Baking soda does a lot of good things, but reducing nitrIte is not one of
them. In fact, if you have nitrItes, it may be counterproductive. If your pH
is currently in the 7's or so, baking soda will raise the pH to 8.2-8.4. The
higher the pH, the more easily ammonia will cause damage to the fish's
gills.

The "cycle" goes ammonia-nitrItes-nitrAtes. The first two are bad; the last
reading is an indication that your filter is converting the ammonia and
nitrItes.

So . . .
If you have ammonia, bind it with AmQuel, Prime, ChlorAm-X, etc. Use a
2-part ammonia test kit thereafter, or one of the Ammonia Alert cards made
by SeaChem (*great* little product!) The ammonia is still available to the
filter, but will not hurt the fish.

If you have nitrItes, you have to try to reduce them, or render them
harmless. You should add salt to get a reading of .15%, which will protect
the fish from brown blood disease. If you have Koi Clay, you should add a
cup or so to your pond; it will also help reduce nitrItes, but will add the
micro-nutrients you need to help kick-start a filter. Do water changes (with
appropriate dechlor products for your water source) if the nitrItes are
above 2 ppm. *Don't* backflush your filter, or you will wash out all the new
little bacteria that are trying to establish themselves!

If you have a reading on nitrAtes, it means that your filter is "trying"
and has commenced working; it just needs to mature and catch up.

Now, regarding the baking soda addition: If you do the above, you can add
the BS. Filters need the carbonate that BS supplies to feed and grow. BS,
along with Koi Clay, are the two best additives you can add to a new pond
situation to help jump-start the filter, providing both the food source and
the micro-nutrients a baby filter needs to grow G. If you have a bead
filter, baking soda is imperative (IMHO): a bead filter will NOT work to
optimum unless the KH exceeds 200ppm. Unless you have exceptional water, the
only way you can achieve that is with BS.

I hope this helps.

Lee


"DonKcR" wrote in message
newsJbUa.11479$ff.9123@fed1read01...
Hi, Another questions for the pro's, I read that backing soda can change
the
high nitrite level to a good level. Is this true? If so how does this
effect
fish and plants? How will it effect a bio filter? Has any one ever really
done this? The article I read can't remember where now said you use 1 cup
per 1000 gallon's. I won't try this without some good advise. Thanks in
advance! Kc