How to Raise pH With Borax

Is the pH level high or low? It's a question you would get about your swimming pool, aquarium, or garden, where a constant pH is crucial. Water has a neutral standard of seven pH. Raise pH with Borax because your water needs more alkaline to stabilize a liquid's acidity. Borax invigorates Hydrogen-ion activity because it becomes a standard pH solution when mixed with water. A simple Borax mix can be measured to manage low pH levels in household water features naturally.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Borax (20 Mule Team)
• Measuring cup
• Spoon (large mixing)
• Mixing bowl large)
• Water (warm)
• Rake

1. Measure ten ounces of Borax into a measuring cup and pour it into a large bowl. Begin to stir the dry ingredient as you pour warm water into the bowl. Stir and pour water into the Borax until the Borax is completely dissolved. Add more Borax into the liquid until the water is completely saturated with Borax. You will have a saturated water and Borax solution when Borax flakes begin to accumulate at the bottom of the bowl and do not dissolve into the water.

2. Bring the solution to the water that has a high acidity. Add one cup of Borax and water solution into the water with a low pH. The amount Borax solution is approximately one cup of Borax mix to one hundred gallons of acidic water. Use a long handled rake to agitate the main body of water once the Borax solution has been added.

3. Wait one hour before checking the pH level of the treated water. It takes only a short amount of time for the Borax to raise the pH level of treated water. You will add more Borax solution to the treated water depending on how acidic the treated water was before adding the Borax. Check with a pH meter and continue to add the solution when needed. The normal pH of water is a pH of seven. Lower pH levels will be raised after adding the Borax solution. Borax has a stable pH of nine point seven, this is plenty of enough alkaline to raise the pH of any water that is fighting to keep a pH of 3 or higher.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear gloves when mixing and using Borax solutions. The solution can dry out your skin if you submerge unprotected skin into the solution over extended periods of time. Store the solution in a plastic bowl with lid away from animals and children. Use the treatment once a week until the water has rebounded from a low pH. Continue to add small amounts of the Borax solution into the water once a week to maintain a healthy pH level.
• Spilling a Borax solution on the grass will dry out that area and cause a dead spot for a number of weeks where it was spilled. Cut the lawn very short at those spots where Borax is spilled. The grass will grow back to its healthy condition after a few weeks. Do not let animals, pets, or humans consume the Borax solution, it is toxic at high concentrations. Contact a poison control center in the event of a ingestion.

References

• Borax and Pool Care
• Life at Interfaces (Biocomplexity in Extreme Environments)

Resources

• Borax.com (The pH Effect)