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Originally Posted by cschauerj Anyone ever used baking soda to keep the ph up? I hear you can't find it commonly as pure sodium bicarbonate and that it always has an additive to prevent clumping that you wouldn't want in your tank.

I use baking soda to raise the ph for my N. Cylindricus, along with marine salt and get an 8.4 - 8.6. Not as high as I would like it for Tanganyikans. But they are happy and healthy. My baking soda doesn't seem to have an anti-clumping agent since it clumps with great regularity ... lol. I believe it is table salt that has the anti-clumping additives, but using marine salt instead prevents putting unwanted chemicals into the tank.

The formula that I have read for homemade cichlid salts to raise ph and GH/KH is one teaspoon each baking soda and marine salt, and one tablespoon epsom salt per every five gallons of water but needs to be adjusted for your area's tap water.