Adding baking soda
- Thread starter Starbury03
- Start date
It depends what your tank pH is, your tap water pH and what your target pH is.
If you're going to start "messing" with pH and hardness ensure you understand what you're doing because stability of your pH is far more important than any ideal. If your pH is at or above 7.8 and your GH at or above 10 best to leave well alone, you should be fine with any tank-reared Tanganyikan.
The golden rule is to make changes slowly, the silver rule is to measure and test, the bronze rule is to make changes slowly.
Start with a 2 gallon bucket of your tap water, leave it overnight, aerated if possible, then test it for pH, KH and GH. Check these readings against your 29g - is your pH falling, have you lost some buffer (KH)? Try to work out why you are losing your buffer before you start fiddling with the tank's chemistry.
A lot of Rift Lake fishkeepers use a recipe like this:-
1 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) per 5 gallons - to raise KH and pH
1 tablespoon of Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) per 5 gallons - to raise GH
they might also add trace elements in which case follow the directions on the product you decide to go with.
So in your 2 gallon bucket, add half the above dosage, stir well and leave it to settle, then test your pH, KH and GH again. You should now be able to assess the amount of additives to get to your target. Once you decide you're going to change it, remember the golden rule, and then double check the bronze rule.
At water change time add the chemicals to the water before adding to the tank, then monitor the tank over several water changes until you've reached your target values. Then keep it stable and consistent, remember the silver rule!
Hope that helps!
Don't forget google is your friend, there are loads of articles on Lake Tanganyika and water chemistry out there.
www.cichlid-forum.com is a tremendous resource.
If you're going to start "messing" with pH and hardness ensure you understand what you're doing because stability of your pH is far more important than any ideal. If your pH is at or above 7.8 and your GH at or above 10 best to leave well alone, you should be fine with any tank-reared Tanganyikan.
The golden rule is to make changes slowly, the silver rule is to measure and test, the bronze rule is to make changes slowly.
Start with a 2 gallon bucket of your tap water, leave it overnight, aerated if possible, then test it for pH, KH and GH. Check these readings against your 29g - is your pH falling, have you lost some buffer (KH)? Try to work out why you are losing your buffer before you start fiddling with the tank's chemistry.
A lot of Rift Lake fishkeepers use a recipe like this:-
1 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) per 5 gallons - to raise KH and pH
1 tablespoon of Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) per 5 gallons - to raise GH
they might also add trace elements in which case follow the directions on the product you decide to go with.
So in your 2 gallon bucket, add half the above dosage, stir well and leave it to settle, then test your pH, KH and GH again. You should now be able to assess the amount of additives to get to your target. Once you decide you're going to change it, remember the golden rule, and then double check the bronze rule.
At water change time add the chemicals to the water before adding to the tank, then monitor the tank over several water changes until you've reached your target values. Then keep it stable and consistent, remember the silver rule!
Hope that helps!
Don't forget google is your friend, there are loads of articles on Lake Tanganyika and water chemistry out there.
www.cichlid-forum.com is a tremendous resource.
You need a Hardness test kit for KH and GH. I use the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals liquid test kit which has both in one pack.
As you may not go ahead with the plan to increase Kh and Gh you might be better off taking some water to the lfs for them to check, they may know the local hardness anyway. Don't waste your money on test kits if you get an answer that means you needn't bother tinkering, do you know what I mean?
Take a sample of your tank water and a sample of your tap water separately - ask them to do KH and GH tests for you because you're concerned about your tank losing it's buffer.
As you may not go ahead with the plan to increase Kh and Gh you might be better off taking some water to the lfs for them to check, they may know the local hardness anyway. Don't waste your money on test kits if you get an answer that means you needn't bother tinkering, do you know what I mean?
Take a sample of your tank water and a sample of your tap water separately - ask them to do KH and GH tests for you because you're concerned about your tank losing it's buffer.
It's not for us to advise where they should be without understanding where they are now and WHY you want them to be different.
The Lake is very hard, KH as high as 18. But you don't need to replicate the Lake water, you can achieve perfectly good and consistent water parameters without messing about with additives.
I am genuinely concerned that you maybe tempted to dabble without fullly understanding what you're doing. I advise you to do nothing until you know what parameters you have now.
Post the pH, KH and GH test results of both your aged tap water and 29g tank water and we can go from there. OK?
The Lake is very hard, KH as high as 18. But you don't need to replicate the Lake water, you can achieve perfectly good and consistent water parameters without messing about with additives.
I am genuinely concerned that you maybe tempted to dabble without fullly understanding what you're doing. I advise you to do nothing until you know what parameters you have now.
Post the pH, KH and GH test results of both your aged tap water and 29g tank water and we can go from there. OK?
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