. A pH of 7.6 is perfect for guppies and platies who like a pH that's slightly basic. The pleco might like a pH closer to neutral but can live with a pH of 7.6 just fine. Fiddling with the pH can cause more problems and irritation than keeping it where it is. If the pH were above 8, then I might suggest adding pH down (dilute sulfuric acid).

Did you measure the pH of your water from the faucet to see how it compares? To get an accurate tap pH, you have to aerate it. You can do the pH before aeration and after; it should be higher after (due to carbonic acid from compressed carbon dioxide being driven off). If the pH of the tap water after aeration and the aquarium water pH are the same, then the pH is 7.6 because of the source water. If it's different, then the pH may be affected by biological processes in the tank itself.

You may also want to check the hardness and alkalinity. If the alkalinity is low, then the pH may fluctuate a lot. In tanks with a lot of live plants, the pH will be lowest at dawn and higher at dusk. Pool Guy probably had a low alkalinity which is directly correlated with the buffering capacity. A buffer will help keep the pH stable. The easiest buffer you can add to increase the alkalinity in an aquarium or pond is sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). It will also increase the pH to about 8.3 if there's enough of it.

The driftwood may lower the pH as it leaches tannic acid. That acid may color your water a little brown. I normally suggest boiling driftwood when you get it to leach out the tannins and lignins so as not to discolor the water but, if you want the driftwood to lower the pH, you may not want to do that. Monitor the pH after putting in unboiled driftwood as it may lower the pH further than you think. A large change in pH (pH swing) is worse than a stable pH that's slightly off or non-ideal.

I hope I didn't over-chemist you! Good luck!

Thank you! Sorry again for the overload of questions, I'm still new to all this. I'm so happy to have found this board. You've helped me out a lot. Your web page has REALLY helped out so i thank you again for all your help! :)