Steady High PH? help me!

whats the most effective way to maintain high PH in a large tank without adding chemicals every couple days? argonite seems to be helping in the salt tank but not quite high enough - would deeper sub help? also price is important, bag of the crap cost me 60$ or somethin

I use crushed coral to maintain PH. Takes a few days to kick in; only use a small portion at a time to raise, but since you need high PH, use a lot.
PH can be raised mid 8's with CC.

I use a coffee grind paper and hang it inside the tank, since I do not use substrate. But...since you have Sub. No need for this.
If you have fine sand substrate, and then use CC; having it on top, the CC will accumulate algae or tank grim within it's porous sections.

Baking soda. One teaspoon for every 5 gallons. It will be an ongoing process but is cheaper than chemicals.

Sodium Bicarbonate is a chemical

I meant stuff in bottles you buy at the store haha. Should of specified

Besides changing your whole substrate, and adding corals or crushed coral to tank..... I put crushed coral in a nylon bag, and drop in a section in the canister filter...
if PH is low from tap, You pretty much gotta add something buddy.... Like ashley said, I use baking soda, 1 tsp per 5gal bucket... works pretty easy for me this way cause when i do a water change, I add 5 gallon buckets at a time.... Really easy to put a tsp of baking soda, and 1/2tblspn of espom salt to each bucket.. this keeps the PH between 8 and 9, and keeps my water very hard, just the way my Tanganyikan cichlids like it!

moving you over to water chem topic, should get more responses there.

Try putting crushed coral into filter directly. Wher water hits under pressure the coral releases bicarbonate and carbonates faster. Baking soda works great but dangrrously fast acting. A couple of tspoons can take ph of 6.5 and shoot it up to 8.2 instantly. I reccomend disolving baking soda first and then dripping it with airline siphon ( tie overhand knot in it till it's a drop or two a second) from 5 gal bucket on top of tank. Add a few big pieces of coral to tank for systemic control once you get ph back up(remember it's like an inverse titration experiment) so once you get it back up you will need way less carbonates and bicarbonates to maintain it. I would test ph once a week at this point incase opposite happens and ph goes too high... Then pull out bit of chunk(bust it if u have to) untill ph drops back to seven. Eventually you will figure ou the right sized chunk to hit ph equilibrium. In my 220 community tank the ph stays like a perfect 7.2 and I have about 30lbs of dead coral in it. 35lbs too much and 25lbz ph began to drop again...still test it atleast every two weeks though or whenever fish act funny. If you need any cheap rubble coral I can hook you up for like a dollar a lb... cheaper than araggonite or coral sand and is way easier to take out if ph actually goes too high. That's what I would do. P.S.-it is never reccomended to put coral or shells into fresh tank (except rift lake of course) unless you have a chronic low ph issue...there is also neutral regulator(seachem I think) but can get price prohibitive over time( worth it if you don't test ph since ph will not go over 7-7.2 with this)
lilydog

Assumed it was fresh tank...if salt use reef builder or kaulkwasser with buffer( but atleast an hour apart not at same time). You have to increase the kh(carbonate hardness). Most shops will test your kh for free(fresh too the coral or baking soda increases th kh value). The highier the kh value(hardness) the less ph tends to shift. Increased carbonate hardness has a stablizing effect on ph. Corals and coraline algae on live rock (fish too) deplete the hardness and allow the ph to drop. Heavily stocked or lots of life reefs often need buffer and calcium, or reefbuilder, or kaulkwasser added once two twice a week to maintain kh and ph. ...if that gets old or your tank is huge... That's when you buy a calcium reactor(expensive maybe diy but you got me on that) coral and baking soda won't hack it in salt.
-lilydog

Your raising PH for your RIft lake cichlids right??? Not just cause your water is too acidic out of the tap right??

puffers and cichlids want high ph