# Freshwater Aquariums > General Freshwater Topics > Equipment and Water Quality >  PH level

## neonphotos.me

Hi I have clown loaches in my tank and I would like to know what is the best way to lower my tanks pH level to 7.0 to 6.5 or lower?

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## Gary R

Hi and welcome to fish-keeping.com

The natural way to lower it would be adding some natural driftwood to your tank this would lower your pH levels, but I would soak the driftwood first in a separate container with hot water just to sterilize it.

The other way is to buy some PH reducer, with this you might have to add a bit every week to keep it down.

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## neonphotos.me

> Hi and welcome to fish-keeping.com
> 
> The natural way to lower it would be adding some natural driftwood to your tank this would lower your pH levels, but I would soak the driftwood first in a separate container with hot water just to sterilize it.
> 
> The other way is to buy some PH reducer, with this you might have to add a bit every week to keep it down.


Thanks for the reply Gary, I've got some bogwood soaking so hoping the brown tint leaves the wood soon. Someone has said that if I don't want to use chemicals I should use filtered R,O water.

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## platypost5

White vinegar will also reduse pH try some in a litre of tap water testing pH before and after adding a teaspoon to find how much the drop in pH is .My clowns thrive at a pH of 7.2 static pH can be more important than lowering or bothering pH good luck!

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## Gary R

Sorry not been on here for a bit due to work.

Yes using a Reverse osmosis can in many ways reduce your PH, we use them for marine fish setups as it deals with excessive levels of nitrate, phosphate, heavy metals and chlorine found in the water....but there is the cost of buying it. 




> White vinegar will also reduse pH try some in a litre of tap water testing pH before and after adding a teaspoon to find how much the drop in pH is .My clowns thrive at a pH of 7.2 static pH can be more important than lowering or bothering pH good luck!
> 
> Sent from my Hudl HT7S3 using Tapatalk


Yes you can add white vinegar this will reduce pH, but will also reduce the alkalinity in the water so you will need to keep a eye on that too.

Hi and welcome to fish-keeping.com platypost
Its nice to see another new face on here

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## platypost5

Many thanks for the welcome .Great to know the tropical and cold water fish keeping hobby is as active as ever ,also great to kñow there's a vast amount of experience out there to quiz when issues arise ,even after many years in this pastime I'm still learning and trying new things,ps my reverse flow gravel filter which I posted about a few weeks ago is going great just a simple clean of the pre sponge filters and job done gravel clean as a whistle nitrates staying almost below 20 ppm for at least a fortnight then only creeping up very slowly ,should have done this year's ago,there I go rambling!! Thanks again for welcome, will be reading with interest about your fishy worlds 

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*Gary R* (21-03-2016)

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## lost

How have you got on with your ph prob ? and welcome to fish keeping guys

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## neonphotos.me

> How have you got on with your ph prob ? and welcome to fish keeping guys


Well it's not been too bad now I took out Coral Gravel  which I knew had to come out. This brought the ph down but what made the major difference was using RO water from my LFS combination of this and my own tap water brought it down to 6.8. Now I've got hold a huge amount of bog wood that a friend had stored, which has been soaking for the last 2 weeks. This will be going in next week. I will check the level again once this has settled.



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## neonphotos.me

> Well it's not been too bad now I took out Coral Gravel  which I knew had to come out. This brought the ph down but what made the major difference was using RO water from my LFS combination of this and my own tap water brought it down to 6.8. Now I've got hold a huge amount of bog wood that a friend had stored, which has been soaking for the last 2 weeks. This will be going in next week. I will check the level again once this has settled.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


Here is a more up to date photo.


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## Gary R

I'm glad you have got it sorted out m8 ..... and some nice pieces of bog wood in there will look good  :Smile:

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## lost

looking nice mate keep up the good work  :clap:

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*neonphotos.me* (31-03-2016)

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## neonphotos.me

I think I got the set up right now bog wood is in now, also I could a great Co2 diffuser see photos. Also for the first time I've seen my Siamese loaches eating in the tank  . Well for I'm happy with my set up what do you guys think?













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*Gary R* (07-04-2016)

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## Gary R

Yes it looks great m8 ...you have a nice tank there and I'm glad you got your levels sorted out as well

I see you got some LEDs in the back ground as well, keep up the good work, and please keep us up to date with how the tank goes.

Regards

Gary

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*neonphotos.me* (07-04-2016)

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