# pH Crashes and Baking Soda



## fluidnyc (Oct 15, 2003)

Anyone ever added Baking soda to help recover from a pH Crash?

Mine is at a low right now 6.0 (yellow), and i do not want to loose my fish.


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## Honda99_300ex (Apr 18, 2003)

chances are, you won't lose your fish, my PH is also low, they adjust to it, but if you do decide to bring it up, do it slowly, not all at once


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## fluidnyc (Oct 15, 2003)

Thank you, cause i noticed the tail fin on one of them are little stringy.. and i know its not fin rot. was thinking he got bit, but it wasnt the case.

Its gotta be from the low ph/change.


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## Honda99_300ex (Apr 18, 2003)

fluidnyc said:


> Thank you, cause i noticed the tail fin on one of them are little stringy.. and i know its not fin rot. was thinking he got bit, but it wasnt the case.
> 
> Its gotta be from the low ph/change.


 I don't think that is from PH, that sounds to me like they are losing their slime coat, as in htere stressed


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## akio525 (Sep 4, 2003)

fluidnyc said:


> Anyone ever added Baking soda to help recover from a pH Crash?
> 
> Mine is at a low right now 6.0 (yellow), and i do not want to loose my fish.


 you can buy ph adjusters at your local fish store. to be on the safe side I wouldnt try using baking soda.


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## Poseidon X (Jan 31, 2003)

i would not use chemicals in your tank. Go out and get some Coral, much cheaper too. Aquarist who keep very expensive fish i.e. arrows, flowerhorn, have no room for error and neither do you. Coral will buffer your Ph to 7.0-8.0 depending on how much you add and you wont have to worry about ph crashes in the future.


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

6 is not that low. Ideal is 6.5, so 6 is ok. Sounds like your fish have ich.


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## fluidnyc (Oct 15, 2003)

Nope raptor - no ick here.










just added crushed coral to a nylon bag and added it to my filter.
about 2 nice handfulls..


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## tweaked (Aug 3, 2003)

akio525 said:


> fluidnyc said:
> 
> 
> > Anyone ever added Baking soda to help recover from a pH Crash?
> ...


 FYI all ... Any of the PH Up stuff is just baking soda. The difference is the concentration. I normally don't test for Ph in my water, but I would highly recommend that you use a test kit when using pure baking soda. You'll want to add in small amounts over a period of hours or days.


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## Guest (Nov 11, 2003)

tweaked said:


> ...but I would highly recommend that you use a test kit when using pure baking soda. You'll want to add in small amounts over a period of hours or days.


 Yup, that's the way I do it. I add about an eighth of a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate or calcium carbonate powder to the water and let it all react overnight, then I check the pH and decide if I want to add more.


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