Natural buffers

[Icky sticky]

What are some natural things people put in there tank to raise the kh and to raise and lower ph or gh and what is there maximum buffering to your knowledge. For example I've used baking soda to raise all of the above (primarily low kh issues) and it will seemingly always increase kh but won't raise ph much past 8. (It also contains salt tho so use with caution) and supposedly driftwood lowers ph (never seen it work) the main reason is because of tannins, but at what ph do tannins stop working, or do they and do they affect anything else?

 

[Icky sticky]

I should add, my main reason for this thread is for educational purposes only. often people will have one problem and in the process of trying to fix it create another problem.

 

[duanes]

I have used aragonite sand(crushed coral) and oyster shell to help in the long term buffering of alkalinity (and pH), as substrate or in fluidized bed reactors, (a fluidized bed reactor using fine grain aragonite below)


and as you said baking soda as a short term fix solution.
Lime stone also works to buffer and raise pH, although may be a bit drastic at times.
For the lowering of pH, or at least adding tannins (I personally don't like dropping pH) I use leaf littler, peat moss, waterlogged wood, and even tea bags.

 

[Icky sticky]

and even tea bags.

Never heard of using teabags before. Doesn't tea sometimes contain some caffeine? Does that have any affects on the fish?

 

[duanes]

Never noticed them get a caffeine buzz, or jitters in my tanks.
Besides caffeine comes from many sources in nature, not just tea plants, and/or coffee, certain fruits contain caffeine, some nuts, etc imagine all the stuff that falls from trees into natural waters, and consider a tea bag or 2 in 50 or 100 gallon tank.

 

[Icky sticky]

Yea that's true, I just wasn't sure if fish metabolize caffeine the same way some other animals and people do, probably not though and probably not harmful at all if you've never seen an adverse affect. At the same time though lots of things fall into rivers i would never let into my tanks so I don't think that particular theory is a fair comparison, sorry.