Raising ph level

[Bill Edmonds]

Hey guys, new here and to aquaponics, but have a question on ph. I recently had to install taller media guard to my siphon and, of course, had to remove a good quantity of the "PlantIt" media. Well, needless to say stirred up a LOT of sediment. I noticed that my ph took a dive to the acidic side of things. Don't know if stirring things up may have triggered the drop in ph or not. I have seen reference to some compounds for raising ph but was wondering if anyone has considered or tried bio-char as a method to raise ph. Or should I give it a few more days to see if it stabilizes? Thanks in advance.

Oh, using hard well water with normal ph out of tap.

[George]

Ash generally has high PH

Biochar without ash should be neutral and might work in your media as filter but is unlikely to affect PH.  I make it and use it a lot, in soil.

If your PH is low, it probably will not rise by itself.  I suggest that you raise it to at least around 6, or more.  I keep mine around 7 but opinions and advice varies.

good luck

[Jeff S]

Drop in some baking soda or Sodium Hydroxide(Red Devil Lye) to raise Ph.

[Bill Edmonds]

Thanks, George. Have always been kinda confused about pH on bio-char, always conflicting comments on line...it's alkaline - it's neutral. Rinsed a small handful the other day and tested it, came out neutral. so I added it to growbed. pH is still about 6.5 and further reading and Jeff's comment on my member post tells me I'm good. Think it's kinda the psychological thing where you see acid on color chart and knee-jerk kicks in and OH MY GOSH, gotta do something. I can add soda, per Jeff S, comment, but will wait and watch for a while. Thanks Jeff S. Still need to get more plants established to bring down nitrates.

George said:

Ash generally has high PH

Biochar without ash should be neutral and might work in your media as filter but is unlikely to affect PH.  I make it and use it a lot, in soil.

If your PH is low, it probably will not rise by itself.  I suggest that you raise it to at least around 6, or more.  I keep mine around 7 but opinions and advice varies.

good luck

[Jeff S]

FYI Bill if your Ph is under 7 then the ammonia reading you get is actually more ammonium that's not harmful to your fish so it gives you a little leeway when you have those ammonia spikes.