Baking Soda and Ph

[Patrick]

I have many pieces of drift wood in my 55g, and my water tests low for Ph.  Has anyone used aking soda as a way to raise it?   How much per volume of water?

[danielratti]

using carbonates crushed coral limestone to buffer your water is more fool proof.

If you post your pH and KH, we can figure what you need to do.

[linuxrulesusa]

using carbonates crushed coral limestone to buffer your water is more fool proof.

If you post your pH and KH, we can figure what you need to do.

This, but also IMO if the fish are healthy and happy I would not mess around too much trying to get an 'ideal' PH.  I have kept basically firemouths (aureums) for months now with driftwood in my tanks with no apparent issues.  My PH out of the tap is only around 7.8 IIRC.  Also, hardness (gh or kh) is probably more important for CAs than PH as long as your PH is fairly high, maybe 7.4+.  I am open to correction on this point, just basing on my experience and reading.

[four_by_ken]

I agree...  Only add what you HAVE to to the tank.


I got caught in a nasty circle of adding to the tank and in the long run... I was better off doing the opposite.


I lost quite a few fish from this.