# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  How to increase KH and decrease PH

## KITTY

dear bros, 

need your help, 


I been using Sera KH/PH plus to + KH and -PH , however it seems that it did not increase though i use the correct amount to dose it. Any ways to increase the KH and decrease PH. 

Current readings
KH = 2DH
PH +-7.5-7.8
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate=40


Thanks all.  :Smile:

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## Shadow

are you using ADA aquasoil? if yes, that the reason.

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## hardric

On a somewhat related note, do those water conditioners that promise to lower/increase the ph to 6.5 work? And recently, I noticed two media that promises to keep the water ph buffered at around 6.5 - Livehouse Bacteria Fortified pH Buffer Filter Media & Powerhouse Filter Media. Do they work?

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## marimo

> Current readings
> KH = 2DH
> PH +-7.5-7.8
> Ammonia = 0
> Nitrate=40


kH - add sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
how much you increasing to? the more you add, the more difficult to adjust pH

pH - why is your pH higher than tap water?
do some water change since your nitrate is slightly high, try to get 20 below since tap water is below 20 range, should also get your ph to 7.3 ~ RO distill water even better

decrease ph can add peat, sea almond leaf, add bogwood, 
add distill water (ph6.5) from ntuc 
of coz the soil you use and base is the best buffering capacity

This tank is for fish right?




> I been using Sera KH/PH plus to + KH and -PH , however it seems that it did not increase though i use the correct amount to dose it. Any ways to increase the KH and decrease PH.


I have been using the pH down liquid. My experience is i only use less than 1/4 the dosage as its very concentrated. imagine just one drop can change one pail of water (17litres) from tap water to 6.5 pH
It does not buffer water, it can change the water immediately but it does not last forever
I use it for my aged water to ph down 1st before adding into my tank





> On a somewhat related note, do those water conditioners that promise to lower/increase the ph to 6.5 work? And recently, I noticed two media that promises to keep the water ph buffered at around 6.5 - Livehouse Bacteria Fortified pH Buffer Filter Media & Powerhouse Filter Media. Do they work?


they have soft and hard water media for shrimps . It so ex i think they Better work ! lol
i think its good for soft water shrimps keeper

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## barmby

> Any ways to increase the KH and decrease PH.


KH powder to increase KH
CO2 to decrease pH

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## KITTY

what is the procedure in using baking soda powder? by doing so, will it affect to increase PH?

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## Shadow

yes, increase kH will increase pH. Why do you want to increase kH in the first place?

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## barmby

that's why we need our friendly kH-pH chart. my favorite chart and the only i chart i like. because i fail maths..

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## KITTY

usually for healthy freshwatre environment, KH has to be maintained and kept around 5kh right? if water is too soft, some fish that prefer hardy waters might not be sustain longer.

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## Shadow

I'm not a fish expert so not a clue which fish preferred hard water  :Opps: 

Since you want to have fish with preferred hardwater, then you might want to re-think the whole system. Many of the Aquatic soil was designed to lower pH and kH, ADA Aquasoil for example. So if you use it, you will get kH = 0 and pH around 6.2. You can keep adding baking soda to increase kH but it will drop again until the soil exhaust its ability to lower the kH.

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## marimo

as i mentioned , if its for fish, it still down to what fish you are keeping
is it cichlids?

as such not sure if this article will aid you for your answer
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumKH.html

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## barmby

if it is a rainbow fish - i can confirm with you that your fish will certainly swim upside down if your pH is less than 6.5

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## KITTY

My fish are barbs and bosemanis  :Smile:  they love the water now. I'm not using ADA . so should be safe  :Smile:

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## barmby

anyway, tank gets acidic as they mature. therefore, we need water change

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## eric2010

I'm placed two bags of peat moss into my sump tank to lower the ph, now into the second week but have yet to test if it works

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## ahhian

Hi there,

a CO2 dosing system with pH control works best for this. i can totally understand your pain as i have been facing this problem as well. Singapore's water lacks alkalinity (extremely low kH), and a boost in kH to at least 4 dH will be great. It buffers the water by forming bicarbonate ion and lowers the pH at the same time.

Alternatively, you can add in any commercial kH booster to the required kH, then add in larger amount of 'pH-down' to drive down the pH at one go to the desired level measured by a pH meter. Of course, no fish should be in the water during the adjustment, but i highly do not recommend this method because it is not sustainable in the long run.

ahhian

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## Shadow

why all the trouble, just get the right soil, it will buffer both ph and kh.

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## ahhian

The soil does not increase the kH. It lowers it.

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## ZackZhou

saw some forum members mentoned about ph lowering medias such as powerhouse and livehouse. 
i would like to advise for those bros who are thinking to use it to LOWER the ph of your water, thats not its purpose!
Ph lowering medias are meant to maintain stable ph readings, and not altering it.

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## ZackZhou

powerhouse soft type is made of kaolinite activated silica.
so when ph level of water rises, hydroxy ions in the water increases.
the nature of the kaolinite activate silica is that it will take in hydroxy ions, seperates and releases hydrogen ions, thus controlling ph from rising.
It does not involve emission of acidic substances. 

hope that i do addressed the question  :Smile:

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## Shadow

> The soil does not increase the kH. It lowers it.


KITTY just wanted to provide stable environment rather than the fauna KITTY keep need it. Stable pH and kH can be achieve easily by using the correct soil.

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## hardric

> powerhouse soft type is made of kaolinite activated silica.
> so when ph level of water rises, hydroxy ions in the water increases.
> the nature of the kaolinite activate silica is that it will take in hydroxy ions, seperates and releases hydrogen ions, thus controlling ph from rising.
> It does not involve emission of acidic substances. 
> 
> hope that i do addressed the question


Zack,

So you are saying that if your ph is already at like 6.5, using livehouse or powerhouse will keep it around 6.5? But if your water is at like ph 7.6, it will keep it at ph 7.6?
But that isn't what the literature from those companies are saying.

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## reiner09

I am thinking in a way that powerhouse soft media have a base pH where it takes reference to. Then adjust accordingly to that pH whereby it will be at least lower than pH 7,because there are 2 types available in the market,hard and soft respectively so both reacted differently either to keep it below 7 or above it. Thus according to the base ph level that media has, it will react accordingly to make the pH stay at that level and not keep releasing H+ ions till it becomes very acidic.. i believe the chemistry behind it , is similar to how our soil is used to lower pH.

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## Hopefully

Hello bros.. I am new here. 

I also encounter the same problem which is KH (2 drops by using SERA KH test kits) is too low but PH is about 6. I had added 1 tsp of baking soda to my fish tank (48x22x22cm). But seems no changes at all.. Need some advise here.. I want to increase KH to 5 and PH to 6.8.

Thank you very much!

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## barmby

What substrate are you using?

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## Hopefully

> What substrate are you using?


I'm using HELP Advanced Soil for Plants.

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## Berny

I'm using help soil as well, need 9 drops of api kh tester to get yellow and my Ph is always hovering around 6.6-6.8

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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## Hopefully

> I'm using help soil as well, need 9 drops of api kh tester to get yellow and my Ph is always hovering around 6.6-6.8


Im using SERA KH & PH Tester. Current reading is KH=1or2dKH and PH=6. After using the KH Booster, (1tsp=2g) PH was raised to 7.5-8 but KH ramain no changes. Don't know where goes wrong actually.  :Sad:

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## Urban Aquaria

There are different versions of the HELP brand soil... the version for plants is designed to pull down pH and kH, so if you are using that version, probably the soil's properties are overriding your efforts to achieve the specific parameters (especially during the initial start up period when its effects are the strongest).

Just curious, is there any reason why you need to specifically have a kH of 5 and pH of 6.8? Is it for a certain flora or fauna?

If that's the case, then it would have been a better idea to use inert gravel or substrate instead (maybe swap out the substrate if its not too late), then it'll be much easier to control and maintain your required parameters.  :Smile:

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## Hopefully

> There are different versions of the HELP brand soil... the version for plants is designed to pull down pH and kH, so if you are using that version, probably the soil's properties are overriding your efforts to achieve the specific parameters (especially during the initial start up period when its effects are the strongest).
> 
> Just curious, is there any reason why you need to specifically have a kH of 5 and pH of 6.8? Is it for a certain flora or fauna?
> 
> If that's the case, then it would have been a better idea to use inert gravel or substrate instead (maybe swap out the substrate if its not too late), then it'll be much easier to control and maintain your required parameters.



Hi, may I know which kind of soil is better?

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## Urban Aquaria

> Hi, may I know which kind of soil is better?


It all depends on your flora and fauna requirements.

If you are aquascaping and growing plants, or keeping fishes or shrimps that need lower pH, then its best to use soil designed for planted tanks as they are made to release nutrients and pull down pH and kH. When you use these type of soil, they will control the pH and kH for you during the initial period to optimize plant growth.

Here is the chart from the H.E.L.P site: 



http://www.jpc-co.jp/help/english/soil/effective.html

But if you are keeping fishes or shrimps that need more neutral pH and kH (or higher pH and kH), then it'll be better to use inert substrate (ie. gravel or sand or inert soil) or substrate/buffers that can help keep kH and pH higher.

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## barmby

Oh.. I found this piece of advice from Tom Barr:

_ADA Aquasoil for example. So if you use it, you will get kH = 0 and pH around 6.2. You can keep 
adding baking soda to increase kH but it will drop again until the soil exhaust its ability to 
lower the kH_

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## Navanod

That's because KH and pH are closely linked. You cannot have high KH and low pH.

In most cases, it is common to find no KH at all in acidic water (<pH7). If there's a constantly degrading calcium carbonate source (coral chips, calcium rocks etc) in an acidic tank, there may be some KH at equilibrium but we should not find anymore than 1 or 2 dKH as long as the pH remains below 7.

Trying to raise the KH when using acidic soil is counter productive. It is wearing out the soil's acidic buffering ability while increasing the tank's GH/TDS.

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## jazzyboi

I am using I'm using HELP Advanced Soil, the one for lowering the PH to 5.5. On top of that, I use Seachem Discus buffer to buffer to PH, and also Sera's peat moss in the canister. I managed to lower the PH to 4.8 constantly with the extra help of CO2 as well. My tank consist of happy Altums, Discus, Peruvian, Manacapurus, Cardinal Tetras, and numerous types of Apistogramma. So it boils down to what kind of fishes you really want to keep.

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## Stanley Ng

I just bought alkaline dispenser, hope it will increase my kh. =P

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