Jestersix

Making salt water in SF

Schmitty

Supporting Member
SO I JUST NOTICED THAT THE WATER IVE BEEN BUYING FROM WHOLE FOODS IS 9.5 ph- does anyone know where I can go to get lower and or can I manually lower the water I get from Whole Foods before I put in tank??? My ph has been high at 8.5ish lately and I think I finally realized why
 
Hmmm....that pH seems awfully high for fresh water. Anyway, fresh water should have no buffering capacity and therefore have no impact on the pH of your salt water because your salt water mix will massive change the pH. The ph of saltwater is mostly driven and buffered by bicarbonate.


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Well this song brings it down to about 8.5 but if I use it as a top off water it raises the tank water trying to figure it out
 
Hmmm....that pH seems awfully high for fresh water. Anyway, fresh water should have no buffering capacity and therefore have no impact on the pH of your salt water because your salt water mix will massive change the pH. The ph of saltwater is mostly driven and buffered by bicarbonate.


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Pure RO/DI and distilled water should have no buffering capacity and pH cannot be measured. What kind of water are you using? Bottled mineral water or spring water will often have a pH in the 9s. Even my tap water is in the 9s.
 
yeah rule of thumb, never trust the claims of "filtered water" from those machines outside of stores, it's only as good as the desire of the owner of said machine to change out all the filtration on a regular basis and considering that is a business for them they'll probably be trying to maximize profits by letting those filters go a bit beyond their capacity.
 
Actually pure water is pH7 and can be measured. Bottled water is different because it has minerals (salt) in it.


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Agree with Will and Randy that the pH of fresh water without buffer won’t have any effect on the pH of saltwater you add it to or mix from it. Total non-issue.

Also, pH of 8.5 in tank is upper limits of fine, but fine. Most people talking about reef tank pH have problems keeping their pH high enough.
 
1) Measure the TDS in your "pure" water. RODI at home is probably cheaper than buying water too, although you need a way to store it for a bit.
2) Be thankful for the pH of 8.5, your stonies will love it.

More concerning (although not world ending) is what they might be putting in it that raises the pH. Likely nothing too exotic, but worth understanding.

What is the alk before and after you put salt in?
 
The Alk was 10.4 before Ill measure today to see what it is after, I added some White Vinegar to bring down the PH for now, but yeah I need to figure this out. Im assuming this is what's been causing my zoas to stop thriving...
 
What is the tank pH 24 hours after your WC? I'm still not seeing that any of this is a problem, nor would I use carbon dosing as a way to correct pH.
 
I double checked the probe and that was the problem... sometimes the most obvious are the hardest to find. Thanks everyone, PH is back to normal...
 
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