Water Chemistry question

[Reiner]

I have a 40 gallon FOWLR tank at work in my cubicle and an RO unit is not an option. I'll be using the Sparkllets bottle drinking water that is supplied by the company for my water changes. On the lid of the bottles it says
Quote: "Crystal - Fresh Purified Water Purified by Reverse Osmosis and / or deionization, filtered and ozonated to insure quality. Contains purified water with selected minerals (sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulfate) added for taste. Mineral amounts are not nutritionally significant.

Now I tetsed the water and it has a pH 7 and KH 1.

Are there any commercialy available products to up the pH and KH. I know in Freshwater tanks many people use Baking Soda since it's cheap and it raises the pH to about 8.2 and also raises the KH. Could this be used in a Saltwater tank as well or what are suggested products to by to make sure I have the proper pH and KH when doing water changes.
Thanks

 

[Billybeau1]

PH and KH in top off water is not a concern. These values come from and are maintained by the salt mix. You should only be concerned with the tank values. If they are out of whack then you need to adjust.

 

[Paintbug]

theres not enough ionic material to test in RO water, so test kits are usually wrong. once added to the tank your tank buffering capacity will kick in and should adjust the water almost instantly. or in the case of a water change the new salt added will buffer the water.

 

[Reiner]

So are you guys saying that once the salt mix is added that the pH and KH will rise?

 

[Billybeau1]

Yes but you only use new salt water for water changes, not for top off as salt does not evaporate much.

 

[Reiner]

Yes, freshwater for top off.
The part I was worried about was larger water changes but it sounds like that the water should have the right chemistry once the Salt is added.

 

[kevin2000]

My 02

Alkalinity does not evaporate .. so once your alk level is properly established in the tank it tends to stay there unless you remove it. The fact that your top off water does not have a decent alk level should not be significant. However, alk can be used as a source for growth by corals and coralline which removes it from the water column and requires you to replenish ... sometimes with a water change .. sometimes by using an additive .. depends on the alk/calc demand of your particular tank.