The water in my gold fish tank has LOW PH & LOW ALKILINE.... can i just add baking powder?

of course i dont want to hurt the gold fish..The water in my gold fish tank has LOW PH %26amp; LOW ALKILINE.... can i just add baking powder?
just put a few cockle shells in this will bring your ph down and it will not hurt the fishThe water in my gold fish tank has LOW PH %26amp; LOW ALKILINE.... can i just add baking powder?
First, you should try to figure out why it's dropping. Those test strip kits suck....they can easily go bad, and they're just not accurate. I'd recommend spending the 30. and buying API's liquid dropper test kit. Has ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, and high ph. Much more accurate.





Test your tap water. Get a glass of water and immediately test the ph. Let it sit out at least 12 hours and retest it. That should be roughly what's going on with the ph in your tank. If it's different, then you know the problem is in your tank.





Any driftwood in the tank? Driftwood can lower ph.





Is there adequate aeration in the tank? Usually the output from the filter/waterfall is more then enough to aerate the tank. Don't fill the tank all the way up, leave at least an inch or two for the water to agitate at the surface. That's what allows the oxygen and co2 to exchange out of the water. Too much co2 can lower the ph.





How large is the tank and how many fish are in it? And, how often are you doing water changes/gravle vacs? For a normal stocked tank, 25% weekly water changes and a good gravel vac should be done. Excess waste and uneaten food left in the bottom of the tank will cause your ph to drop as well.





I wouldn't recommend altering the ph, like I said, you should find out the source of the problem and treat that instead. One more thing, if your tap ph does show it's altering like that, and your pond ph is normal/higher, then consider what's in the pond.....some rocks like limestone will cause the ph to rise. If that's the case, just be sure to slowly let the fish acclimatize to the pond water when you get ready to add them. Take a good hour to adjust them to the pond water slowly.
What is the PH level? I wouldn't change it at all personally. Goldfish can tolerate a wide range of ph. It is usually drastic changes in ph that they can not tolerate. If you change it, it will more than likely fluctuate with each water change. Not a good thing.
woah wait, don't go messing with the pH, especially never with baking powder!! altering the pH is more likely to kill the fish than keeping it at a steady low or high pH.





what is this low pH/alkaline reading?? goldfish are quite hardy to both low and high pH.





edit: those test strips are notoriously inaccurate. get a liquid test kit and try again! keep up with regular weekly water changes from the same water source (dechlorinated tap water is best) and see what the new reading is.
Would not suggest using baking powder at all. Changing ph rapidly can cause fish to dye quickly. My suggestion to you would be to just leave it alone if the fish seems happy let it be. NO BAKING POWDER!
If your pH and alkalinity have been decreasing over time the most likely cause is you aren't changing the water enough, you aren't using a filter, or both. As metatolic wastes are added to the system (rotting food, fish feces) the water becomes more acidic. The carbonates in the water will buffer the change until they are all used up. To replenish your buffer and dilute the wastes you need to perform 25-50% water change every week.
if u want to higher the ph levels then get some ocean rock or coral gravel these will higher it naturally and slowly
By what you have said in this post you are not changing enough water often enough. Do not go messing with the ph artificially, raise the ph thru water changes. Likely the tap water has a higher ph and dissolved minerals than the tank at this point. Minerals are used up by all the living things (bacteria too) in the tank. When the minerals are all used up then the ph starts to fall. Ph can fall quickly in this situation causing your fish to get acidosis and die. Its also called tank crash. To prevent this from happening change the water in higher volumes and more frequently. Test your tap water for its ph and total alkalinity. If its low (which is unusal but happens) then you can buffer it with proper aquarium buffers, like R.O. Right and Neutral Regulator (Kent Marine products). Baking soda works BUT it is so easy to over dose and causes problems in that regaurd. So ask a clerk at a higher end aquarium only store and they should be able to help you with your problem. Petco and Petsmart will be lost on this one.


OMG I just realized you said baking powder DONT put that in there for sure. ITs Baking SODA, two different things.
First of all, you do not need to mess with your pH. If you eventually want to move your fish to your pond, you will just have to acclimate them to the water change slowly. It will be fine.





If you still want to lower your pH, don't use baking powder. Don't use any chemical treatment either. Just go out and buy a piece of driftwood at your local fish store and stick that in your tank. It will lower the pH gradually and naturally, and will not shock your fish.