ph question

macawmagic

In Memoriam
when doing a freshwater dip I know you're supposed to match temp and ph. the ph in my rodi water is like 8.56 how can I lower that so it matches the 8.0 of my tank? I know to raise it add baking soda...but how do you lower it?
 
pH of RO/DI water is essentially meaningless. pH is ratio of H+ and OH- ions, but your DI has removed virtually every ion in the water. While the pH isn't a perfect match, it's a very weak pH, with almost no resistance to change when any ions are added. Really nothing to worry about, IMHO.

Still, if you want to manipulate the dip pH for peace of mind, first step is to have a pH meter. For short-term change in RO/DI water, a tiny pinch of baking soda will actually LOWER pH. Baked baking soda, on the other hand, will raise pH in the short term. Both have the long term effect of raising alkalinity, which leads to higher long term pH, but that doesn't matter for the purpose of a dip.

If you overshoot pH, you can add a little of the other to offset. Be warned, it takes very little to effect a change, since the ion concentrations are so low. And once you overshoot, it takes more of the other to compensate, since you've significantly added the ion content of the water.
 
Great information Jeff, thanks!

Related to the above, once I mix Reef Crystals with the RO/DI I am still in the 8.5-8.65 range. For 10% water changes should I be trying to lower that 8.6pH of the new water down to match the tank? Does the baking soda method work for that?
 
so for a freshwater dip I just really need to match the water temp? also how long is it safe to dip the corals in the FW? 30 sec? 10 min?
 
It depends on the corals keith. You will nuke SPS if you dip them in FW. I think only zoanthids, and other soft corals can be dipped in FW, but I'm still not even sure about that.
 
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