Akalinity buffer

[Bobafish]

Well, i need to inject CO2, because hair algae is running rampant in my tank. however i have read that my alkalinity(is it KH?) needs to be between 120 and 180 for me to do this safely. Right now my alkalinity is only 40.
Is there any way that I could raise this with something that I might have in my house. Or do I have to go spend 20 dollars on something that Im not even sure will work. My ph is 7.3 btw.
Also, any other suggestions on how to get rid of hair algae would be much appreciated.

 

[RTR]

You can raise the KH/alkalinity in many ways. BTW, the minimum suggested for CO2 addition is about 4 degress, ~70, not 120-180ppm.

You can add sodium bicarbonate, baking soda, from the grocery store, but this is very fast dissolving and can osmotically shock the fish if added directly to the tank, it is best added to make-up water and tested before it is added to the tank.

The slowest but surest and safest is to add some aragonite in a mesh bag in your filter. It dissolves very slowly and quantity can be adjusted to get the end point that you want.

 

[Bobafish]

Thx, that helps alot, I just have some more questions.
Where would I get Aragonite? and how much would I need for a 10g?

 

[RTR]

Aragonite is used as a SW substrate, so is a LFS item. You do not need much at all in a small tank, I would start with a tablespoon or two in a mesh bag. See if a LFS has an open bag that will sell you a handful from.

 

[tankit]

RTR,

You suggest using Aragonite or Sodium Bicarbonate to increase alkalinity.

I was wondering... if this could also cause trobles with ph values. My own experience has been that if you already have higher ph straight from the tap and your trying to keep ph neutral (as with the fish bobafish keeps) and or lower (as with keeping south american fish) it's a real struggle to maintain ph when adding materials that increase your KH values. Any suggestions?

 

[RTR]

Fish do not read pH. Keeping fish from Amazonian blackwater does not require low KH and low pH conditions. Doing water mods to a supposed "match" for a fish's native water is an exercise in futility for most hobbyists, a non-trivial expense, and more often injurious (from instability) than helpful. This is especially so for those hobbyists who have not yet learned that adding materials to water in efforts to make it "softer" and more acid is counter-productive - fish very definitely do read TDS, and that is more impotant than pH. "Soft" water for blackwater fish involves low GH, as that is important to some fish for breeding.

A KH of 40 ppm is not hard, it is soft and extremely dangerous to the the fish and to the nitrification bacteria if CO2 is supplemented. A pH of 7.3 is not high and will be suppressed when CO2 is added. A prescription for disaster IMHO & IME.

BTW, as a corollary to all the above, please define "troubles with pH values". There is no such thing in the hobby as "pH shock", but there is osmotic shock. Fish are quite adaptable as to water sources, and stabilty is many-fold more important than "native" parameter matching. If you want to keep fish live and healthy far beyond their natural (wild) lifespans, keep the water clean and refreshed frequently at high percentage changes, and ignore the tap water pH and hardness and alkalinity within the range of ph 6.5 to 8.0+.

HTH