Raising ph

[jpenny2385]

I just set up my Bright Copper solution.

The ph meter was calibrated with 4.0 buffer solution
Distilled water ph was 5

The Copper bright solution was ph .8 Should be 1.2 to 1.7

How do I raise the ph? The manual states ammonia?

[dadkar2]

The products of reaction with the ammonia and acid copper solution would be a small quantity of nitrogen gas (no contaminating metals), so the ammonia makes sense. HOWEVER it seems advisable to use laboratory grade ammonia, or you'll end up with soaps or surfactants or who knows what's in household ammonia, and it isn't clear what the effects will be on plating with these substances in solution. I'm sure you could get lab grade ammonia solution at Daigger.com. But use good ventilation since ammonia is not a good thing to be breathing. Use a VERY small quantity at a time (ie, a teaspoon full), with aeration running, and check the pH after about 1 hour before adding more.

The other possibility is lye (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH). I'm not a chemist, but basic high school chemistry would suggest that this would precipitate metal salts into the solution, which is not advisable. So, avoid these.

Ken