Does java moss help lower pg levels? Aquarium tanks?

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When Java moss or other plants are feeding upon fish waste (mostly ammonia) and carbon they will slightly raise the pH. Both ammonia and carbonic acid (dissolved carbon) are acidic and removing them will slightly increase the over all pH of the water.

Java moss are often used as bottom plants. Much faster growing, light intensive plants above and around them will "feed" more than the Java moss.

Just by their breathing, fish (like us) release some carbon dioxide. They release it into the water where it becomes carbonic acid. Those CO2 supplementation systems do much the same on a larger scale.

In heavily planted aquariums kept by what we might call aquatic gardeners, there are so many plants living under very good lighting, the pH might gradually & naturally rise one degree in pH per day. At night it may drop that much. So the tank might be at a pH of 6.5 at 8 AM and 7.5 at 9 PM when the timed lights go off. That also happens during the long days of summer in small hone and wild ponds.

Here are some amazing examples of planted aquariums:
http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/

In fact those aquatic gardeners sometime even have to add fertilizers to a tank that include EXTRA AMMONIA! The rest of us, with our activated carbon and (ideally) 50% weekly partial water changes are trying to get lots of that !@#$%&*!! ammonia out of there!

Partly because it is gradual, the fish do fine in such waters. Unless the pH is over 8.5 or under 6 a lot of the time, pH is not usually a critical factor. Highly acid tanks can produce acidosis (crazy man's disease) where the fish flit around and can die or fatally injure themselves. At the other end of the spectrum alkalosis can happen, also with dangerous results.

However we really don't want to throw pH adjusting products in aquariums unless we are raising really unusual fish. The EPA requires that municipalities buffer their water to above a pH of 8 (often going up to 8.5) . If we add the 25 to 50% of the treated water of the same temperature after gravel vacuuming out that (often acidic) fecal dirt in the tank bottom, the tanks pH will rise a little. If one just runs an airline-hose siphon to the tank the fish should not be stressed (unless that was a really funky tank.)
Healthy tanks shouldn't need a lot of fiddling with pH. A friend of mine who has raised 10s of thousands of dollars worth of discus in Lake Michigan water (with a relatively high pH) is far more concerned about water cleanliness. Sometimes he does cut the waters hardness and TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) to encourage wild caught discus to spawn. He even published an article several years ago in TFH magazine entitled “PH Phooey” where he debunked the myth of having to have low pH readings to get the vast majority of fishes to spawn so we could raise healthy fry.

Java moss is a pretty slow growing plant (though it can even fill half a 150-gallon tank in time). I will not absorb near as much waste material as faster growing plants. But even it will help stabilize a pH at a slightly higher level.

Hope it grows well for you and your fish thrive!...Show more

Java moss will help to lower ph by a little bit. other ways are moss balls, peat moss in the filter, drift wood, and almond leaves. these things will assure your ph is low and stable, and will help maintain a healthy low ph tank. hope my answer helped you, and happy fish keeping!...Show more

Plants will not have a significant effect on your ph. Almond leaves, or driftwood can. In most cases it is best not to mess with the ph. Most fish can adapt to a ph outside of there ideal range, and the ones that are more sensitive should be avoided.

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