Ph Raising

[indir-emir]

Hi all,
Im going to be using baking soda to get my PH back up as the water changes suggested by waterdrop did not manage to get it back up. So back to my question.

Do i add the soda directly to my tank or to say a bucket of water and add it through that after some stirring?

Not sure how im supposed to go about adding this.

Any help will be appreciated greatly.

Regards,
Indir

 

[loraxchick]

i always had luck when having to do such things, by taking a cup with a bit of tank water in it, stir the baking soda up in that and then pour it into the tank...your filter should help mix it around in the tank.

 

[lisa_da_best]

hi,

Im not sure that baking soda is the way to go. The ph will drop back to where it was previously pretty quickly. I have been told that the carbon aspect of sodium bicarbonate is bad for the health of the tank. It is something to do with too much carbon. I use a ph buffer or neutral regulator, a buffer keeps it at a specific lvl not just getting it to that lvl and having it drop back down. Keep in mind, any large change in ph has to be done slowly over time

lisa

 

[keenonfish]

I use baking soda and simply get a pint glass full of tank water, stir and fully disolve bicarb then poor this mixture in SLOWLY over a period of a couple of hours. Not sure about health implications I believe it is more accurate than crushed shells etc..

 

[K-Holed]

Bicarb may work as a quick fix, but imo it's better to solve the cause rather than treat the symptoms.

 

[Truck]

do it over a period of a few hours and youll be fine

 

[kbekll]

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/start_up/start_up7.html

good read

 

[OldMan47]

Well I read through that post kbekll but I fail to see the relevance. I think indir-emir wants to use bicarbonate to raise his KH and pH. It will do both just fine. My only problem with bicarb is that it acts too quickly for my tastes. As an old man, like my logon says, I have found that slow changes are better for everything that we do in fishkeeping. I would rather see someone use some crushed coral to slowly bring up the pH and KH of their water than bounce it up using bicarbonate. Chemically, there is no difference in the water's endpoint but to the fish the rapid change will cause them some stress. If indir-emir has the patience to add miniscule amounts of the bicarbonate over a considerable time, the result will work out fine. Otherwise something like crushed coral in the filter will, by its very nature, act very slowly and avoid stressing the fish.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi OM47, indir and guys, back from my weekend travels... OM, just wanted to say that I had felt I had already exhausted all our usual recommendations.. as you know, my feelings are the same as your's are about it (water changes, CC with fish and baking soda usually only with fishless or cautiously when forced for some reason) but had the impression from Indir's posts that he considered this some kind of emergency. He had lost some fish and felt he was about to lose more and was going to proceed with baking soda regardless, so I tried to advise the amount that would raise KH without raising pH yet, as I consider this to be the "turning point" from which you can then begin easing very slowly up to do exactly what you describe - was trying to help him reach that starting point then he could begin doing the many very small additions.

Also, please note that I was not doing this from a "total advice" standpoint as I was not familiar with what the overall problem was. I was just concerned that he was about to dump a lot of baking soda in with fish and was attempting to give some fast advice about the starting point. Hope this helps give some context for further advice...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[keenonfish]

I should have said that I do this with a water change - this raises the ph anyway so the effect is not so profound!

 

[indir-emir]

Hi all, thanks everyone for the advice. I thought fish were dying due to the PH but it seems no one believes that to be the reason :\

Well either way, i have managed to get my PH back upto 7.4

Did a ton of water changes with tiny amount of baking soda disolved in it. Did this every 2 hours over the last few days and its back up finally and has styed there for the past 24 hours. Gonna leave it as it is for the next few days and test to see how i go.

Fish look alot more happier and are swimming aorund the tank more.

Regards,
Indir

 

[kbekll]

As time rolls on you will notice less and less returns toward your original pH level but what is bad is this fast pH swing is hard on the fish. They do not mind a slow pH change but one from below 6 to 7.4 is not tolerated a lot by them

OldMan47 above is an extract from the link


it explains why the ph will swing and how to change the ph

it was a link to explain to someone new to the hobby (which i assumed op is) and shows what can cause ph swings also a little info on water isnt a bad thing in this hobby


if it is just the kh which is the problem the see what the water out the tap is adding and then do a indeph reaserch to add kh to the water with out effecting any of the other stats

 

[jimmyringo]

I had problems with my pH going very low a few months back.Couldn't find the cause so eventually had to find a way of raising it and stabilising it.So i put a small stocking(the wifes,not mine ) of coral sand in the filter.Raised the pH slowly and has stabilised nicely

 

[indir-emir]

Thank you everyone. And thank you for the helpful link kbekll, will be reading through that now.

If the PH drops again ill have to use the coral technique to ensure its stable.

Thank you again

Now i have some wierd algae like thing... It looks like pink/white hair like things but only a few mm long and probably a mm or less thick. Except there is occasionally (that ive seen) a worm like thing that looks the same but crawls on the glass.... Any ideas?

Off to check the hitch hiker in the tank thread now.

Regards,
Indir

 

[backtotropical]

I agree that Bicarb isn't the best option when fish are in the tank. It makes the water too unstable and you inevitably suffer pH swings which the fish won't like.

If there were no fish in the tank (for example for a fishless cycle), I would recommend Bicarb as the best option, but when fish are present the best way is slowly but surely (ie crushed coral in the filter).

BTT