Will water filter lower pH

If I bought the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals water filter would it lower my
tap water's pH or simply the hardness. The pH of my tap is arround 8.0 -8.2
after you let it aerate for a few hours. It tests arround 7.2 right out of
the tap.

"BigBadGourami" wrote in message
news:aXqIb.17945$xX.54705@attbi_s02...
If I bought the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals water filter would it lower
my
tap water's pH or simply the hardness.

WHat's in the filter - do you have a website link?

The pH of my tap is arround 8.0 -8.2
after you let it aerate for a few hours. It tests arround 7.2 right out
of
the tap.

Must be a lot of CO2 in your tap water - not uncommon.

I.

http://www.petsmart.com/products/product_16267.shtml
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tap Water Filter System
Makes deionized aquarium water with super activated carbon & color changing
ion-exchange resin. Comes fully assembled & attaches to your faucet in
seconds. System includes 4 oz. bottles pH Adjuster & Electro-Right, faucet
adapter and kink-free tubing. Replacement Filter cartridge sold separately.



"Iain Miller" wrote in message
...




"BigBadGourami" wrote in message
news:aXqIb.17945$xX.54705@attbi_s02...
If I bought the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals water filter would it lower
my
tap water's pH or simply the hardness.

WHat's in the filter - do you have a website link?

The pH of my tap is arround 8.0 -8.2
after you let it aerate for a few hours. It tests arround 7.2 right out
of
the tap.

Must be a lot of CO2 in your tap water - not uncommon.

I.

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 02:58:14 UTC, "BigBadGourami"
wrote:

If I bought the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals water filter would it lower my
tap water's pH or simply the hardness. The pH of my tap is arround 8.0 -8.2
after you let it aerate for a few hours. It tests arround 7.2 right out of
the tap.

The AP device will lower the hardness, both the calcium magnesium hardness
(GH) and the carbonate hardness (KH). By taking out all the carbonate it
will lower the pH.

But don't do it! Not till you've studied up. The low pH will be
extremely unstable, and most fish will be killed by the use of highly
purified water: they need some hardness.

If you have hard water and want to raise soft-water fish, then mixing
filtered water with tap water may be the way to go. Or you can use the
filter to take everything out, then put some back with such products as
RO-Right(tm, if I've spelled it right).

BTW lots of fish will live happily at pH 8.0-8.2. You may be able to get
away with doing nothing. But not if you want to breed things that want
softer water, or get plants to grow well.


--
Dan Drake

http://www.dandrake.com

yep, and three or four days after you do a water change, all the fish will
be dead from a pH crash, because the buffer gh is being stripped from the
water....

forget faucet filters for fish

the 5Fs of fishkeeping

--

RedForeman ©®





"Dan Drake" wrote in message
news:vhIsdqY67dTD-pn2-l6PTJItVkuTc@localhost...
On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 02:58:14 UTC, "BigBadGourami"
wrote:

If I bought the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals water filter would it lower
my
tap water's pH or simply the hardness. The pH of my tap is arround
8.0 -8.2
after you let it aerate for a few hours. It tests arround 7.2 right out
of
the tap.

The AP device will lower the hardness, both the calcium magnesium hardness
(GH) and the carbonate hardness (KH). By taking out all the carbonate it
will lower the pH.

But don't do it! Not till you've studied up. The low pH will be
extremely unstable, and most fish will be killed by the use of highly
purified water: they need some hardness.

If you have hard water and want to raise soft-water fish, then mixing
filtered water with tap water may be the way to go. Or you can use the
filter to take everything out, then put some back with such products as
RO-Right(tm, if I've spelled it right).

BTW lots of fish will live happily at pH 8.0-8.2. You may be able to get
away with doing nothing. But not if you want to breed things that want
softer water, or get plants to grow well.


--
Dan Drake

http://www.dandrake.com

But don't do it! Not till you've studied up. The low pH will be
extremely unstable, and most fish will be killed by the use of highly
purified water: they need some hardness.

Rather than saying "don't do it," say, "do it right." I know many avid
and accomplished breeders who use RO/De-ion water with nothing but
positive results when they do it right. I used to use RO when I bred
apistos, and had great success. You are right in saying that fish need
some hardness, but this can be added easily; you can buy an RO
revitalizer and add the desired amount to get the proper GH/KH, or if
you want to do it a bit cheaper you can just mix the RO/De-ion water
with RO waste water or regular tap water. This will avert all th epH
swings, etc. you allude to.

I know the filter you speak of, and it is very effective for small
tanks, although not economical if you need a lot of water.

Matthew Clark

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 05:43:30 UTC, (Matthew Clark)
wrote:

But don't do it! Not till you've studied up. The low pH will be
extremely unstable, and most fish will be killed by the use of highly
purified water: they need some hardness.

Rather than saying "don't do it," say, "do it right." I know many avid
and accomplished breeders who use RO/De-ion water with nothing but
positive results when they do it right. I used to use RO when I bred
apistos, and had great success. You are right in saying that fish need
some hardness, but this can be added easily; you can buy an RO
revitalizer and add the desired amount to get the proper GH/KH, or if
you want to do it a bit cheaper you can just mix the RO/De-ion water
with RO waste water or regular tap water. This will avert all th epH
swings, etc. you allude to.

Well, I guess if anybody reads the "don't do it" and doesn't bother to
read the next sentence ("Not till you've studied up", in case anyone
missed it), let alone my following comments on adding needed hardness,
he's going to go on having a high pH -- unless he reads your comments on
adding needed hardness. But maybe a pH of 8-plus is the best possible
result for someone who doesn't bother to read the rest of the posting;
better, anyway, than using pure deionized water and quickly killing the
fish.

--
Dan Drake

http://www.dandrake.com