hello again

water out of the tap here is about 6.4 quite acidic for my goldfishes. and it usually requires me to raise the buffer as well.

is there a better way to raise the pH and buffer w/out buying all this 'pH Up' or Wardley Bullseye?

Unless your gf seem bothered by the pH I wouldnt' change it. It is more trouble than it is worth usually...My fish are living very happily in an 8.2 pH, and that is really considered too basic, but fish adapt really well. I would only worry if your pH shifts a lot...

it is better to have harder water, if you add a bit of plain bicarb soda, everyday until you reach a nice level, then keep an eye on it and just top it up abit with evey water chage, and you will be ok, all those products you see on the market ph up, ect it is all basically bicarb soda but they just add colour so it looks fancy, just get your plain one from the super market wont cost you more then a dollar or two. but do add it slowly and little at a time, cos it is strong stuff and on tspoon is heaps, i top my 179 gallon everytime i do a water change and only add 2 teaspoons to that, so you dont need much once you have it under control.

bicarb soda?
mmm.....is that baking soda?

alittle (small amounts to start, like a few tablespoons) Crushed coral, available as substrate for salt water aquariums helps alot.

lol yes it is baking soda, sorry i get abit nuts on fridays

Baking soda! Here is a handy dandy calculator made by our very own Datguru!
(Lots of good info here about pH management):

http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp

Scroll to the bottom to the section labelled Water Quality and you will see pH:
http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/FishInfo.html

Ditto, puggirl - good luck with it!

Thanks for info! I've been looking for a cheaper to way to buffer my aquarium. The stuff at my store, like Proper pH, seems quite expensive ($10 for 9 oz of powder). With a big tank, you can go through a can every two weeks!

Sorry I'm a bit late to this thread.

Just wanted to add that you should make sure that you get plain baking soda with no additives.

Slugger

I need to raise PH, I just got the baking soda. Unfortunately there is no clear indication of the contents, just a sticker indicating 'baking soda'. I need to make sure it is safe to use (I found some others with flour added which should not be used right?), so if I mix baking soda (safe to be used) on a glass of water should the water remains clear or cloudly? Or is there a sure way of knowing if it is safe to use?

I recently needed to raise both my ph and kh, so I added crushed coral to my filter. I wanted to try baking soda, but when I used that calculator, to get my kh high enough the ph was going to be way too high doing it that way.

I have had the coral there for three weeks or so, and my ph went from 6.0 to 7.2 and my kh from 0 to 80, and all levels have been steady ever since. So it worked very well for me! I am totally new at this though, and did that off advice from people here. I think the coral will dissolve eventually and have to be replaced, but I am not certain on that.

Also, if you decide to go that route, it can be difficult to find small quantities of crushed coral. Big chain stores usually only sell large 10 pound plus bags, at least in my area. So I asked around at some of the smaller shops, and they had it in the back, and would scoop up how ever much I wanted. I never saw it out on a shelf though, so it never hurts to ask!

Good luck!