I raised pH but how did this happened?

[seove]

The other week I had a pH reading of 6.5 which has been at that level for months and I finally decided to do something to raise it. I chose the home remedy that consists of baking soda. It called for multiple treatments. I used a diluted solution than what was called for since it was my first time trying it. The instructions said that you will have to do multiple treatments because the pH won’t stay at the new level without it. I was expecting that there would be a slight swing but after one treatment the pH went up to 7.6 and has remained at that level since, without further treatments.

 

[dalto]

It depends what the KH of the water is before and after you treated it. It also depends on how much you added.

Whenever you are chemically altering your water chemistry it important to be regularly testing KH and pH. KH will be consumed over time under normal circumstances and you want to catch it before it gets too low to avoid drastic pH swings.

 

[jetajockey]

Depending on the gh/kh of your source water, the longer term solution may be more frequent water changes. If that's already happening, then I'd just put some crushed coral in the filter.

 

[seove]

Thanks and Thanks.

I'm doing 10% WC's, twice a week. I was going to get some crushed coral but they only sold large bags at the one LFS that I visited. I may get the bag and add it to the sump.