This is the best product to reduce pH, and least in my somewhat humble opinion. I live in an area with high pH, and I have a large planted tank with cardinal tetras and other fish that prefer slightly acidic water. I also used this when I was living in NYC and had a discus tank (and they were breeding, too, which was helped at least a little by this).
There are other products that reduce pH, and they certainly work, but this one seems to be less caustic and more reliable. It is also phosphate free, which will help reduce algae in your tank. Its the phosphate free feature of this that makes it special... I believe it is the only pH down product that is phosphate free that is readily available.
There is a companion product called Alkaline buffer that is supposed to be used with this. I cheat and use baking soda. The baking soda is perhaps not as good as Alkaline buffer to use with this, but it is 98% as good, and costs much, much less.
In my own tank at home I am raising some South American Cichlids (specifically Heros Severus, common name Severums), and where I live I have well water that runs through a natural Calcium Carbonate surface that causes the pH coming out of my tap to be at around 8.4.
I tried so many different products to lower pH. People recommended a 'tannin' soak which didn't work, a lot of other products only focused on the pH (while neglecting the hardness) and therefore would cause serious fluctuations in the pH. It would drop when the pH decreaser would enter, and than rise back up in 24 hours, and cause a serious stress on my fish.
I came across this on accident since none of the close pet stores sell this product. I wandered into a mom and pop fish store in my neighborhood and the guy recommended it to me. I tried initially without really reading the instructions (yeah I admit it) and I wasn't successful. I put the product away for a little while and finally gave it another shot (this time reading the instructions and following them) and it did work. My pH in my aquarium right now is at a 6.4.
A few warnings about this product, it is potent stuff. I have dropped the pH too drastically at times while preparing the water in a bucket. You can correct by introducing small amounts of baking soda into the water (or just mixing in some more of your tap water to correct for the low pH). Now I order it online since the mom and pop shop only has a small size of it.
I have not tried using the alkaline buffer, but the label states you can obtain set pH values by mixing certain amounts of both alkaline buffer/acid buffer.
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This review is for seachem's acid BUFFER. This is an amazing product that does as it says, works incredibly well with hard water, locks and maintains a ph, doesn't cause algae blooms and is plant friendly. The company not only produces great products that are well trusted in the fish community but also provide great customer support. I highly recommend this and wish my local pet stores would have recommended it a long time ago. I keep mostly various types of tetras which do best in a ph kept in the low 7 ph range.
Just a little background, I have very hard water and my ph comes in at 8.2 from the tap, which locks in because of the hardness. I spent a fortune trying to soften water to reduce this locking effect and my ph seemed to lower and then slowly rise back to the upper 7 and 8 range and then i had algea blooms. It was a horrible cycle that required a lot of chemicals, time and the swings occuring in my tank were harmful to the well being of my fish. I searched and tried many products at local pet stores. No one in my area carried this product. I just knew there had to be something out there. I began searching amazon for other options. I found this product and read a detailed descriptions but was still unsure. I emailed the company directly and had a very quick, personal response by a very knowledgable representative who explained everything and made sure I understood and was satisfied. Of course I tried the product and will always use it.
I just followed the directions on the bottle leaving a few days in between each dose until I got it to the ph I wanted. Now I rarely have to add any to the tank, unless i change something in the tank, like add new decorations, which can change your ph. I only add this to new water during water changes with stress coat. This is such an easy and safe process. Just remember in the begining to add it slowly (over many days) in small amounts and test the ph regularly so you don't lower it too quickly or too low.
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I tried almost everything out there, from peat granules and driftwood to the proper API chemicals, to lower the pH of my local tap water (dGH: 15, dKH: 6, pH: 7.8). pH DOWN from API was good but not good enough, the dose said two drops per gallon but that wasn't nearly enough. I had to quadruple the dose and it only went from a 7.8 to around 7.1 just for it to bounce back to 7.8 the next day.
Acid buffer keeps the water acidic and I only had to double dose the first week. My aquarium water is pretty well buffered now and it doesn't bounce back after every water change. Pretty great product from Seachem. 5/5 would recommend.
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i have no small creatures but these tongs are great for a lot of other uses...cleaning articles dropped in drains, finding and removing small items from odd spaces and anytime you need help getting stuff from crevices ie dropped pills, beads, etc...i even used it to remove some stuck paper in my printer...i bought some as gifts for some of my senior citizen friends so useful!!!
