How to raise the pH is my freshwater tank?

Hey guys! My pH is acceptable, but I think that it could be a little bit higher. Its a 7.0 right now, but I'd like it to be a little higher. Any safe (or natural if possible) way to bring it up just a bit? I'm really not a chemical person, so natural is best. Everything else is good in my tank and I don't want to throw off that balance. Any thoughts?

You can add crushed coral to and shells to your filter and it will raise the ph. It is a good thing you asked first and not get those commercially made ph up/ down treatments as these are often only for short term use.

That's a good idea! Didn't even think about that. Are there bags that I put the coral in? What's the best type of coral? Does it come crushed or do I need to do it? I'm very anti-chemical. I've interned in organic chemical labs and knowing what I know now about organic compounds and how sensitive animals (especially fish) are to those compounds, I'm a naturalist all the way Even my animals back home are fed organic food!

Wow you sound like a cool person. You can put the coral in mesh bags and I think they sell crushed coral as substrates. I'm a naturalist too.

Ha ha! Not so sure about cool. I get some very strange looks from a lot of the people at my university. I'm just an animal loving nerd! My majors in undergrad were Anthropology and Archeology with a Biochem minor which is apparently very unusual. I actually took a few marine archeology classes. Perhaps that's why fish are so interesting to me! So I found a site that said that nylon bags are good for crushed coral. Do you think that will be OK? Forgive my naive questions, but is there one brand or even type of coral that is preferred over others?

There is a lot of us animal loving nerds on this site. I think nylon bags can be used and you can use aragonite also. There is no such thing as naive questions as we all went through the same thing so ask away!

LOL, thanks for the compassion for newbies. I'll look around and see what I can find on aragonite. Thanks for your suggestions!

Whoa just researching. Don't use aragonite. Stick to the crushed coral. Aragonite will raise the ph really high while the effects of crushed coral is less.

There is always peat that you could try. You can buy a small bag to put it in and place that in your filter. I am sending you a website that sells peat and the bags, but I am sure you could probably get it at your local fish store too. The only drawback to adding peat is that it might discolor your water a bit. There are some fish that like to have a darker water but you may not like the appearance.
Is there anything in your tank that you have overlooked that might be causing your pH to rise?I just thought if there was something overlooked that it could be causing the rise.
Try the peat and see what happens. I think it is a gradual lowering of pH and not an immediate result like chemicals do. Here is the website: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm? pcatid=8232&Ntt=peat&Ntk=...
I hope this helps,

Achintya, I hope you didn't misread the question because it asks how to raise the ph, not lower it.

You can add crushed corals in your aquarium, it will naturally raise pH in the water
use some ocean rock the white stuff from your local stockist or some shells from the beach (boiled when got home) you can also use corral sand use live sand if your aquarium is a salt water aquarium or just the corral sand for fresh water
Hope this helps.

you can add lava rocks and limestone careful with crushed coral some times you can get film on the top of the water make sure you don't use anything thats live rock it will die in your fresh water tank and mess up the water if your a not a chemical person then get the powder stuff for raising ph Proper pH automatically adjusts and holds aquarium water at pH 8.2. Proper pH increases carbonate hardness, does not contain phophate, and also contains Aloe Vera, a proven natural stress reducer and healing agent of fish. This product is great for saltwater, brackish, and African Cichlid aquariums and freshwater tanks