PeidPei Posted December 6, 2016 Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 Hello all! In my 20 gallon display tank I have of bee misclings, cbs, crs,the misclings of those. I tested the water very late at night last week and the Ph was like 6.4 and today I tested and it looked about 7.6 or 6.8 I'm not sure as I am color blind and can not see those shades. I went to petco and they tested about 6.8-7.0 as well so I'm gonna assume it is 6.8. when I did 4 gallon water changes every few days to my tds down to under 200 with distilled water to get the tank ready for my new tank it was reading constantly 6.4-6.2 ish. Im not sure why but it think it might be my rocks but I don't mind the rocks too much as they are very pretty. I use a very deep substrate of buffering soil and the tank is fairly new at 4 months old. Do y'all think Blue wizard Sl Aqua would help buffer it down to 6.4 again or should I manually just do a one gallon water change every few days? Note: I also gos finally got a RODI filter so I'm gonna use it from now on. Thanks! Edit: also, weird question but does TDS dilute? If I had say 400 TDS water and added in 0 TDS of the same amount to a large bucket would it become 200?? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. F Posted December 6, 2016 Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 Since you weren't using RODI with buffering substrate, you might have destroyed your soil's buffering capabilities. Test your tap water, I'm guessing the KH and pH will be high. Using blue wizard with RODI water is a good idea. It will prolong the life of your soil in the future, but the current soil might be destroyed. :/ check your tap tho!Also, yes TDS does dilute. It's concentration dependent. If you add 1g 0 ppm to 1g 400 ppm you will get 2g of 200 ppm. It works for any volume or concentration as well. Like 1 gallon of 400 ppm and 3 gallons of 100 ppm gives you 175 ppm, or 7 gallons of 200 ppm and 1 gallon of 0 ppm also gives you 175 ppm. 175 = (1/4*400)+(3/4*100) 175 = (7/8*200)+(1/8*0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeidPei Posted December 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 9 hours ago, Mr. F said: Since you weren't using RODI with buffering substrate, you might have destroyed your soil's buffering capabilities. Test your tap water, I'm guessing the KH and pH will be high. Using blue wizard with RODI water is a good idea. It will prolong the life of your soil in the future, but the current soil might be destroyed. :/ check your tap tho! Also, yes TDS does dilute. It's concentration dependent. If you add 1g 0 ppm to 1g 400 ppm you will get 2g of 200 ppm. It works for any volume or concentration as well. Like 1 gallon of 400 ppm and 3 gallons of 100 ppm gives you 175 ppm, or 7 gallons of 200 ppm and 1 gallon of 0 ppm also gives you 175 ppm. 175 = (1/4*400)+(3/4*100) 175 = (7/8*200)+(1/8*0) oh my gosh thank you so much! i introduced a thick later of new soil after I used RODI water. i think it might be the rocks to more honest. I might add in more ADA if possible. thanks so much again! Mr. F 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted December 6, 2016 Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 what kind of rocks are they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeidPei Posted December 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2016 They are called 天使の石 (white angels stone) and are like the blue seiryu except they are grey and have white markings and are very smooth. My cousin sent them to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 if they are like the seiryu stones, then they will change your water parameters. Those white markings might be calcium carbonate. you could test them by putting them in a tub and dripping some hydrochloric acid (preferred) or white vinegar to see if they fizz or bubble. If they do then it will dissolve in the aquarium changing the water parameters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. F Posted December 10, 2016 Report Share Posted December 10, 2016 On 12/9/2016 at 2:32 PM, PeidPei said: They are called 天使の石 (white angels stone) and are like the blue seiryu except they are grey and have white markings and are very smooth. My cousin sent them to me. These are made out of Seraphinite their chemical composition is: (MgAlFeLiMnNi)4-6(SiAlBFe)4O10(OH)8, called Magnesium Iron Aluminum Silicate Hydroxide It's not a carbonate derivative, but it's actually a more basic than carbonate. This is what is raising your pH. It's a shame because it's a very beautiful type of stone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeidPei Posted December 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2016 This is what they look like. Hmm perhaps if they are the reason I should remove them. It is weird because the Ph now stays at 6.8ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted December 13, 2016 Report Share Posted December 13, 2016 you could take one out and put it into a bucket of straight RO water and see if it starts changing parameters or raising the TDS Mr. F 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. F Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Agreed ^They do look like they have like deposits. Always check first. Don't do anything too drastic right away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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