ph won't go below 7.4

[cab]

I have a 90 gal tank. It used to be saltwater, but now it is freshwater. The ph reads 7.4 and I have gone through 2 bottles of ph down and it still reads 7.4. I added peat beads to soften the water, but the ph is still 7.4. Any ideas?
Cab

[Technoviking]

Have you been dosing your tank with LSD? The reason I ask is because 7.4 is the pH of LSD and if so I have a simply solution.

Stop dosing your reef with Acid.

[cab]

Thanks for the tip.
But IT'S A FRESHWATER TANK!

Have you been dosing your tank with LSD? The reason I ask is because 7.4 is the pH of LSD and if so I have a simply solution.

Stop dosing your reef with Acid.

[Fine Fins]

r u using ro water in the tank? is there rocks buffering the water?

[iwantone]

Make sure your pH kit will read below 7.4, not all the ones used for salt water will

[reef_doug]

Do you have Tetras? Mopani Wood is a natural pH buffer to 6.5 - 7.0. It can discolor your water for awhile though.

Also are you using a Low Range pH test kit for Freshwater?

[seahorse_man]

What kind of test kits you using?

here are things that will bring it down:

wood(for aquariums)
C02 injection
using RO/DI water

HTH,
Jordan

[seahorse_man]

Have you been dosing your tank with LSD? The reason I ask is because 7.4 is the pH of LSD and if so I have a simply solution.

Stop dosing your reef with Acid.

Joking on......

Lay off the acid and get the site fixed,then you can do acid again

Joking off......

[SoCalBoo]

look to your fill water...is it tap. most tap in san diego is 8.0+. also, usually high in alkalinity (100+) and you'll have a hard time driving your ph down with alkalinity that high - it will resist whatever change you are tying to make.

as an aside, look at wetwebmedia freshwater discussions. You'll find the overwhelming advice is to try tap with whatever fish you want to keep. You'll be surprised what type of FW fish will do well in hard water with high Ph. Pet Kingdom just successfully bred discus in tap water with Ph somewhere above 8.0. It can be done. Personally, I find that fish appreciate stable Ph more than a low or high ph. As well, most low ph will do fine in high ph, while many high ph fish (cichlids come to mind instantly) don't do so well in low ph.

in addition to suggests to lower ph, you can also add co2. adds carbonic acid to tank and you can effectively lower ph by 1.0 or more, depending on dosing, while not adjusting your alkalinity much.

ph down or nuetral ph don't work very well. you'll have to premix your water ever time (or you should, rather) or you'll risk ph shocking your tank during every water change. If you have ro or ro/di at your disposal, might make sense, but from someone who tried it, I found that living with a higher ph than maybe you want works just fine. I mix my ro only with tap water (about 50/50) and I end up with 7.4-7.5 water with about 60-70 alkalinity (don't really want to go much lower than 50-55 for stability sake).

[DaveMorris]

Put a bunch of real plants in it and dose CO2. Everything about the tank will look much better.

[Technoviking]

Joking on......

Lay off the acid and get the site fixed,then you can do acid again

Joking off......

Yeah that was a joke.

[seahorse_man]

Yeah that was a joke.

Yes sir,yes it was.....

[cab]

the ph has gone from 7.4 to 7.2. by the way, I am usinga freshwater ph test kit. I'm going to add some driftwood to help lower it a bit more. thanks fo all the replies.

[SoCalBoo]

the ph has gone from 7.4 to 7.2. by the way, I am usinga freshwater ph test kit. I'm going to add some driftwood to help lower it a bit more. thanks fo all the replies.

the benefits of mopani peeter out with time. they also leech tannins into the water. for south american isotopes, it is a good look. for others, not so good. if you like the look and the ph adjustment, look to peat pellets in a canister or HOB filter. the eheim or ADA ones are my favorites.

What kind of fish are your trying to keep? I said it before - try keeping even 'low' ph fish at moderate ph and you will very likely be surprised - and have a lot less work.