Sodium bicarbonate/ PH problem

[Discus Ashan]

I hope to get your comment for this.

I'm using well water so there is 4.5 ph level in that water then I add this water in to the large size glass tank and add the sodium bicarbonate and also put air stone.after 12 hours it raises to 6.5/7 ph. I do this as it is with the plastic barrel but not raised the ph level So what is the main reason for this.

[Charlyc11]

I would first check your KH / GH and see if you can age and raise the PH without the SB. My well water is about 5.5 but I have no KH so I add a little seachem alkaline buffer (6 grams) to my 55 gallon drum and I raise to 7 ph. If you have any KH you should not need to add anything just age and aerate and make more frequent water changes. The SB will deplete very fast My thoughts.
Chuck

[brewmaster15]

I hope to get your comment for this.

I'm using well water so there is 4.5 ph level in that water then I add this water in to the large size glass tank and add the sodium bicarbonate and also put air stone.after 12 hours it raises to 6.5/7 ph. I do this as it is with the plastic barrel but not raised the ph level So what is the main reason for this.

If I understand what you are asking and saying I think You are skewing your results.. The barrel will off Gas faster than the glass tank due to its shape... there should be nothing different about the aging water in a plastic barrel or large glass tank except related to the shape of the containers, manner of aeration and time points.


try this.. fill both containers with well water.. measure pH and aerate a full 24 Hours. Do not use bicarb during this time.. measure pH in both plastic barrel and glass tank (no fish..just water) . They should be similar


When you take well water thats very acidic its almost always acidic due to Dissolved CO2. When you age and aerate that water it blows off the CO2 and your waters pH rises to its stable pH. If you add Bicarb while this is happening its going to mess up your Real pH. ..things are going to bounce around. If you need to adjust pH do it after you have stable aged water.

Im not a chemist but thats my understanding of how this works.

My well water is currently coming out of the tap at pH 5.6 from CO2.. aged ..it will be 7.6

[Charlyc11]

I read you wrong Al is correct no difference in aging I use 55 gallon polyprop and I did the same when I had glass tanks for aging. Lots of C02 in well water.

[Discus Ashan]

My experience with this issue this like.(with sodium bicarbonate) PH goes up within 12 hours in the glass tank but it doesn't up time to time it stable at some level ( 6.5/7) consider the plastic barrel it's not work properly doesn't increase the ph.As i think it is possible to affect the surface this variance.

[brewmaster15]

My experience with this issue this like.(with sodium bicarbonate) PH goes up within 12 hours in the glass tank but it doesn't up time to time it stable at some level ( 6.5/7) consider the plastic barrel it's not work properly doesn't increase the ph.As i think it is possible to affect the surface this variance.

Ashan, please re-read my post

If I understand what you are asking and saying I think You are skewing your results.. The barrel will off Gas faster than the glass tank due to its shape... there should be nothing different about the aging water in a plastic barrel or large glass tank except related to the shape of the containers, manner of aeration and time points.


try this.. fill both containers with well water.. measure pH and aerate a full 24 Hours. Do not use bicarb during this time.. measure pH in both plastic barrel and glass tank (no fish..just water) . They should be similar


When you take well water thats very acidic its almost always acidic due to Dissolved CO2. When you age and aerate that water it blows off the CO2 and your waters pH rises to its stable pH. If you add Bicarb while this is happening its going to mess up your Real pH. ..things are going to bounce around. If you need to adjust pH do it after you have stable aged water.

Im not a chemist but thats my understanding of how this works.

My well water is currently coming out of the tap at pH 5.6 from CO2.. aged ..it will be 7.6

I think you may be misunderstanding the chemistry here.

[Discus Ashan]

I did the experiment as you said absolutely you right there are no difference but it didn't come proper level of ph.anyway thank you very much

[brewmaster15]

Glad to help

[Discus Ashan]

Both are the same ph but it's about 5.5 ph

[brewmaster15]

Thats fine... at least you now know what the pH is. .. next if you want to increase the pH you can do so accurately however.. with good water changes pH 5.5 is not a bad thing in itself for discus.. it depends on your KH though how stable.

[Discus Ashan]

Yes .That's true I strongly believe this forum and your guidance I have never seen such a forum before.This is the world best one.Now day by day i learned many things.Thank you so much.

[brewmaster15]

Yes .That's true I strongly believe this forum and your guidance I have never seen such a forum before.This is the world best one.Now day by day i learned many things.Thank you so much.

Thank you Ashan, I'm glad the forum has helped you.
Al