# Does Akadama lower ph ?



## Barbarosa (13 Jul 2010)

The reason I ask is that I've just set up my new system which will house a variety of plants with halide lighting and pressurised co2 but before I've put anything in the water, other than the Akadama and filter media in my sump (bioballs, floss, alfagrog) my ph reading is 5.80   

I have used a combination of tapwater and RO so my question is will this ph level increase as I begin to add plants, turn on the lights, etc before I start to consider raising the ph using a buffer ?

Ideally I'd like my ph at around 6.5


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## ceg4048 (14 Jul 2010)

Hi,
   Please review JamesC's Akadama - a cheap substrate which is a sticky at the very top of this section. You'll find some very useful information regarding the effects on water chemistry.

Having said that it's not clear why you have selected a target pH as being ideal. There are hardly any ideal pH for plants and unless you are breeding fish it is not a good idea to try to control the pH to a specific value. This often causes difficulties down the road, especially in CO2 enriched tanks. I would suggest strongly that you stay away from buffers.

Cheers,


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## Barbarosa (14 Jul 2010)

I've only targeted a ph of 6.5 from a fish perspective as the species I plan on keeping are pretty much all Amazonian residents. I'm not too worried about the levels at the moment as I'm sure the ph will change again once I have introduced quite a number of plants and have started to introduce co2 and to put the lights on for around 8 hours a day.


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## dw1305 (14 Jul 2010)

Hi all,


> as the species I plan on keeping are pretty much all Amazonian residents


 If they are black water species? the lower pH will suit them better, as the water away from the large white water rivers is very soft and almost devoid of any salts (conductivity levels less than 50 microS).

cheers Darrel


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