Ph

[Davidkirschenbaum]

My PH seems to be ok. I wanted to know in the future what I can use to raise the ph. I used buffer in the past but someone told me baking soda is the same. Is that true.
David

 

[John]

This is correct. Baking soda will raise your ph just as vinegar would lower your ph.

 

[Davidkirschenbaum]

Any idea how much per gallon. I have a 180 gallon tank.
David

 

[pecan2phat]

Start out at about 1 level teaspoon per 20 gallons of volume water. So that's 9 level teaspoons for your 180g. This should bring your PH up by .2 to .3 units so if you need to do less, then half the dosage of baking soda but don't increase if you need a higher PH. Just wait 24 hours and redose again because you shouldn't flucuate your PH by more than .2 to .3 units in one day. This is an approximation as your ALk levels and other conditions will vary. After a while, you'll know your parameters and the amount to dose for x units of PH increase.
One thing though, baking soda does not work as instant as marketed buffers so give it a good 24 hours before you redose the baking soda if you need to increase the units of PH.

 

[alrha]

I prefer Ca(OH)2 to raise the pH as it will also raise Alk and Ca at the same time.