yep thats me..thanks to drifty for the goods

ive dosed Mg, Ca and Baking Soda (over a couple of days and not huge shifts were needed)

my ph has risen and i understand the baking soda is the cause rather than the other 2.....is this correct and if so is it temporary or is something to be done to lower it ?? thanks..

I have to say, the content of this thread is far less interesting than I was hoping for given the uhh...Naughty sounding title.

yep thats me..thanks to drifty for the goods

ive dosed Mg, Ca and Baking Soda (over a couple of days and not huge shifts were needed)

my ph has risen and i understand the baking soda is the cause rather than the other 2.....is this correct and if so is it temporary or is something to be done to lower it ?? thanks..

Yes that is correct, baking soda is the only thing there which will affect pH (not always up though).

Why do you want to lower pH? What is it sitting at?

Layton

no it rose from 8.4 to 8.8 on the back of raising the dkh by 1. i want to know if the raised ph is something i should lower or does it happen naturally.

Usually baking soda would temporarily lower pH, before reaching equilibrium at around 8.2-8.3.

How are you measuring pH? 8.8 seems unusual.

Tel, pH tends to fall, and keeping it high enough is the issue, so most usually a rise in pH is a good thing. A modest addition of baking soda will not normally take pH over 8.3, which is a good number.

Yes, I'll agree with Layton, :lol: .

A 1 kh addition of baking soda will not normally raise pH to that level, but it is not impossible, could temporarily go up to 9 in some unusual circumstances. However it is more likely that your test kit is giving you the wrong number.

But even if it really is 8.8. no worries, it will come back down. First thing you should do is borrow a different pH test kit to double check your one.

dont bake the baking soda. baking it will increase pH, dosing as is you'll have to use alot more but pH will probably remain as is, maybe even drop.

Baked baking soda could raise pH like that.

Don't bother baking it.

Or if you want a more balanced addative, use a mixture of around 6 parts baking soda to 1 part baked baking soda, and that should have a pH close to 8.3 from the get go, and doesn't have to go through the offgasing process (which is what causes the temporary dip in pH when just using baking soda)

Layton

use a mixture of around 6 parts baking soda to 1 part baked baking soda

great idea!

dont bake the baking soda. baking it will increase pH, dosing as is you'll have to use alot more but pH will probably remain as is, maybe even drop.

Took you loong enough!!

:lol:

Took you loong enough!!

??? i dont use kalk like quite a few do so still bake mine.

Why?

keep my pH up (as i edited above, to say i dont use kalk) plus i dont dose baking soda as often as you, i got a CR. although the CR still needs optimising so still use baking soda to lift the levels once a fortnight.

Usually baking soda would temporarily lower pH, before reaching equilibrium at around 8.2-8.3.

How are you measuring pH? 8.8 seems unusual.

AP test kit, just did another with new soln, same type and shows 8.4.

i retested using the orig kit also and got 8.4...i think i judged the colour wrong. :oops: good to learn something new tho

Ok, it's a pH test kit.

Don't worry about the reading, and I wouldn't bother buying another pH test kit.

Layton