# baking soda



## pinchy (Jun 3, 2004)

is it true that you can use baking soda to raise the ph level in your tank. A woman at a pet store told me this and i just wanted to see if it was true


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Yes, it will raise your carbonate hardness which in turn will correspond to an increase in PH


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## pinchy (Jun 3, 2004)

thanks for the info


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## GlassblowRBPown (Apr 4, 2005)

my mom taught me this back in the day. cant you also not be able to go over like 8.3 with BS?


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2005)

pinchy said:


> is it true that you can use baking soda to raise the ph level in your tank. [snapback]1174671[/snapback]​


Yes, sodium bicarbonate temporarily increases the pH of your water.

This is more a a stop-gap to correct a dangerously low pH rather than being a part of normal aquarium maintenance.

If your pH is too low, there are other means of correcting it that won'tcause your pH to change drastically,such as adding a calcium carbonate-bearing material to your tank or filter.


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## MR HARLEY (Aug 12, 2003)

> If your pH is too low, there are other means of correcting it that won'tcause your pH to change drastically,such as adding a calcium carbonate-bearing material to your tank or filter.


Could you elaborate on that alittle more for me ....What products have this that you can buy from say your lfs? 
thanks


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

A lot of small pet stores and breeders use it for tanks with old world cichlids etc.

The only reason to use it would be if you can't afford another method.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Bullsnake said:


> pinchy said:
> 
> 
> > is it true that you can use baking soda to raise the ph level in your tank. [snapback]1174671[/snapback]​
> ...


A calcium carbonate bearing material will slowly leach carbonates into your water, meaning every time you do a water change with fresh water, it's going to be a drastically different hardness than the water in your tank. Gradually increasing the KH in your tank with baking soda and then matching that KH with baking soda in new water added to your tank is a much more stable method than carbonate leaching materials.



Phtstrat said:


> A lot of small pet stores and breeders use it for tanks with old world cichlids etc.
> 
> The only reason to use it would be if you can't afford another method.
> [snapback]1177444[/snapback]​


What "other method" would be better?


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2005)

MR HARLEY said:


> Could you elaborate on that alittle more for me ....What products have this that you can buy from say your lfs?
> thanks
> [snapback]1177418[/snapback]​


A Calcium carbonate bearing material would be materials like crushed coral or aragonite.



 elTwitcho said:


> A calcium carbonate bearing material will slowly leach carbonates into your water, meaning every time you do a water change with fresh water, it's going to be a drastically different hardness than the water in your tank. Gradually increasing the KH in your tank with baking soda and then matching that KH with baking soda in new water added to your tank is a much more stable method than carbonate leaching materials.
> [snapback]1177599[/snapback]​


True. But the way I understand the chemsitry of this, the sodium bicarbonate eventually evaporates off as Carbon dioxide after it has reacted with the acids (H+) in the water. Eventually, the pH will fall again if it is not maintained by more sodium bicarbonate.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Bullsnake said:


> MR HARLEY said:
> 
> 
> > Could you elaborate on that alittle more for me ....What products have this that you can buy from say your lfs?
> ...


True enough but water changes should take care of that. From the people I know who use baking soda and my own limited experience with it, the evaporation isn't very substantial at all


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2005)

For anybody who is interested in the chemistry of this reaction, here is how bicarbonate reacts with acid (H+) in the aquarium to form carbon dioxide gas. 


> Bicarbonate Addition
> 
> The addition of bicarbonate as an alkalinity supplement is rather different. In this case, the bicarbonate partially dissociates into carbonate and H+, and the tank experiences an increase in bicarbonate and carbonate, and a drop in pH.:
> 
> ...


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

baking soda (Arm and Hammer) will raise PH in an emergency but you will still need to add a buffer such as crushed coral.


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## DonD (Mar 11, 2004)

That was pretty well covered. I just wanted to add that yes, it is very much a temporary fix. Unless you add really large amounts, it will only buffer for a week or two depending on stocking levels, how low the KH and pH were when you added and other similar stuff.
As mentioned, the best way to stabilize a higher pH is to use crushed coral, dolomite, or aragonite.


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