# baking soda & cloudy water



## mfish1 (Dec 31, 2011)

My tank has been up and running with peacocks/haps for about 2 weeks now and the amount of baking soda I need to add after water changes seems to make my water cloudy, literally overnight. Thursday I did a water change and added 3/4 teaspoon baking soda per 5 gallons of water I changed out which brings my ph to 8.0 and kh to 11. Last night everything in the tank was crystal clear but then this morning it was cloudy. You can literally see baking soda particles floating around the tank. The ph and kh are still the same values though. The first time this happened the walls of the tank had a layer of baking soda on it that i had to brush off, this time it was suspended in the water though.

What causes this to happen? Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
My tap ph is 6.8 and kh is 3. I have aragonite substrate as well.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

This might sound silly but, are you sure you didn't use baking powder by mistake? This happened to me once when I bought incorrectly labled stuff at a bulk store.


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## mfish1 (Dec 31, 2011)

lol yeah its A&H pure baking soda


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## chagoi (Dec 29, 2010)

Mine gets cloudy but not for long I use about 1teaspoon per 5 Gal. I do mix it and pump it in. You could mix it & pour it in may help?


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## mfish1 (Dec 31, 2011)

Right now my routine is to put the baking soda it a screw cap bottle with water and shake it up, then pour it into a 5 gallon bucket, then pour the bucket into the tank. It usually isn't a problem and this is only the second time it has gotten cloudy. However this is the first time the cloudiness isn't going away after a few hours


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## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

Mine is never cloudy,I do the buffer recipe weekly.2 gallon pitcher of tank water, add baking soda and Epsom salt, mix thoroughly,add to tank, add my water.


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## mfish1 (Dec 31, 2011)

maybe I need more water circulation to keep the baking soda in solution? If I add an airstone, will that have any impact on ph or hardness? I think I read somewhere that you can get faulty ph readings from tap water if you take it right away or something along those lines...


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## Mike_G (Nov 8, 2011)

I use baking soda at 1 teaspoon/10 gallons, stirred into a 2.5Gal. bucket and I've never had any cloudiness from doing so.

I might try using some SeaChem Malawi buffer instead of baking soda on your next water change and see if it makes any difference.


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## B.Roberson (Nov 6, 2011)

An airstone won't change Ph or gh or kh.


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