PH Buffer, Die Die must. Period. Options

[mountain]

splitted from thread here.
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I think for PH crash it might be misleading to have SODIUM BICARBONATE as 1st line of treatment .. SODIUM BICARBONATE is for buffering water, and not for treatment of fish's health plus if the PH crash, HB wouldn't advised you to dump 2 teaspoon of BS into the water immediately

[desireless]

BS will raise pH a little but that's not the way to bring back pH of water back to normal. And this act will be FATAL. Ammonia at low pH will be in ammonium form, which is harmless to fishes. But when you raise old water of pH say 5 or 6 back to above pH7, the ammonium in the old water will convert back to ammonia which will poison and kill the fishes in less than 1 day. So if you experienced a pH crash in your aquarium, it is mandatory to do a 100% water change. pH crash itself will not kill the fish, but rather what you do later, will (like changing 50% for eg). Dispose all of the old water to be sure when you experienced pH crash.

As for pH buffering, its purpose is not to raise pH but rather, maintaining pH for a longer time before it starts dropping. That's why the term "buffer". As to how much powder to add, there is no DIRECT way of testing "how much buffer is enough". BUT as Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) will increase the Bicarbonate Hardness (kH) of your water, we can use this to gauge how much of SB to add. Some smart bro already worked this out: the ideal Bicarbonate Hardness level for goldfishes is 5 or 6 degrees of bicarbonate hardness (5dkH). You'll have to use a kH Test Kit to find out how much of SB is to be used to raise, say 10 litres of water, to 5 degrees hardness (5dkH).

Help from bro ET and a further test to confirm, about 8 months ago (and I am still using this gauge) is 1 oxycure level spoon (or 2g) of SB to raise 20 litres of water to 5dkH. So work out your maths.

I hope this is not too difficult to understand.

A point to note: Different countries will have different INITIAL dkH to start with. So just stick with what's being mentioned here that, "ONE teaspoon of baking soda added to 50 liters of water can raise the kH of the water by approx 4 deg dH".

[The Matrix]

Correct some of your mistakes hor ...

BS will raise pH a little -> a lot !!! saturation of 8.5 depending on temperature and other chemicals.

pH crash itself will not kill the fish -> IT WILL !!!

there is no DIRECT way of testing "how much buffer is enough" -> isn't kH the direct way of measuring buffering if you are referring to the use of sodium bicarbonate ? Unless other chemical used, then different equation.