Question: How do you stablize your PH?

[achiinto]

I just noticed that all my established tank has PH rather low. And it is possible that I am stressing my newts a lot during every water change. I want to stablize the PH. Axolotl.org suggested that I can use aquarium salt. But will that not make the water salty? How much is too salty for newt?

Some suggested the use of baking soda. Does it work?
Is there limestone to purchase from aquarium store to use a buffer?

 

[Jennewt]

Although the water changes will shift the pH slightly, this is better than letting it drift too far down. So don't hesitate to do the water changes. Maybe you want to do smaller changes more often until you get things balanced.

There are a couple of forms of calcium carbonate (which is basically what limestone is) that you can buy. One is Calci-sand. Another is bird grit (but be sure it's the type that is just pure calcium carbonate, not a bunch of other stuff). Another is shell-sand sold for salt water tanks. Just be sure you don't put too much of any of these in the tank at once. When I lived in an area with soft water, I used to put about a tablespoon of Calci-sand in with the other media in my filters.

Aquarium salt by itself won't stabilize the pH. You can buy aquarium buffering products that do stabilize it. They have brand names like "Bullet 7.0", etc. This would be another option.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I also suggest temporarily removing the animals from the tank to be adjusted. pH adjustment of any kind can be very unstable if you are not skilled at doing it. It takes time for the adjusters to work, so a few days of testing after any adjustment is suggested.


When I lived in a soft water area, I kept an onion bag of limestone gravel in my water change reservoir. Another option, which I use here often, is bulk spring water from the local warehouse store.

 

[achiinto]

Thank you everyone, I guess I will do small frequent water changes for a while to bring the old habit back. I guess I have been lazy. Learning all the time through mistakes, unfortunately.