How do i raise my RO waters pH from 7 to 8.3?

[Yesevil123]

I just got an RO buddy unit that does 100 gallons a day, the water from it has a pH of 7 and Id ideally like it at 8.3. Now, I've read somethings about baking soda and reef buffer, I just don't know how i would dose either of them out if I'm mixing it into my PLAIN RO water and not salted.

 

[Uncle99]

That test can be quite inaccurate.
I’ve not tested PH in 7 years now.
PH is fine in most reef settings.

Of course you can increase PH a tad by pulling outside air into skimmer, ensure max water movement, using a scrubber, but that can be expensive.

 

[Yesevil123]

Yeah i know it can be, but it's all that I've got for now. I need to do a water change and i never thought to check the pH of the ro until I read some stuff about the water. So now I'm not sure if I should increase the pH before I add salt or if I should just add salt to the RO and go from there

 

[GSPClown94]

I just got an RO buddy unit that does 100 gallons a day, the water from it has a pH of 7 and Id ideally like it at 8.3. Now, I've read somethings about baking soda and reef buffer, I just don't know how i would dose either of them out if I'm mixing it into my PLAIN RO water and not salted.

Looks like you are using a saltwater pH test kit on freshwater. Are the chemicals and color cards the same for fresh and salt? Also API in general gives pretty poor results. Also 7 is what I would expect RO water to be, I'm not sure I see anything wrong with this.

 

[Yesevil123]

Looks like you are using a saltwater PH test kit on freshwater. Are the chemicals and color cards the same for fresh and salt? Also API in general gives pretty poor results.

So honestly I've never had freshwater fish so I didn't think there was a difference in the pH part of the test. And yeah I want better test supplies but it's expensive so I can only buy like one or two items at a time depending the price. If you can lead me in the direction for inexpensive test kits that are accurate id greatly appreciate it

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There is never a reason to measure the pH of 0-2 ppm tds ro/di water. Kits and meters will not detect it correctly, and it is NEVER the cause of low pH in seawater made from it.

 

[Yesevil123]

Okay perfect. Thank you!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

As a further example, if you add pH 7 totally pure water to seawater at pH 8.0, the final pH will be above 8.0.

 

[exnisstech]

Just throwing this out there so its probably useless old guy ramblings but that's what I do best. I've read and responded to some of your threads. While I totally get trying to gather information I think you may be getting close to complicating things more than neccesarry, especially early in as it appears you are to the hobby. Many people seem to go out of the hobby after short periods of time because they can't achieve some objective that isn't really important to begin with. Ramblings over.
HappyTanks Giving all

 

[BriDroid]

Your RO/DI water is fine at that pH. Once you add your salt mix, it will buffer to 8.X, or whatever your salt mix buffers to. No need to worry about the RO/DI water pH.

 

[Yesevil123]

Just throwing this out there so its probably useless old guy ramblings but that's what I do best. I've read and responded to some of your threads. While I totally get trying to gather information I think you may be getting close to complicating things more than neccesarry, especially early in as it appears you are to the hobby. Many people seem to go out of the hobby after short periods of time because they can't achieve some objective that isn't really important to begin with. Ramblings over.
HappyTanks Giving all

I totally get what your saying. That's the thing, I don't know what is and what isn't something I should focus and worry about. I usually over analyze everything and make it way more complicated for myself then it is. I'm kind of just looking for directions and dos and donts

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

I totally get what your saying. That's the thing, I don't know what is and what isn't something I should focus and worry about. I usually over analyze everything and make it way more complicated for myself then it is. I'm kind of just looking for directions and dos and donts

Everything you need is on this website. Slow and steady without chasing particular numbers is the best way to start out.

 

[KrisReef]

There is never a reason to measure the pH of 0-2 ppm tds ro/di water. Kits and meters will not detect it correctly, and it is NEVER the cause of low pH in seawater made from it.

Will you be explaining these things in the upcoming thread you are working on?

Could be helpful for lots of folks who are trying to “get it done right.”

Thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley
If I got the topic wrong maybe this could be in another thread. Happy T Day, the board is blessed with your support, information, and wisdom regarding our hobby chemistry questions.

 

[IceNein]

The pH of pure water is by definition 7.0

If it was not 7.0, then the water wouldn't be pure.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Will you be explaining these things in the upcoming thread you are working on?

Could be helpful for lots of folks who are trying to “get it done right.”

Thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley
If I got the topic wrong maybe this could be in another thread. Happy T Day, the board is blessed with your support, information, and wisdom regarding our hobby chemistry questions.

These topics are another example of where folks should not ever trust the AI search tools. The AI that summarizes a search that I just did on Safari gives this false information:

No, adding pure water to seawater does not raise the pH; in fact, it slightly lowers the pH because pure water has a neutral pH of 7, while seawater is naturally slightly alkaline with a pH around 8.1, so adding pure water dilutes the alkalinity of the seawater, causing a slight decrease in pH.

I show why that simplistic assertion is wrong here:

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day# 299: New Salt Water Parameters

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 299 You are making a batch of new salt water for a water change, and realize that you overshot your salinity target. You measure the parameters to be: salinity 36 ppt pH 8.0 Calcium 455 ppm Alkalinity 9 dKH Magnesium 1380 ppm ORP 255 mV You then add some...

www.reef2reef.com

From it:


pH rises a small amount because bicarbonate is a weaker acid as salinity declines. That is, the salts in seawater encourage bicarbonate to come apart into H+ and carbonate. When there are fewer ions present by dilution with the fresh water, fewer bicarbonate ions break into H+ and carbonate, and less H+ means pH is higher.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I discuss the measurement issues of pure water here:

Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Final Effluent pH

Aside from the issues discussed above concerning the effluent’s pH when the DI resin becomes depleted, the final pH coming out of an RO/DI system should not significantly concern reef aquarists. Many aquarists with low pH problems have asked, for example, if their aquarium’s low pH may be caused by their replacing evaporated water with RO/DI water that they measure to have a pH below 7. In short, the answer is no, this is not a cause of low pH nor is it something to be generally concerned about, for the following reasons:

1. The pH of totally pure water is around 7 (with the exact value depending on temperature). As carbon dioxide from the atmosphere enters the water, the pH drops into the 6’s and even into the 5’s, depending on the amount of CO2. At saturation with the level of CO2 in normal (outside) air, the pH would be about 5.66. Indoor air often has even more CO2, and the pH can drop a bit lower, into the 5’s. Consequently, the pH of highly purified water coming from an RO/DI unit is expected to be in the pH 5-7 range.

2. The pH of highly purified water is not accurately measured by test kits, or by pH meters. There are several different reasons for this, including the fact that highly purified water has very little buffering capacity, so its pH is easily changed. Even the acidity or basicity of a pH test kit’s indicator dye is enough to alter pure water’s measured pH. As for pH meters, the probes themselves do not function well in the very low ionic strength of pure freshwater, and trace impurities on them can swing the pH around quite a bit.

3. The pH of the combination of two solutions does not necessarily reflect the average (not even a weighted average) of their two pH values. The final pH of a mixture may actually not even be between the pH’s of the two solutions when combined. Consequently, adding pH 7 pure water to pH 8.2 seawater may not even result in a pH below 8.2, but rather might be higher than 8.2 (for complex reasons relating to the acidity of bicarbonate in seawater vs. freshwater).

 

[BriDroid]

Will you be explaining these things in the upcoming thread you are working on?

Could be helpful for lots of folks who are trying to “get it done right.”

Thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley
If I got the topic wrong maybe this could be in another thread. Happy T Day, the board is blessed with your support, information, and wisdom regarding our hobby chemistry questions.

I agree! @Randy Holmes-Farley is an asset to this community. I have learned so much from him in the short time I've been here. He is able to take all the crazy talk in my head and calm me down just by reading his posts and articles. I would love to buy that man a drink and sit down and talk someday! Oh the thing I could learn!

 

[KrisReef]

I agree! @Randy Holmes-Farley is an asset to this community. I have learned so much from him in the short time I've been here. He is able to take all the crazy talk in my head and calm me down just by reading his posts and articles. I would love to buy that man a drink and sit down and talk someday! Oh the thing I could learn!

I have tried to soak up his knowledge but my old brain and his foutain of information is like drinking from a fire hose for me. I just keep rereading and wished it would stick. Which is why I am glad he is here because my brain sells are not very reactive it seems.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you folks.