Should i raise ph of ro water

[Tonyball]

Question

The ro water I use ( 0.00tds ) for water changes drops to a pH of 5.0 over 24 hours..

Should I try and raise the ph of the ro water to say 7ph before adding to the aquarium..? Using seachem acid and alkaline buffers...

I also use tropica soil substrate which buffers.. so what will that do to the ro water?
My tank water reads 6.1 ph in morning dropping to 5.1ph when co2 is on after 6 hours..

Green algae seems to be hard to keep away..

Am new to this and trying to get some advice thanks

 

[Conort2]

What do you use to remineralise your RO water?

What tds level is your tank?

 

[Hanuman]

Welcome to UKAPS,

Should I try and raise the ph of the ro water to say 7ph before adding to the aquarium..? Using seachem acid and alkaline buffers...

Short answer is no. You don't need to raise the PH. Many of us use plain RO in our tanks. This said you should remineralize your water with Calcium and Magnesium as RO is deprived of all minerals. This has no impact on PH. I would target a 30 ppm Ca and 10 ppm for Mg. That should give you a GH around 7.

My tank water reads 6.1 ph in morning dropping to 5.1ph when co2 is on after 6 hours..

Looks just fine to me.

Green algae seems to be hard to keep away..

Which algae are you referring to? GDA? GSA? Others? In any case it's unrelated to your PH. Most probably due to your light intensity.

Perhaps try providing more information about your tank so that we can provide better advice. A picture would also help.

 

[Tonyball]

What do you use to remineralise your RO water?

What tds level is your tank?

I use seachem equilibrium my gh is 6..
Not sure what tds is..

 

[Tonyball]

Welcome to UKAPS,


Short answer is no. You don't need to raise the PH. Many of us use plain RO in our tanks. This said you should remineralize your water with Calcium and Magnesium as RO is deprived of all minerals. This has no impact on PH. I would target a 30 ppm Ca and 10 ppm for Mg. That should give you a GH around 7.


Looks just fine to me.


Which algae are you referring to? GDA? GSA? Others? In any case it's unrelated to your PH. Most probably due to your light intensity.

Perhaps try providing more information about your tank so that we can provide better advice. A picture would also help.

My gh is around 6 I use seachem equilibrium weekly..

Welcome to UKAPS,


Short answer is no. You don't need to raise the PH. Many of us use plain RO in our tanks. This said you should remineralize your water with Calcium and Magnesium as RO is deprived of all minerals. This has no impact on PH. I would target a 30 ppm Ca and 10 ppm for Mg. That should give you a GH around 7.


Looks just fine to me.


Which algae are you referring to? GDA? GSA? Others? In any case it's unrelated to your PH. Most probably due to your light intensity.

Perhaps try providing more information about your tank so that we can provide better advice. A picture would also help.

Once I clean the rocks it takes about 4 weeks for the algae to start appearing again and will completely cover the rocks in 8 weeks or so..

No other algae really, and plants grow well , eleocharis acicularis mini carpet grows well along with temple plants and java fern' no algae on them..

Lights on 6.5 hours, par around 50 to 60 at substrate, phosphate at 0.8, nitrates at around 15ppm, gh 6 ..
Ph 6.2 dropping to 5.2 after co2 injection..
Tropica soil substrate 8 months old..
Using ro water for water changes..

Lime green drop checker all day..
Good surface agitation..
Doseing
3mil of apt complete daily recommended dose..
I think it adds ( weekley )
17ppm potassium
10 nitrates
3.4 phosphate
0.26 iron
N trace.
120l tank there some algae appearing on the right 2 rocks i haven't cleaned them for 4 weeks ..
the other rocks were cleaned 7 days ago so they look clean ...

 

[Hanuman]

My gh is around 6 I use seachem equilibrium weekly..

Small note here. Using Seachem Equilibrium means you are also adding a truck load of Potassium. With your 6dHG target you would be adding around 70ppm of K. Since you are also adding APT complete, by weeks end you will have added ~ 90 ppm+ of K which is massive and unnecessary. If I were you I would ditch Seachem Equilibrium and simply remineralize with CaSO4 and MgSO4, which as a benefit are very cheap to buy compared to S. Equilibrium. You can use the IFC calculator or Rotala Butterfly calculator to figure out how much you need of each.

Once I clean the rocks it takes about 4 weeks for the algae to start appearing again and will completely cover the rocks in 8 weeks or so..

Just so to be clear. Algae spores are always present in a tank. Tanks with 0 algae do not exist. Those rocks are exposed to direct light so having some algae on them is unavoidable. You also don't have any fast growing plants in there which usually contribute to controlling algae.

No other algae really, and plants grow well , eleocharis acicularis mini carpet grows well along with temple plants and java fern' no algae on them..

This is what you should be focusing on. Plants health and it seems you are succeeding so don't worry too much about some algae on the rocks.

 

[Tonyball]

Small note here. Using Seachem Equilibrium means you are also adding a truck load of Potassium. With your 6dHG target you would be adding around 70ppm of K. Since you are also adding APT complete, by weeks end you will have added ~ 90 ppm+ of K which is massive and unnecessary. If I were you I would ditch Seachem Equilibrium and simply remineralize with CaSO4 and MgSO4, which as a benefit are very cheap to buy compared to S. Equilibrium. You can use the IFC calculator or Rotala Butterfly calculator to figure out how much you need of each.


Just so to be clear. Algae spores are always present in a tank. Tanks with 0 algae do not exist. Those rocks are exposed to direct light so having some algae on them is unavoidable. You also don't have any fast growing plants in there which usually contribute to controlling algae.


This is what you should be focusing on. Plants health and it seems you are succeeding so don't worry too much about some algae on the rocks.

 

[Tonyball]

Ok thanks i will get some calcium and Magnesium....
I change 40l per week so I had a quick look and i am thinking 5g of each in the water should give me a gh of 5 to 6 ?

Many thanks for the info

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Welcome to UKAPS.

and plants grow well , eleocharis acicularis mini carpet grows well along with temple plants and java fern'

That is the bit that matters.

Should I try and raise the ph of the ro water to say 7ph before adding to the aquarium..?

Buffering and pH are <"conceptually quite difficult areas">. What is your tap water like?

If you have <"a hard tap supply"> you can use a <"small amount of tap water"> to give you calcium (Ca++) and dKH ("alkalinity"). You are going to add magnesium (Mg) with your fertiliser addition.

Using seachem acid and alkaline buffers...

Like the others have said the genius of Seachem is alchemy, taking base metal and turning it into gold. Their buffers aren't buffers, they are an acid and base and you are literally <"giving with one hand and taking away with the other">, when you use both of them.

I use seachem equilibrium my gh is 6..

You can definitely use a bit less, if you want to carry on with "Equilibrium"?

As @Hanuman says dry salts are a lot cheaper, and you can get calcium chloride (CaCl2.2H2O), "Epsom Salts" (MgSO4.7H2O), calcium sulphate (CaSO4.2H2O) and potassium (bi)carbonate (K2(H)CO3) cheaply from eBay etc. Details, for how much you need, are here <"James' Planted Tank - Re-mineralising RO Water">.

Once I clean the rocks it takes about 4 weeks for the algae to start appearing again and will completely cover the rocks in 8 weeks or so..

Snails will clean them up, personally <"I like green rocks">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Hanuman]

I change 40l per week so I had a quick look and i am thinking 5g of each in the water should give me a gh of 5 to 6 ?

Yes close to 7 dGH in fact.

Also look at the price per Kg - I don't think Seachem can compete

 

[Tonyball]

Hi I've just brought some caso4 & mgso4 powder for raising my GH of ro water..

I change 50l per week...

So when mixed in a 500ml bottle of water 1 mil per 50l adds 0.5mg/l magnesium

And 1mil per 50l adds 0.6 mg/l calcium

I want to make the 50l of ro water a GH of around 6

How much of each in mil? do I need to add to achieve that GH of 6

I haven't a clue 😄

Thanks I'm advance

 

[bazz]

I'll let someone else comment on the quantities because I'm crap at math's that's why I use the IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator
What I don't understand is why you're making a solution and not just adding the ingredients straight to your RO water, with a pump and heater ready for the water change?
Cheers!

 

[MichaelJ]

What I don't understand is why you're making a solution and not just adding the ingredients straight to your RO water, with a pump and heater ready for the water change?
Cheers!

Agreed.

Should I try and raise the ph of the ro water to say 7ph before adding to the aquarium..? Using seachem acid and alkaline buffers...

No.

Hi I've just brought some caso4 & mgso4 powder for raising my GH of ro water..

I change 50l per week...

So when mixed in a 500ml bottle of water 1 mil per 50l adds 0.5mg/l magnesium

And 1mil per 50l adds 0.6 mg/l calcium

I want to make the 50l of ro water a GH of around 6

How much of each in mil? do I need to add to achieve that GH of 6

I haven't a clue 😄

Thanks I'm advance

All this was just answered in a separate thread earlier today btw. - just making people that stumble on this aware.

How much calcium & magnesium

using pure RO water is not a good idea Just to clarify: I'm using RO+DI water exclusively and mineralize it according to my needs. I too enjoy full control over all parameters. And don't have to ask anyone how to do it, so you may suppose I know something about it. Here, there's a newbie who's...

www.ukaps.org

Cheers,
Michael