Buffer for KH

[bettas-goldfish]

I was curious I have a 40g goldfish tank and want to know the best way to buffer the KH?

My tap KH is 5, tank KH is 5 without buffering.
My tap PH is 7.3, tank PH is 7.7

I have been using baking soda to raise KH what would be better?

[tim_s]

Well before going down this route it is more important to have stable water rather than anything else.  If your water is rising from 7.3 -> 7.7 suggests you have something within your tank already buffering your water.

Question 1: Do you know what this is?

Question 2: What is the optimal water parameters for the gold fish?

As for baking soda, I buffer my water to a KH of 9 degrees for my African Cichlids and to me nothing is more simple or basic than baking soda and for price and control - this cannot be beaten.

[exv152]

I was curious I have a 40g goldfish tank and want to know the best way to buffer the KH?

My tap KH is 5, tank KH is 5 without buffering.
My tap PH is 7.3, tank PH is 7.7

I have been using baking soda to raise KH what would be better?

Koi & goldfish do well in pH of 6.8 to 8 and a hardness of anywhere between 3ºdkh to 10 for the best colouration. So five is fine, not sure if you want to do more than that.

If you do, baking soda is ok, as long as you buffer the water in a separate container. Buffering up the pH is a lot harder on a fish than reducing it is. You can also use seachem alkaline buffer which works really well, which I use, or some of the other kh buffers out there like nutrafin. Another method is to use a bag of crushed coral and put it in your filter, or mix it in with your substrate, it'll leach into the water, buffering the kh and gh. The more you mess with the water parameters though, the harder it'll be to keep it stable. Sometimes it's just better to stick with the tap water parameters you have. In my experience it's the best formula for successful fishkeeping.

[bettas-goldfish]

all I have in my tank is 4 silk plants, one rock, one round air stone, and 2 Aqua clear 70 pumps running on lowest speed.

My water cond in tank are ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, PH 7.6, GH 8, KH 7 (buffered), disolved oxygen 9 ppm.

My water in the tap is Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrate slight, PH 7.3, GH 8, KH 5

If I don't touch anything the PH will still go up about 0.3 in the tank. What causes PH to rise in the tank.

[Feivel]

i use calcium chloride for my saltwater tank , KALK wauseir? however its spelt.

[JetJumper]

i use calcium chloride for my saltwater tank , KALK wauseir? however its spelt.

kalkwasser

[exv152]

...If I don't touch anything the PH will still go up about 0.3 in the tank. What causes PH to rise in the tank.

Do you have a lot of surface agitation, or are you using an air pump? Because gas exchange can greatly affect ph fluctuations. But a 0.3 change in pH is not out of the ordinary considering pH will fluctuate throughout the day, and there are many factors that contribute to these natural ph fluctuations. If you KH is stable, then that's all that really matters.

[Bwhiskered]

If the goldfish are happy and healthy leave the water alone. More fish were happier and healthier before they invented test kits. Messing with the water for most fish is unnecessary as most take a wide range of conditions. I only go for specific conditions when trying to spawn difficult tropical fish.