Cautions When You Add Baking Soda

[farish]

For me i add max of half teaspoon At a time, results in increase of 0.3 in my 4 by 2 by 2.5 with 3 feet sump

[Saphere]

Don't worry, after a while you will become very good at estimating how much to dose in order to raise by your desired amount for your tank

[patclay]

This morning measured pH and it has dropped to about pH 7. Then 5 minutes ago measured my tank water and the pH dropped further to 6.5. So it seems using baking soda could only maintain pH for 1.5 days as for my case.

Next time will try adding in 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1st and then monitor the pH hours later. Won't be so garang anymore to add in 4 teaspoon straight away at one goal.

[patclay]

Originally Posted by onlyyouknow

But eventually it will go down to the "normal pH value" because of decomposing waste and stuff. Maybe add more coral chips or change existing ones would be a better solution. Low pH is actually good for some fishes.

I have added 10kgs of coral chips and changed every 2 to 3 months. But pH would keep dropping down after about 1.5 to 2 days of wc.

Other then that, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite measurements all ok.

[Hedut]

So ph up just adding baking soda it self without other thing? Cause I heard also must add sea salt

[DragonFireSG]

Oyster shells chips contain more soluble carbonate than coral chips.
It helps to add an aerator in the chamber with the buffer media as thick biofilm growth in a passive chamber will reduce the amount of surface area in contact with the water.

Remember that KH is constantly being consumed by your bio filter. The more impressive or active your bio setup, the faster the KH is consumed. In a small overstocked system, KH is depleted very fast - sometimes faster than slow, low solubility buffers like calcium carbonate sources (chips/shells) can keep up with.

Our Singapore NEWater is essentially 0 KH. Water changes thus contribute greatly to KH dilution. If you have facilities to "age" water for water changes, one thing you can do is to leave a sack of oyster shell or coral chips in the container. This will naturally harden up the water over time.

[patclay]

Thsnks for the info. But I notice my coral chips still can't maintain ph well. Hence wanted to add baking soda to maintain ph at 6.5.

Is adding baking soda every other day ok?

[DragonFireSG]

Why don't you buy an API KH test kit to see what the KH level in your tank is?
Once that is known you can make a decision as to whether or not to does bicarbonate.

Some people use a dosing pump to continuously drip a small quantity of bicarbonate solution into the tank or pond after they have determined how much carbonate their system needs for stability.

[DragonFireSG]

btw, if you want to maintain KH at 6.5, be careful with bicarbonate dosing. A system dosed with sodium bicarbonate tends to want to shift towards PH 8.3.

[patclay]

Originally Posted by DragonFireSG

btw, if you want to maintain KH at 6.5, be careful with bicarbonate dosing. A system dosed with sodium bicarbonate tends to want to shift towards PH 8.3.

Wow that is high.