Baking soda and the Cichlid tank

[charter]

My PH has gradually risen to 10.00 in a Cichlid tank. I use baking soda to increase the PH. Is it the cause of the rise due to an increased amount of undissolved carbonate salt ( I think that is the correct mineral) ? I am tring to get the ph to stablize at 9.2 to 9.4 . I have removed the stones that fizzed when using Muratic acid test. The substrate is a combination of Cichlid mix and Flamingo sand. They are only supposed to have a PH of 8.2 to 8.4 . Is there somthing I can add to keep the PH from rising , that is not sold as a hobby product ?

 

[riverrat]

Yes baking soda increases KH which in turn increases ph. If you want to decrease your ph simply do a water change and do not add the baking soda. It will then come down closer to your actual tap water ph.

To test your tap water ph fill a small container with a larger surface area and let it sit for a day or two stirring a couple times. Then test the ph of the water sample and that will give you the true ph of your water. When you pour water out of the tap and test immediately it will usually give you a false high reading do to the gas in you water straight out of the tap. The one or two day wait lets this gas escape giving you a more accurate ph test.

If you find it is lower than your optimum ph for your chichlids then you can slowly add baking soda to raise it to the preferred ph.


If I am wrong someone please speak up.

 

[charter]

I did a 100% water change since there are no fish at this time. The PH is now down to 9.4 . What I'm tring to figure out is how to keep the PH from fluctuating. Is the amount of baking soda I am adding when I do a water change building up and causing the PH to rise above the target level ? Is there somthing that should be added to buffer at the desired level that can be purchased other than a commercial fish product ?