How To Raise Alkalinity

[Wheely34]

I'm cycling my 30 gallon freshwater tank. Everything seems to be where it needs to be for the fish I am going to be purchasing...except for my Alkalinity. It seems my water is very acidic and reading "0" on my test strip for Alkalinity. According to the kit, my level should be anywhere from 120-180. I just put some live plants in yesterday (not sure if that will have an effect) and I've been adding Aquarium Salt in an attempt to raise Alkalinity. Thing is, I don't want to add too much salt because I'm pretty sure the salt will never completely dissolve and filter out (correct me if I'm wrong).

Anyway, after adding my live plants (4) and more salt (I've added about 4-5 table spoons by now since the start of my cycle about 3 days ago), my Alkalinity is still reading "0". I've heard of people adding baking soda, which is something I don't want to do, and I am aware I could just by the specific chemical at the store to raise it (was at Petco yesterday and they didn't have it). Is there any other ways to raise this? Should I just add a few more table spoons of salt?

Tank specs:

30 gallons
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: very slightly above 0
Hardness: 100
Chlorine: 0
pH: 7.0
Alkalinity: 0
Temperature: 76-78 F

 

[Wheely34]

From searching the web, I'm also getting the hint that Alkalinity isn't insanely important for my type of application. I'd still really like to get the level to where it should be, but if it really isn't that important, should I just let it go?

 

[waterdrop]

Hi there, you are just at the very beginning of your quest! Luckily you have stumbled on the right place for a beginner to be. The paper strips you are using are worse than useless, they are so misleading that they can lead to wrong decisions. Likewise, there are many definitions of "cycling" and a lot of them are just plain wrong. It's going to feel weird at first but your very first homework assignment is to read 3 articles in our Beginners Resource Center (found at the top of our subforum here) ... Please read The Nitrogen Cycle, The Fishless Cycle and The Fish-In Cycle. This will help you form questions that the members can answer. Meanwhile it is also entertaining and informative to read the fishless cycling threads of other beginners who are right here doing it at the same time as you or have already posted complete threads which are still archived here.

I'm not trying to put off answering your immediate questions (well, I do need some sleep) but your initial post indicates a newcomer in need of help in many areas and I know how great our many members are and that they will have kicked in to help long before the sun comes back up over here in North America!

~~waterdrop~~
ps. Baking Soda (not Baking Powder) happens to be indeed the perfect way to raise KH during -fishless- cycling (whereas crushed coral in the filter is often a better way later if there are fish) whereas using chemicals from the local fish shop is definately not something we recommend. But all these are things you should not be doing quite yet until you've had more discussion of your situation with the members. It will work out.

 

[Wheely34]

Well, I am in fact using the test strips. Not having much experience with this, I still felt that they seemed a little vague. Is it that the measurements aren't accurate? Or is it just that the tests aren't detailed enough to provide truly accurate measurements?

Thanks for the input, I'll check those articles out.

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, it's both, and it's that the problems vary a lot between the different test types and the different manufacturers. The liquid test tube kits are all that great either compared to laboratory science but they are an order of magnitude less confusing.

WD

 

[OldMan47]

Let's try another approach here. The typical "aquarium salt" will not raise alkalinity at all. It will add salt and raise mineral content but is relatively neutral in terms of alkalinity. If you want to raise the alkalinity of your water, do what people like WD have had to do for hard water fish, add some nice calcium carbonate to your water in the form of crushed shells or crushed coral. The easiest way to do that is to place some crushed shell in the filter's water flow path.
Baking soda, not baking powder, can be used to raise the pH and alkalinity of your water but it is far faster acting and thus harder to control than using calcium carbonate.