How To Increase Alkalinity/buffering Capacity

[bignut102]

I can not figure out a way of increaseing the alkalinity or buffering capacity of my 29 gallon tank. It is at about 75ppm. my PH is about 7.2. my water hardness 50-60 and nitrates and nitrites are safe.

i would like to do this w.o. adding chemicals

 

[steelhealr]

I can not figure out a way of increaseing the alkalinity or buffering capacity of my 29 gallon tank. It is at about 75ppm. my PH is about 7.2. my water hardness 50-60 and nitrates and nitrites are safe.

i would like to do this w.o. adding chemicals

Why do you want to increase it? SH

 

[gpgscott]

I can not figure out a way of increaseing the alkalinity or buffering capacity of my 29 gallon tank. It is at about 75ppm. my PH is about 7.2. my water hardness 50-60 and nitrates and nitrites are safe.

i would like to do this w.o. adding chemicals

Your alkalinity looks pretty normal to me. I have a problem in that I am in coastal SC and my water out of the ground is only 6ppm total alkalinity so I buffer with crushed oyster shell to prevent abrupt ph shifts. It will be interesting to see what others have to say but my recent reseach indicates for most fish a range not exceeding 100 ppm is suitable.

 

[Arimus]

Want to swap water I can't get my pH down below about 8.2....

carbon hardness is almost of the scale - I suspect I can use my tap water to write on a blackboard

Off out to get some ph down later today...

 

[thegnu]

how is it we fishkeepers always want to change our water to suit a particular group of fish. i don't mean that nastily because i include myself

 

[bignut102]

Why do you want to increase it?

I want to increase because from what i've read that without at least 120ppm it's hard to get an accurate reading of ph. and also i would like to prevent the ph from any flucutations.

 

[kevinr]

If you want to decrease the chance of fluctautions, leave it alone. The only way to increase your alcalinity (and your water is near neutral Ph so you should be over the moon) is to add crushed sea shell or lime rock to your substrate, this will dissolve into the water and increase your Ph and Gh, but everytime you doa water change you remove some of that..so your Ph drops again.

IMO unless your going to try and breed, and need a particular water quality for your fish to breed in, then let them adjust to your local water parameters...it's much safer. Everytime you artificially adjust your Ph, you risk a Ph crash, which could be dangerous to your fish

 

[andywg]

If you want to decrease the chance of fluctautions, leave it alone. The only way to increase your alcalinity (and your water is near neutral Ph so you should be over the moon) is to add crushed sea shell or lime rock to your substrate, this will dissolve into the water and increase your Ph and Gh, but everytime you doa water change you remove some of that..so your Ph drops again.

IMO unless your going to try and breed, and need a particular water quality for your fish to breed in, then let them adjust to your local water parameters...it's much safer. Everytime you artificially adjust your Ph, you risk a Ph crash, which could be dangerous to your fish

You have just said the only way to increase the Alkalinity is to increase the pH and hardness. this post was about adjusting alk, not pH

The easy way to buffer Alkalinity up is with baking soda (not baking powder) as is used quite often in reef situations. And so long as you buffer the new water in a water change in the same way it will stay stable.

I agree that in most situations leaving the water be is best, though I often wonder why people hate putting chemicals in (from a bottle where one can control the amount) yet are so eager to use more natural products (such as crushed sea shell) which reduce the same chemicals but without the same level of control.

 

[kevinr]

You have just said the only way to increase the Alkalinity is to increase the pH and hardness. this post was about adjusting alk, not pH

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but alkalinity is measured on the Ph scale, so when you adjust it, the unit of measure adjusts aswell..otherwise it sounds as though your saying I can have high alkalinity, by adding baking soda (which is a good idea BTW) but my Ph could be at 6.2..but that just makes no sense since that Ph is obviously on the acid side.

yet are so eager to use more natural products (such as crushed sea shell) which reduce the same chemicals but without the same level of control.

well that's not exactly true is it. Chemical solutions adjust a number of properties in your water to achieve their aim, and unless you know what it changes, your really just messing about with a balance that if not treat correctly, will cause you problems.

 

[gpgscott]

You have just said the only way to increase the Alkalinity is to increase the pH and hardness. this post was about adjusting alk, not pH

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but alkalinity is measured on the Ph scale, so when you adjust it, the unit of measure adjusts aswell..otherwise it sounds as though your saying I can have high alkalinity, by adding baking soda (which is a good idea BTW) but my Ph could be at 6.2..but that just makes no sense since that Ph is obviously on the acid side.

yet are so eager to use more natural products (such as crushed sea shell) which reduce the same chemicals but without the same level of control.

well that's not exactly true is it. Chemical solutions adjust a number of properties in your water to achieve their aim, and unless you know what it changes, your really just messing about with a balance that if not treat correctly, will cause you problems.

This is a difficult concept to get your mind around, I have been studying it of late and this is what I have learned.

Although ph can be an indication of alkalinity it is not the qauntitative test for alkalinity. Alkalinity does not refer to the acidity or bacisity of water it refers to the amount of dissolved mineral content expressed as TDS or total dissolved solids. In order for ph to remain relatively stable in the aquarium environment there needs to be a certain amount of dissolved mineral to act as a counter to the acidity produced by the uneaten food and fish waste. Baking soda is effective at raising ph but remember what you are doing here is decreasing acidity you do not increase alkalinity with baking soda. A slightly alkaline or 'harder' water will tolerate a greater quantity of fish produced acidity so the effect on the aquarium will be a slower decline in ph. This is better for the fishy inhabitants as we all know that abrupt changes are what stress the fish and can lead to disease and conflict. It also gives the aquarium keeper more time to respond to changes in water quality.

Bottom line is you should school yourself to stop associating ph with alkalinity or hardness. There are some excellent articles which explain this in some detail, and in understandable terms, just google any of these keywords and read away.

Scott

 

[kevinr]

This is a difficult concept to get your mind around, I have been studying it of late and this is what I have learned.

Although ph can be an indication of alkalinity it is not the qauntitative test for alkalinity. Alkalinity does not refer to the acidity or bacisity of water it refers to the amount of dissolved mineral content expressed as TDS or total dissolved solids. In order for ph to remain relatively stable in the aquarium environment there needs to be a certain amount of dissolved mineral to act as a counter to the acidity produced by the uneaten food and fish waste. Baking soda is effective at raising ph but remember what you are doing here is decreasing acidity you do not increase alkalinity with baking soda. A slightly alkaline or 'harder' water will tolerate a greater quantity of fish produced acidity so the effect on the aquarium will be a slower decline in ph. This is better for the fishy inhabitants as we all know that abrupt changes are what stress the fish and can lead to disease and conflict. It also gives the aquarium keeper more time to respond to changes in water quality.

Bottom line is you should school yourself to stop associating ph with alkalinity or hardness. There are some excellent articles which explain this in some detail, and in understandable terms, just google any of these keywords and read away.

Scott

Hmm..interesting post, it certainly is a hard one to get,so I think i'll take your advice and read up on it

 

[andywg]

Alkalinity (or KH - Carbonate hardness) as we measure it, is often a measure of calcium carbonate rather than the level of hyrdogen ions in water (pH). It is very well described in articles on marine water chemistry due to the relationship between sodium chloride, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and coral growth.

Things that raise alk do not have to raise pH. A supplement I am trying to slightly tweak my alk and Calcium levels in my reef tank does not affect the pH of the tank at all.

 

[gpgscott]

Want to swap water I can't get my pH down below about 8.2....

carbon hardness is almost of the scale - I suspect I can use my tap water to write on a blackboard

Off out to get some ph down later today...

Hi Arimus,

Yes I get a lot of requests like yours and I would be pleased to supply you with water if we were not so distant from one another. We operate a wholesale greenhouse business and the lack of dissolved mineral is a dual edged knife. It is very easy on equipment but we have to be very careful about our choices in fertilizers to prevent wide swings in the ph of our growing media. I would much rather deal with my problem than with yours. I understand many aqaurium keepers in the UK use reverse osmosis water.

Scott

 

[gpgscott]

Alkalinity (or KH - Carbonate hardness) as we measure it, is often a measure of calcium carbonate rather than the level of hyrdogen ions in water (pH). It is very well described in articles on marine water chemistry due to the relationship between sodium chloride, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and coral growth.

Things that raise alk do not have to raise pH. A supplement I am trying to slightly tweak my alk and Calcium levels in my reef tank does not affect the pH of the tank at all.

Yes this is exactly right, as I mentioned earlier the hard part is ceasing the association of ph with alkalinity

Scott

 

[bignut102]

Thanks for all the help everyone! I am adding crushed oyster shells!