How do I raise pH?

[Salty Brother]

I have done two water changes in my QT tank. Im treating ich with hyposalinity. I checked the pH resently and it was about 7.8-7.9, it is usally 8.2. So how can I raise the pH to normal. I dont usally like to buy from PetCo, but there is one near by if I need to buy a buffer or some other sort of thing.
Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Anemonebuff]

Arm and Hammer Baking Soda or Drip kalkwasser.

 

[steve the plumb]

The baking soda will raise your alk.It will cause your ph to spike but makes it harder to maintain.You should drip kalk to maitain ph.If you can get an auto top off unit.Its worth the money in the end.You can manually drip kalk.Drip according to evaporation.1 tbls per gal of r/o water.

 

[Salty Brother]

How do I know how much arm and hammer to add? Also how availible is kalkwasser?

 

[Salty Brother]

Im trying to raise it in a 20gal QT tank. I think my brother might have kalk, but how do I know how much to add?

 

[steve the plumb]

Don't use the baking soda.Its used to raise and maintain alkalinty.If you want to use it for alkalinity you have to bake it for 1 hr at 350 degrees.You can buy kalk at the pet store or grocery store calcium hydroxide (pickling lime use to preserve pickles when jaring them)You can go to the reef chemistry forum to find out how to make your own calcium alkalinity and magnesium suppliments.It will also tell you what you can use for kalk.Randy reef calculatorhttp://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html
This helps you with the adding of additives.

 

[TWallace]

I used this stuff on a tank I setup a little over a month ago:

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/ReefBuffer.html

Just tested today, 8.3. Real easy to use, too.

 

[leeweber85]

Baking soda will raise alkalinity and lower PH. It will help to maintain PH, but not increase it. I would first try to aerate it better. If your tank is getting too much CO2, it will lower the PH.

What is your ALK and Calcium?