Best ph buffer?

[Axolotl]

Hello, im trying to get my water change water to match my display tank water
for water changes. My display runs about 8.2 and my aged premixed saltwater is 8.4. I read if this is not the same you can burn fishes gills? Should i make the carbonate stuff outta baking soda or buy a buffer?

 

[sandwi54]

It depends on how big the water change is. For small water change (<20%), you don't really have worry about matching pH. 8.4 * 20% + 8.2 * 80% = 8.24. The change is easily tolerated by fish and not stressful.

If you are doing a large water change, just add the replacement water slowly. How slowly will depend on how much water you're changing and how different the two pH's are. Let's say you're doing a 50% water change, the resulting pH would be 8.3. In that case, I would take 30 minutes to complete the water change. That is, add a third of the replacement water every 10 minutes or so.

As long as you're not dumping the fish from a pH of 8.2 to 8.4 directly, you shouldn't have to worry too much.