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I have heard of people adding baking soda to a tank, why, what does it do?
just woundering?

Adding baking soda will raise the GH but more importantly it will raise the KH or carbonate hardness of an aquarium. This is very important if you have a low KH that is a KH below 3 or 51 ppm. A low KH allows the tank to be susceptible to a pH crash or a dramatic drop in pH during the diurnal pH cycle in a planted aquarium.

__________
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it dosent hurt the fish?

I've used it in my 20 gallon. Slowly raised the kh over a weekk or two.

I only raised it by 2dkh though....not a huge ammount.


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how much do you add?

Hi,
The use of baking soda will affect your KH and pH by
buffering or nullifying some of the acids formed by the
decaying organic compounds (fish waste, excess food,
any dead or decaying plants or plant material).

Normal tap water will already have some reading of KH.
Draw some water, let it stand over night, and then test
it for pH, KH, and while you are at it, GH.

If the KH is less than, say 3, you can add baking soda
to the tank. In your size tank, if you want to be really
careful, use a teaspoon full at a time, give it 24 hours
to mix and then test KH again, and continue the process
till the KH is where you want it.
Use only "unscented" baking soda, such as the unscented,
Arm & Hammer brand.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thanks

just add as much as you need, and keep checking pH

I dont even measure it, cuz i know how much is needed.

tp=(degrees KH)x (volume of water/50)

So lets say you want to raise 10 gal of water from 1 to six degrees Kh. So you are raising it 5 degrees.

Well, 10 gallon divided by 50 is 1/5, multiplied by 5 degrees is 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

This works, I have used the equation many time.

Baking soda does not raise GH as stated in an earlier post. To raise both use calcium carbonate.