Do any discus keepers use baking soda?

[csarkar001]

Marine aquarists use baking soda to buffer pH. can that be applied to discus tanks?

[Eddie]

Marine aquarists use baking soda to buffer pH. can that be applied to discus tanks?

Yes it can, I used to use it when I first kept discus. Some prefer using crushed coral. You will need to gauge how much to use depending on the initial KH of your water.

Does your PH slip?

[csarkar001]

even though i age my water for 24 hours before use, i notice that when i do a water change, i still experience a 0.25 drop in pH. this seems small to me but as i suggested in my other thread, i'm grasping for reasons for why my discus are scratching after water changes.

[Eddie]

even though i age my water for 24 hours before use, i notice that when i do a water change, i still experience a 0.25 drop in pH. this seems small to me but as i suggested in my other thread, i'm grasping for reasons for why my discus are scratching after water changes.

So basically your PH rises in the tank over time and only drops after a water change?

Eddie

[csarkar001]

So basically your PH rises in the tank over time and only drops after a water change?

Eddie

yes, is that bad?

[Eddie]

yes, is that bad?

No, just that, that is what mine does and doing daily 100% WCs keeps my PH constant.

Eddie

[Roxanne]

If you have high ph in your tank, don't use crushed coral in it, that will make it crazy man:bandana:....you could run a mechanical filter with some cc in a filter bag in your aging reservoir and that will bring it up for the water change....how big is your aging reservoir & what is your tap ph?

Roxanne

[csarkar001]

If you have high ph in your tank, don't use crushed coral in it, that will make it crazy man:bandana:....you could run a mechanical filter with some cc in a filter bag in your aging reservoir and that will bring it up for the water change....how big is your aging reservoir & what is your tap ph?

Roxanne

Roxanne: my resevoir is a 30 gal which is parked below my 55 gal grow out tank. i watched my fish all day today and realized that they are actually scratching all day and only near the gill area. i think i'm gonna try prazipro.

[dan3949]

I use baking soda in my makeup water because out of the tap my KH is less than 1 and GH is less than 1 (TDS about 80 ppm). I use sufficient baking soda to get the KH between 2 and 3 and add the gypsum/aquarium salt/epsom salt mixture to get the GH around 6. I also keep a small amount of crushed coral in the media tray of my filter. This gives me a stable pH around 7.7.

I had a pH crash before adding this to my water. It did not have sufficient buffering out of the tap.

Check your KH to see if you have adequate buffering (at least greater than 2). If KH is above 2, I would not add any baking soda. It will definitely increase pH if you use it. I would highly recommend a pH probe if you are using these additives.