You are looking at two thing, one is PH and the other is alkalinity. Alkalinity helps prevent wild PH swings as it buffers the water. Most buffers are designed to not spike PH. I would be sure my KH was right on before attempting to raise the PH. Since my tank is so old, I have an acidic problem from detritus building up in inaccessible parts of the reef. My PH is generally 8.0 to 8.2, even with dosing. I dose a two part solution with a dosing pump, calcium (calcium chloride solution) and alkalinity (baked baking soda solution) that is similar to B-Ionic. For an older tank stocked with a lot of Stoney corals, this works fine. I also drip Kalkwasser at night to help counter a swing at night, but this must be done VERY slowly as Kalkwasser will spike ph. In a new tank, neither of these things should be needed until the tank population requires it.