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

[supzfier]

As one of those who dont practice buffering because i dont even understand the concept, i decided to try "buffering" (the one i assumed it is) for myself in my old tank because i saw the few fishes i newly bought for hundred bucks sink to the bottom when i introduced them into the quarantine tank. (i assume they are affected by either pH or the journey)

Althought i never buffer, i never have any problems with my fishes, maybe cause i do wc regularly?

After i read the forums and dug up old posts to check the contents of buffering, i was given the impression that due to the sudden change of pH level due to the difference pH between the new water and old water, the fishes will experience a shock. What i understand was that BS is added to up the pH to stabilise the pH level to similar levels for the new water. . So prior to the further discussions that followed 2 days ago, i was determined to join in the practice of "buffering". slowly, i added BS into my old tank (not QT) slowly over a few hours slowly to up the pH. from pH 6.0 to pH 7.5. Over the period, i took notice of any reaction to the fishes, but fortunately i do not see any much difference in their reaction. Although im not sure if there will be no reaction anyway. Afterwhich i changed the water, (pH of my water is around 7.5)

Thus, after reading the posts that followed, this poster is still pretty puzzled that we should buffer the new water to higher levels instead of the old water, which will cause more pH difference? thought buffering was to stabilise the pH

my fishes are well currently, still continuing to read posts in this topic to clarify myself

This post has been edited by supzfier: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:22 am

[desireless]

....
What i understand was that BS is added to up the pH to stabilise the pH level to similar levels for the new water.   . So prior to the further discussions that followed 2 days ago, i was determined to join in the practice of "buffering".
...

Hi supzfier,

You see, I kept stressing some points:

- Purpose of pH buffering is to STABILIZE the pH in your water, not to raise it. Meaning you can keep the pH in your water at it's original value for a long time.

- You can add SB as much as you like from pH5 to pH9 or whatever, but can your fish take it? For 1, there's a pH shock. For 2, there's a possibility of ammonia poisoning. For 3 (and I see you keep overlooking this), you are adding TOO MUCH SB such that your kH could be as much as 10 degrees and over. This is why I keeping mentioning, "at most you can add is up to 5dkH" in my previous posts. From the test that I did with photos, IF you add the correct amount of SB to raise the Carbonate Hardness kH to 5 degrees, there's only a raise of 0.5pH from pH6.9 to pH7.4. So meaning to say, if you have added SB to make your old water from pH6 to pH7.5, you're adding too much SB already!

- Don't mix up "pH boost" with "pH buffering". The former (which is so not recommended for goldfishes) is achieved by adding coral chips and it will boost up your pH. The latter, is achieved by adding SB and it will maintain your pH at same value for longer time, than without buffering

- 1 oxycure level spoon level or 2g of SB raises 20 litres of water to 5dkH. To buffer 10litres, use half spoon. To buffer 100 litres, add 5 spoons. To buffer 150 litres, add 7 and half spoons. For 250 litres, add 12 and half spoons. Doing any of these, your final water will be pH-buffered at Carbonate Hardness of 5dkH.