JBL pH-Plus - 100ML

JBL pH-Plus raises the pH in fresh and saltwater aquariums, and does it by raising carbonate hardness rather than by pushing the pH up on its own. That is the right way round: KH is what holds a pH steady, so a pH raised with KH stays where you put it.

Key Features

• Raises pH by raising KH: carbonate hardness is the buffer. Raise it and the pH follows and then holds.
• Fresh and saltwater: JBL lists it for both, including invertebrate tanks.
• Freshwater limit: JBL says it can be used as often as needed in water that is too soft, up to a maximum pH of 8.5.
• Marine targets: JBL sets KH to the natural ocean value of 10 to 12 degrees dKH, which brings pH to 8.0 to 8.4.
• Two bottle sizes: 100ml and 250ml.
• Test, then treat: a reading before and after tells you whether the dose did anything. Treating blind is how tanks end up over-dosed.

Changing pH Safely

• Test pH and carbonate hardness first. In soft water a small dose moves the pH a long way, and in hard water it barely moves at all.
• Go up by about a fifth of a pH unit a day. Speed is what harms fish, not the destination.
• Dose where the water is moving so it disperses properly.
• Re-test after a few hours and again the next day.
• In a marine tank, test KH rather than chasing pH. Get the carbonate hardness into range and the pH tends to look after itself.

Good To Know

• Keep the bottle closed, upright and out of direct sun. Heat and light shorten the shelf life of any liquid water treatment.
• Keep it away from children and pets, and do not decant it into a drinks bottle.
• A water conditioner is not a medicine. A fish that is visibly ill needs a diagnosis, not a bottle of conditioner.
• If your pH keeps falling back, the cause is low carbonate hardness or a heavy bioload, not a shortage of pH-Plus.
• Do not use a pH-up and a pH-down product in the same tank in the same week. Pick a target, get there slowly, and leave it alone.