To up or not to up with Baking Soda - Need quick help
 

I'm gonna receive some fish & shrimp here end of the week; now they come from a home with pH 8 and mine is 7.2-7.4 so that's quite some lower and I'm debating very hard if it would not be in favor for the shrimp (RCS) and fish (Killi) to up that a lil with Bakin soda???

And if so for the give pH ranges and the size of a 10g how much BS should I use?

Personally, if it was me, I'd just set up a drip acclimation chamber and slowly adjust them to the new tank.

Baking soda could work, but it won't be a simple matter of "1 Tbsp to increase PH by .5"
It would take experimentation... Also, BS doesn't adjust it permanently... My 10G guppy has a PH of 6.
I added about a TBSP of BS to it and brought it up to 7.2 (over a 32 hr period) but within 2 days it was 6.0 again.

I won't do it again. Also, the carbonates from the BS killed my java moss. (luckily I had some in another tank)

gunna have to agree just acclimate them very very slowly

I have in the past used a recipe for hardening the water that is cheap and effective. Was mentioned on another froum I visit.

1 TSP Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1Tablespoon Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate)
1TSP Marine Salt (sodium chloride and Trace elements)
This formula per 10 gal of water.
Would adjust as needed. I might run ten gal of water in rubbermaid tub and aerate the tub of water for 24 hours. Then check the pH. This formula will hold the ph stable and is cheap to make. Do note the TABLESPOON of Epsom salt as opposed to teaspoon of other two.

Another option is to use one cup of crushed coral in the filter per 20 gal of water. Clean monthly as coral will become covered with Bacteria,silt.and or algae and thus affect the corals ability to work properly. Hope this helps.

S***ugar.... I really need to use something I have here cause I have no time to order stuff online :-(
Hm I have this paver's/garden gravel mix that I initially used on the set up that super hardened up the water (way past the chart) maybe if I add a spoon full of it in a lil bag????

What about tums for humans; that's calcium right...would that up the water a lil?

Would not know about the substance you speak of. Coral chips work gradually, and don't know what effect the paver's mix might have or how quickly it works ,or for how long. Might try it in a tub of water before I tried it with fish . You know?

Oh yea I have plenty buckets/ tubs I can test around with and given its only a 10g I don't need that much water anyway for it :-)

Here's a picture from the old set up with that stuff; upped the KH to 7 and pH 7.8 at its peak point; BUT since I took it out and replaced with black sand I can not make any statement as far as long term. But considering I have a 25lbs bag sitting outside refilling 1 spoon full a week if I had to should NOT be the issue :lol:

I just wanna make then a perfect home - Know what I mean?

Yes,I understand.;-)