ADA Amazonia pH Change
 

Hi all, I just wanted to help anybody who was having problems reducing their pH. I am doing a test with Aqua Design Amano Amzonia substrate which reduces the pH to see if it is a reliable and safe way to lower the pH. After the first five minutes my pH has dropped from 7.6 to 6.8. To be clear I am puttung it in a filter which is sitting on a 5 gallon bucket. About two cups of ADA went.

Side note: ADA leaches ammonia for the first month or so, which means if you are putting it in a already established aquarium with fish but no plants, stay on top of the water parameters/ water changes. With plants you should be fine but always regularly check. If your tank is not a established tank and you need to cycle it, then it is pretty straight forward. Put the ADA in the filter of choice and just keep up with the water changes and it will be fine.

If you have any questions about anything go ahead and post here.

Chris

After about five hours the pH dropped to six or below, my test kit won't read any lower so I will go to my lfs and either have them test it or buy a low pH test kit. I stopped the filter to see how the pH would hold up.

That's a bit scary. I'd hate to set up a tank with plants and fish and have the pH crash like that within a few hours. Does the packaging say anything about the effect of this substrate on water parameters?

The pH in my little tank is stable with the stuff as its substrate. It is a very large crash so what would work is filter the water in buckets and when you do a water change just gradually add ADA filter water. So eventually it would be stable and then you could insert ADA into the filter to be sure it is stable.