Been there! use ammonia to bring it back up, best option is nickel carbonate but it's expensive. 3.5 is okay, 4.1 is best, either way it's hard to maintain perfectly, just try to keep it "in the range". If your anode area is too small, it'll cause it to climb more rapidly, aim for 2:1 at least (anode:cathode). The ammonia will cause the plate to be more brittle, but eventually evaporates out of the solution, and all becomes well hence where nickel carbonate is best, it doesn't add anything foreign to affect the quality of plate. I didn't notice anything different when I added ammonia though, just the grocery store variety Ammonium hydroxide works, nothing with funny scents to it though. As I'm sure you've learned, do it in small amounts!
Forgot to mention, too small an anode area causes it to increase rapidly, but just through normal operations under perfect conditions it will still climb, keep an eye on it.



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