# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Sera pH-minus



## MaverikJ (Nov 18, 2004)

Dummy question.

Sera's "pH-minus" label says to add 5 ml per each 20 litres of water.
So, should i add a full 100 ml bottle into my 450 litres tank *at once* ?
(currently in tank pH 8.3, kH 14)

I have some fishes e.i. gouramies, ramirezi, ancistrus, sae and would prefer all of them to survive


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## MaverikJ (Nov 18, 2004)

Dummy question.

Sera's "pH-minus" label says to add 5 ml per each 20 litres of water.
So, should i add a full 100 ml bottle into my 450 litres tank *at once* ?
(currently in tank pH 8.3, kH 14)

I have some fishes e.i. gouramies, ramirezi, ancistrus, sae and would prefer all of them to survive


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## Margolis (Sep 22, 2004)

don't use chemicals to reduce the ph. The fish are better off at the ph they are at than they would be at a chemically modified lower ph. If you want to reduce the ph, mix some ro water in your water to reduce the kh. Also filtering through peat moss is a safe and healthy natural way of lowering the ph in an aquarium. If this is a planted tank, as I hope it would be in this forum, we have one more option.


Add a pressurized co2 system to the tank with a ph controller.


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## MaverikJ (Nov 18, 2004)

i've just updated profile,so my tank naturally a planted one. 
I'm afraid that my red mirophyllum, alternatheras and nesaea feel no good due to such water hardness and would like to cut in most quick way.
I believe Sera gives correct instrutction on a label, but do they mean that ph lowering shall be done in a tank with no fishes and plants ?


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Maverik,

Hardness is unlikely to be a problem for your plants, and lowering the pH won't change the hardness. It may alter the KH, but that is another matter.

Your plants are probably growing slowly because your aren't providing them with enough carbon or with enough light to use the carbon that's available. If the plants are in poor health along with growing slowly then there other problems that can account for their health. Adding a chemical to lower the pH will cure none of those problems.

You have given us information on the size of your tank, on lighting and on the kind of CO2 you're using. Can you tell us anything about fertilizers? What other plants are you growing?


Roger Miller


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## MaverikJ (Nov 18, 2004)

no, my plants grow, i would say - quite fast.
my gravel is natural river sand of 3-3.5 mm with some clay, which i didn't wash out deliberately. i use "Sera florenette A" for roots (i put about 10 tablette every 3 weeks for hole tank) and weekly 5 ml of Fe-EDTA complex and KCl for leaves.

i believe light is sufficient since most of light-lovers grow really fast. barthii and gorizonalis spend only 2 days to create full-size leaf. co2 may be low, due to i use a 'span' method.

i have echinodoruses: Barthii, florens, uruguaensis, 'Kleiner Bar', 'Ozelot green', 'Ozelot', 'Devils Eye', tennelus, horizontalis - everybody happy, only leaves of horizontalis have some calcareous strains. 
tennelus i just bought and it's leaves a bit glassy. 

long-stem : myrophyllum, neasea pediculata, hygrophila corimbosa 'compact', alternathera reinekii, ammania gracilis, red myrophillum - evertybody happy too, except of alternathera and myrophillum - thus this is my favourite plant - it always droppes his 'leaves', it's diameter continiously become less and less, the colour of leaves and stem (which were initially of that rich-red colour - you know) become light-brown. i tried to buy myrophillum from different sources, but result is the same.
alternathera is also just bought and seems to start degradate.

i keep also hemiantus, and several anubiases but they are also just bought and i can not say how they feel in my tank yet.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Light that is sufficient for some plants is insufficient for others. Myriophyllum in general are pretty light-hungry plants. The red varieties are reputedly even more light-hungry than the green varieties. I expect your problems with the myriophyllum are largely from lighting.

Alternanthera reineckii is not as light demanding as most myriophyllum, but without enough light it does grow with thin stems and long internodes and tend to dissintegrate. Low macronutrient levels may have the same effect.


Roger Miller


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