New puffer owner

[Pufferpunk]

I suggest against using baking soda for anything. As it dissapates, the pH will swing back to the origional, which is worse than keeping at a lower or higher pH than you would prefer. Keeping any steady pH is better than a fluctuating one.

[Tihsho]

I heard baking soda (Edited for content by RTR)But I would take that advise with a pinch of salt. Or atleast I would unless I heard more people saying it.[/i]

[ingo_1978]

That must just apply to the lung fish then

[RTR]

Please try to keep bizarre myths out of here. Fish in general do not have lungs - not even lung fish, but some do have air-using respiratory organs serving much the same function.

But snorting sodium bicarbonate or any other fine powder is not good practice.

[Tihsho]

Lungs...I meant gills, I seem really off today. Messed up with words twice today. Sorry bout that.

[TankGurl]

But snorting sodium bicarbonate or any other fine powder is not good practice.

Many, many people who keep African cichlids use baking soda in what is usually called a Rift Lake buffer (salt is included in this mix), with no negative effects on the fish species. In fact, cichlids do much better as a result of adding buffer with very few ick/bloat outbreaks and successful breeding. I've been using it for years on both my Malawi and Tang tank. Keeps my GH/KH nice and high with a stable PH of 8.4. I've had 1 case of ick in 5 yrs.

Things do vary with differing species.

Kelly

[RTR]

There is a significant difference in using bicarb alone, and bicarb in combination with other minerals. Many, many inexperienced fish-keepers have killed many fish by TDS shock by adding too much bicarb to the tank, and as PP said, used alone it is very short lived. No fish, of whatever family, is good with roller-coaster pH/KH/TDS.

If we seemed to talking down to you I apologize for all of us, but we have no way of knowing whether or not you are an experienced fishkeeper or an enthustiastic novice with no familiarity with water chemistry.

[TankGurl]

If we seemed to talking down to you I apologize for all of us, but we have no way of knowing whether or not you are an experienced fishkeeper or an enthustiastic novice with no familiarity with water chemistry.

I did start my introductory post with "Not new to keeping tanks". I suppose I could have expanded on that experience. So, I'll do it now.

I've been keeping tanks for approx. ten years now. Started with a large outdoor koi pond, then an indoor large koi tank (they spent their winters indoors) then as with most fishkeepers, starting adding new tanks. I've had SA mixed community, gourami and fancy goldfish. Now I run 3 African cichlid tanks, this new puffer tank and 2 hospital/bad behaviour tanks. I would say I've got substantial experience and understanding, although I certainly don't fall into the 25 yr of fishkeeping range. None the less, I have great success and have yet to make a serious screwup resulting in mass fish loss. I'm also married to a vet who also deals with tropical fish. (as well as rare reptiles) Needless to say, I have a vast library of aquaria medical texts and access to aquaria medical expertise. I've also accumulated an excellent understanding of buffers and PH/KH/GH parameters and how this will effect both water parameters and species. I do understand concern about unstable parameters...which is why mine is stable. (my tap water is 5.4-5.8. PH. Great for discus, not so good for cichlids)

It's generally when I'm dealing with a new species that I have to ask questions. Puffers would fall into that catagory and besides the one text I've seen recommended, there isn't a wealth of information out there.

While I understand you have to be cautious about making recommendations to novices, there were hints of possible experience in my post. My original question was about using the Rift Lake buffer with puffers, as opposed to marine salt. (Novices generally don't have a clue about buffers. I was guessing it would be a no-go anyway, but was unable to find any reference in the 'library' to this query) The replies I received did not address my question, but were critically pointed towards my choice in mixing puffers and cycling. For the record, I'm familiar with cycling and while many folks think adding established tank water for startups is futile, I've always done it out of good measure with great success.

My point is, opinions and experience always vary but it's somewhat offensive for folks to treat someone as a novice from the get-go. It has been my experience that there are no rules written in stone, besides "Fish must be kept in water". You can pretty much get 2-3 different opinions on any one subject if you try hard enough.

My understanding of the purpose of forums (and I belong and contribute to a number of them) is to mix both novice and experienced fishkeepers alike, thereby providing a supportive, nonjudgemental information exchange. (that would be in a perfect world) It has also been my experience (my career deals directly with power exchange) that when someone has power (real or imagined) they tend to think they have all the right answers.

My 15 cents of food for thought.

Kelly

[RTR]

All advice offered on public forums is strictly take-it or leave-it. Responders provide their experiences and knowledge (whether valid or not). It is up to the questioner to evaluate that and furher research or question before selecting their own path. Complete information transfer is beyond the capability of these forums, and suggestions are best hedged such that a novice reading it (whether the original questionner or not) will not be mislead into some tangent and hazardous path. Most of us moderating here have enough web experience that we have seen many more bad results from abuse of bicarb than positve outcomes. It is by nature and lability not a particularly stable material in use, and stability is far more important in most tanks than exact parameter levels.

[PetPirate]

Looking at the ingredients list of the KH buffer I use for my tank, it is primarily sodium bicarbonate. A bit of carbonate, and some borate, but they are minor constituents

I understood that baking soda was very commonly used. Of course, as with any chemical-based addition, use with caution and test to determine levels.

[RTR]

Bicarb is very commonly used, but it is not very stable. In high bioload tanks especially, there are more stable options, but they are not instant-response.

[Bred]

True indeed. Planted tank folks swear by a pouch of crushed coral in their filtersto buffer KH in the long term, minimizing pH swings due to CO2 injection. It does wonders for me. I use it in my snail tanks too - a giant piece dissolved to half its mass within a period of 4 months.

Crushed coral dissolves slowly, is stable for months at a time, and is virtually no-maintainance. I award it a gold star!

/edit: LOL @ snorting baking soda