Do you condition your RO/DI water?

[harry r]

since RO/DI water is stripped of everything, does anyone add any kind of ph adjuster to the water? I had been adding ph adjuster to the water cause my tank's ph is not the best but just tested the top off water after adding it and noted a tds of 46 ppm. so the stuff i am adding is not good. any suggestions?? tks

 

[driftin]

For water changes I just aerate it well after adding the salt. My top-off is fed through my kalk reactor, which takes care of the pH...

Are you doing top-offs in large batches? How's the air exchange in the tank room?

 

[harry r]

bump for more input...

 

[Jeff]

Harry, anything you add to top-off water will raise the TDS. What ph adjuster are you adding? What is your alk at now?

 

[harry r]

Hey Jeff, the ph adjuster is made by API. got it with the filters i "used" to use from them to make ro/di. since using it, my ph has been great (daytime 8.1-8.2) in winter, but then i got the bright idea of measuring the water cause i still cannot keep zoa's alive. and bingo, tds issues. Not sure if they are related. I had thought that others used a ph adjuster so i used this one. guess i will will stop using and see how the ph changes... I do 10% water changes every 1-2 weeks..
my alk is 143 - 161 ppm kh.

 

[madadi]

i never really looked at the pH. as long as its not bellow 7.8 im alright. i center the water chemistry dosing around alkalinity. calcium and magnesium are closely tied with alkalinity also.

i think dosing anything to adjust pH when alkalinity is fine and stable is asking for trouble.

 

[Rod Buehler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14731403#post14731403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madadi


i think dosing anything to adjust pH when alkalinity is fine and stable is asking for trouble.

I agree 100%

 

[harry r]

tks for the advice. the adjuster is headed for the can...

 

[wld1783]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14733250#post14733250 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by harry r
tks for the advice. the adjuster is headed for the can...

Keep it natural. I just went back to running my RODI through a bucket of aragonite sand for top off. At PH 7.0 the sand will dissolve and help buffer the system even more. For water changes I plan on daisy chaining two or more filters filled with sand to buffer the fresh water.

I believe the sand was once coral that succumbed to parrot fish and tides. By dissolving it in RO water I'm augmenting my ca reactor and providing the necessary nutrients naturally.

Now I'm pumping less of that terrible CO2 into my system. I may even qualify for a carbon credit

Bill

 

[madadi]

i like that idea. how do you have it run? ARM media should be best. it should have the highest dissolving pH. also if you use the smaller media you can increase surface area and efficiency. im going to try this in a 3in PVC pipe or maybe just dumping some in my RO reservoir at the bottom?

 

[wld1783]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14734610#post14734610 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madadi
i like that idea. how do you have it run? ARM media should be best. it should have the highest dissolving pH. also if you use the smaller media you can increase surface area and efficiency. im going to try this in a 3in PVC pipe or maybe just dumping some in my RO reservoir at the bottom?

I use fine sand as there is no pump as in a reactor to increase efficiency. So I chose a media with the greatest surface area. ARM will help but may not be the best.

I guess you could build an open reactor that aerates the top off water as well but that would require a pump and additional electricity.

Dumping some in the bottom wont hurt

Bill

 

[madadi]

so what canister do you use to hold the sand? this is on your RO water line right? before entering your reservoir?