What to use in combination with naturel regulator ?

[Türkiye48]

Hi there

I have 500 L discus community tank where I also keep some werneris neon tetras, ottoconculiduses. My initial water parameters were :

ph:8.0
gh:16
kh:12

After using naturel regulator paremeters changed to :

ph:7.7
gh:10
kh:9

As you can see the naturel regulator could not lock my ph to 7 and I was also expecting to see softer GH, and KH values. I used about half of my my 250 ml naturel regulator but it does not help any further unfortunatelly, although I overdose naturel regulator and there is nothing to raise my ph, kh, and gh levels as long as I know.

As I see in your FAQ section, when naturel regulator is not enough to catch desired values, we supposed to use acid regulator firstly and when we get something around 7.0 we should lock it up by using naturel regulator but as I am keeping mainly discus fishes would I be better to choose discus buffer or should I simply buy acid regulator when we shell consider that the tank is planted ?

[Tech Support MS]

Hello, thank you for the post! How long have you been using the Neutral Regulator? It does not always set the pH at 7.0 in one or two doses. For it to lock in the pH, Neutral Regulator must first overcome the existing buffering system present in your aquarium. This can take a little while depending on how strong the buffering system is. Acid Regulator or Discus Buffer will both aid you in overcoming this buffering system, if you choose to use one of them. All of these buffers are phosphate based. Phosphate based buffers widely utilized in this industry because they are the most stable buffering systems available. However, phosphates can be utilized by both plants and unwanted algae as a food source. Most people that have a heavily planted aquarium are already adding a phosphate supplement and using a phosphate based buffer might provide too much, causing unwanted algae growth. This is typically not an issue in aquariums with little or no fertilization and can be beneficial for any plants in such a system.

[Türkiye48]

Hi ! Thanks for the quick reply.

I used NR for at least a weeks and I am not using it anymore as it can't help me lowering my ph level lower than 7.7. First I used 12 tea spons for 500 L and as I tested my ph the next day, I found out that my new ph level was 7.7 than I used almost 100 ml NR in one go, to see if it is going to help me lowering my ph to 7.0 but It did not unfortunatelly :(

Either naturel regulator can not lower ph 8 to ph 7 or both of my ph test kit are useless. I use salifet and tropical ph test kits and they both say that my ph is 7.7 or higher.

I think I will start using discus buffer to be able to lower my ph or would you suggest me to use rest of my NR which is 125 ml left in the bottle?

[Türkiye48]

By the way I forgot to ask : What's the differance between acid regulato and discus buffer ? As it is called discuss buffer, does it provied anything extra for discus fishes that acid regulator would/can not provide and finally shoul we use them at the same time or use on of them and use the other later on ?

[Tech Support MS]

It seems that Neutral Regulator is having trouble overcoming the existing buffering system of your tank. This is not something we typically see in a system like yours but it is possible. Generally it only takes a few doses to lock the pH in at 7.0. I think that the Discus Buffer would definitely help bring your ph down and, once it is down, Neutral Regulator should be able to maintain it. Discus Buffer and Acid Regulator are very similar products and I would only use one or the other.

[Türkiye48]

Thank you very much for the information. I will buy both NR as well as discus buffer and this should help me perfectly than :)

[Tech Support AN]

You are very welcome!