My Tank Cycle

[rabbut]

I wouldn't bother with pH UP (or down for that matter) as IME they do not hold the pH stable. I'd use bicarbonate of soda (baking powder) to raise the pH, as this will hold the pH more stable.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[OldMan47]

Rabbut please leave the baking powder in the kitchen. Bicarbonate of soda is baking soda. That is a tough lesson I learned as a small child. Tried making some biscuits and got the wrong one. They were inedible but I don't even know what chemicals are in baking powder.
For a pH drop that is stalling a cycle, do a large water change to get back closer to tap water and dose the ammonia back to the 4 ppm level.

 

[nicnak]

I did what you said about putting a sponge in my new filter

Then promptly filled the new filter up with tap water!!!..... probably killed all the bacteria

 

[rabbut]

Rabbut please leave the baking powder in the kitchen. Bicarbonate of soda is baking soda. That is a tough lesson I learned as a small child. Tried making some biscuits and got the wrong one. They were inedible but I don't even know what chemicals are in baking powder.
For a pH drop that is stalling a cycle, do a large water change to get back closer to tap water and dose the ammonia back to the 4 ppm level.

I thought they were one and the same , but I have used it for pH raising during a cycle before to the disired effect so it obviously had a carbonate salt of some description in it. Whatever it is, it doesn't harm the cycle IME, so is perfectly safe to use. TBH though, I didn't realise they were different. Bicarbonate of soda is what I have always been recomended, baking powder is what I have always used, including for breeding projects. It is safe.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[OldMan47]

Its good to know that baking powder won't do any harm but its not what you want to use.