# How much baking soda to raise kh



## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

my tap kh is 5. I would like to raise it to about 7. Is there a guideline of amount of baking soda to add to do this. Also I would imagine I add it into water changes. Or should I just leave it as is and keep a kh of 5. I have rams, tetras, boesemani, cories, otos.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Is there any particular reason you want to raise kH to 7? I think it is fine as it is. 

Also, the amount of baking soda you would need to add would be dependent on the volume of water in your aquarium.


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## jpappy789 (Jul 28, 2013)

I agree, keep it as is.


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## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

Ok. Thanks. 
I see a lot of sites saying rams prefer kh from 7-12, and they are the fish that requires the softest water in my tank, but good to know it will be fine as is. Thanks


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## jpappy789 (Jul 28, 2013)

Odd...typically you see most places saying rams need water "softer" than that, I'd consider 7-12 dkh to be more typical in water higher in TDS/pH/GH, although values vary. I've kept blues is water that's considered to be out of their recommended ranges anyways...no harm.


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## Markahsf (Feb 27, 2012)

I agree with the others but for future reference, I dose my neo tanks with 1/8 tsp for every 5 gallon jug of RO water along GH+ remineralizer. The gh+ doesn't affect the kh so I use baking soda to get my kh to around 4 or 5.

Keep in mind that it also raises ph. It takes my ph from 6.5 to 7.4.

Sent from my SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 ACTIVE using Tapatalk 2


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## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

Thanks everyone. Always looking to learn a little bit more.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

1 teaspoon of baking soda added to 30 gallons of water (typical 29 gallon tank with canister, so the '30 gallons' is not quite perfect, but neither is my '1 teaspoon') will raise the KH by 2 German degrees of hardness. 
When I did this in a tank with pH off the charts low, the pH came up to 6.2. 

I would not alter your set up. 
I generally try to keep the GH = KH, plus or minus a degree or so. 
The 'hardness' listed for fish ought to be the GH, not KH. It is the level of calcium and magnesium (required minerals) that is the important reading. 

Per Baensch, optimum for breeding is 3 dGH.
Mine were breeding in water with about 2dGH.


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## jpappy789 (Jul 28, 2013)

matt13 is breeding in 7 dGH, not sure on dKH...but lots of other cases where you can get results outside of the "optimal". If you get fish more acclimated to similar parameters as yours then you should have little issues.


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## Jack Gilvey (Jun 16, 2008)

Diana said:


> The 'hardness' listed for fish ought to be the GH, not KH. It is the level of calcium and magnesium (required minerals) that is the important reading.


 That's what I'd assumed but I see it wrong all over the place. Even Liveaquaria.com, which is huge, lists recommended KH.


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## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

Jack Gilvey said:


> That's what I'd assumed but I see it wrong all over the place. Even Liveaquaria.com, which is huge, lists recommended KH.


Liveaquaria is one of the sites I was referring too. But, I will trust everyone on here over a website created for sales. Thanks for helping. My kh is 5 and gh 8 is 8 at the faucet with a ph 8.2. I was thinking on the basis of my fish being more comfortable being closer or in their target range. I am well below all of my fishes range but it is stable, so from what I have read that seems more important.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

There is nothing that guarantees that the municipal water supply will always be stable. However, in most cases it will be. I have seen posts from places where it is not. The only answer there is to learn more about water chemistry and make the water right for the fish every time. 

If your water is pretty close but not perfect, but you want to do the work involved in altering that water to suit certain fish, then go for it. 
I did not find it a lot of work. 
But my tap water has another problem. The fix for that problem is to run it into a garbage can and run a pump in there for at least half an hour, or longer. If I gotta do that, then it is a piece of cake to add whatever minerals or other water treatments I want.


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