Increasing Hardness with Baking Soda

[JRC3]

My tap water is extremely soft. I'm talking a KH of 3-4 degrees and a GH of 9-10 degrees. And I've been trying to get the KH up for my F8 and BBG tank for some time now. I have added crushed coral sand and aragonite to the substrate as well as added crushed aragonite in media bags to the tops of my AC70s. I also pump my mixing vessel water through aragonite the whole time between water changes and I still can't get my tank's KH past 6 degrees.

I'm also having trouble breeding snails. They start to breed and then they completely stop producing. They lay eggs and eat them a few days later. They are well fed and I've tried with and without substrate at high and low temps. There is also pieces of cuddlebone in there. For the past 2.5 months they have been in a bare bottom 15g that sits right next to my utility sink so I can do large frequent WCs. I have decore and fake plants as well as some glass beads laying on the bottom to kinda act as substrate. Anyway, Ive come to the conclusion that they eat their eggs because of the soft water...It has to be it.

Well I read that cichlid owners use baking soda to increase the KH and Epson salt to increase the DH. Is this a safe way to do it? I decided to experiment and split up my snails and add the baking soda and Epson's to the 15g. I read to start with 1 teaspoon per 5g of each. My initial readings were KH 4, GH 11, and PH 7.4. 7.4 is the lowest of all my tanks that run at 7.8. After adding the baking soda and Epson my readings went to KH 12, GH 16, and a PH of 8.3. The PH really jumped up there, but the KH is exactly what I was shooting for. My PH stays at 8.1 in the F8 tank.


So the big question is, is this a safe and reliable way to increase the hardness in either my F8 and snail tanks? What is another solution? Should I try limestone? Something in a bottle?


I hope I can find another way because I've gone to a canister filter on the F8 tank and I don't want to have to break it down every month to switch out the aragonite. And I also want to go with black sand in that tank.

[RTR]

Baking soda is fine for boosting KH. Buit it should (for me must) be done well before the water goes into the occupied tanks. As you pre-process all your water, this should be no issue for yoou.

Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, so in solution it boosts the GH, and also the TDS. BUT, it can mess up the calcium:magnesium ratio. Do you know from your water utility report the Ca:Mg ratio in the tap water? Changing that is a process not without some risk.

Re your snails, are you maintaining the snail tanks the same as the fish tanks? I do, and consider it important. If you suspect mineral deficiency in the snails, my first attempt to supplement for them would be to add cuttlebone to their tank (it must be weighted down or it will float). If it works, the crumbly, soft potion of the cuttlebone is essentially pure aragonite, so is supplementing the calcium, not the magnesium. Try that before a leap in the dark which can affect the Ca:Mg ratio.

HTH

[JRC3]

I'm glad to hear that I can use baking soda to boost the KH. I'll add some to my vessel for my next WC and I'll slowly start increasing it the dose to get where I want to be.

I don't see anything in my water report about calcium and magnesium so I'll have to contact them for that. I tried calling but got the automated runaround. Water report: http://www.mcohio.org/Montgomery/servic ... t_2010.pdf

As for the snails I do frequent water changes and vac the bottom of the tank every time. It sits right next to a utility sink so this does get done frequently. I do have a few broken up pieces of cuttlebone in there and they sink and lay on the bottom. When I started this snail tank I got about 40 adult ramshorns from someone and I wonder if they are extremely inbred. I think I should try and get some more to add to the gene pool.


Thanks again.

[zookey]

I know many people who use baking soda to raise their pH and keep it stable. Many of them dissolve it in a small container just prior to adding it their tank and have had no bad reactions from their fish. Mind you these people raise goldfish and not puffers. The nice thing in there case is that it can never bring the pH any higher than 8.3 and if your pH is much higher baking soda will bring it down to 8.3. Helps many avoid a pH crash.

I think an instant addition of dissolved Baking Soda would be fine in the snail tank, but would make sure it processes with the water for other tanks.

Best of luck getting your snails to breed. What kind are you trying to raise? Pond or Ramshorn, or something totally different?

[RTR]

Addition of baking soda without care very often results in osmotic shock (often misnamed pH shock, which it is not) and fish death. Quite frankly, it is a sign of an unthinking and uncaring fish keeper - they are definitely not hobbyists IMHO.

Being cautious with significant changes in the osmolarity of the water for captive aquatic creatures is a sign of an aware and caring hobbyist.

The fact that most hobbyists cannot measure osmolarity does not in any way mean that sudden or excessive osmotic changes cannot harm or kill fish. It can and does. The commonest cause of osmotic shock is the addition of excessive sodium bicarbonate. The simple fact that it cannot be measured by most hobbyists means that they must take greater care to avoid shock. Caution saves the fives of aquatic pets. Ignorance kills.

HTH