IMPORTANT!! DO NOT ADJUST TA IF YOU HAVE AMMONIA PRESENT! NEUTRALIZE AMMONIA AND VERIFY IT IS GONE BEFORE RAISING TA, FAILURE TO DO SO CAN CAUSE EVEN A SLIGHT AMOUNT OF AMMONIA TO BECOME EXTREMELY TOXIC AND KILL YOUR FISH.
Instructions
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Place 25 ml of pond/tank water into a clean glass container.
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Take the R-0008 (blue) bottle and turn it upside down & perpendicular over the container of test water. Add 5 drops of the blue total alkalinity indicator (R-0008) into the test water. The test water will turn blue/green.
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Take the R-0009 (Sulfuric acid) bottle and turn it upside down and perpendicular over the test water. Count each drop of the Sulfuric acid (R-0009) as you add it to the test water. When the color of the test water turns from blue/green to red, multiply the number of drops added by +10. The resulting number will be the number of Parts Per Million (PPM) of TA in this test water.
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Try this test on your source (tap or well) water for starters.
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The acceptable level of TA should be maintained above 100 PPM. This can be accomplished by adding Arm and Hammer baking soda (BS) (sodium bicarbonate) For example: if the TA is between 50 & 100 PPM you should add ½ cup of BS per 1000 Gal of pond/tank water.
Note: The addition of Arm & Hammer baking soda should be done incrementally. You should not try to adjust the TA quickly as your fish will not be happy. The addition of ½ a cup per 1000 will raise the TA by about 10 PPM.
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Testing should be conducted at least weekly & TA adjusted accordingly.
