sarah Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 I've been having molting issues in my tank, so I decided to test all the parameters in my remineralized water instead of just mixing up to a 200 TDS. I use SS GH/KH+ and the website description says: Use to re-mineralise RO water, rainwater, fully desalinated water etc. to reach a total hardness of about 6 °dGH and/or a conductance of about 300 +/- 50 µS (Microsiemens). My bucket of remineralized DI water has the following parameters: TDS 196 KH 3 GH 8 pH 8 - 8.2 This makes no sense at all. What the heck is going on here?? Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Nevermind! The company wrote back immediately, and I can't believe I was using TDS instead of µS! Going to dilute my batch now and test params again.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zodiac Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 you know,after many uses of the pen the tds will show a higher tds then what it really is. with SS GH/KH+,200 tds is not 8 gh. tds is closer to 150. you need to test the water you mix once in a while and adjust your tds number or calibrate the pen. you should also test the gh of your tank once in a while. sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Thanks. I will definitely check my TDS pen. I actually have another one laying around somewhere, so I will compare readings. When I diluted my bucket of water to TDS 150, GH was 6 and KH was 2-3. What's weird is my pH stayed at 8. This seems really high, doesn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zodiac Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 maybe you need to calibrate your ph pen. i don't test ph,but it does sound high with that little kh. sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Just checked - both TDS meters had same result. The company responded that the powder will have no effect on pH. Only the acids in my tank have an effect on pH. I just made up a new batch of TDS 175 water using even purer water (nanopure lab-grade 18.2MΩ-cm) and the pH is even higher. I verified my API liquid pH test results using a lab-grade pH meter. Tank water is at 7.81 and new water that I just mixed is at 8.71! Now I'm really baffled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimple minded Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 "One of the most common issues that reefkeepers face involves supplementing alkalinity while maintaining a reasonable pH. Alkalinity supplements impact pH in a variety of ways. One of these ways is the immediate altering of the pH." http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry_album/figure1.gif/image_preview http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 "One of the most common issues that reefkeepers face involves supplementing alkalinity while maintaining a reasonable pH. Alkalinity supplements impact pH in a variety of ways. One of these ways is the immediate altering of the pH." http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry_album/figure1.gif/image_preview http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry Interesting. I really don't know what to do at this point. My tank pH is too high as it is, so I don't think I should do a water change today with this crazy high-pH water. Maybe I just need to switch remineralizers entirely. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimple minded Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 I'm curious to what your remineralized RO pH does after 24-48-72 hours. It has been documented that there are many challenges accurately measuring pH in low-TDS, softwater scenarios (freshwater shrimpkeeping using RO). Without being sure that pH is what is causing your molting issues, I wouldn't start fiddling with pH much, specifically since your tank pH of 7.81 is still within suitable neocaridina parameters. I'm hoping that over time, your new water will drop pH to something below 8, and you can proceed as before. sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 I've been using this same SS GH/KH+ for almost a year, but I never though to test pH in the bucket. My pH in my tank has been slowly creeping up so I've started to worry. I wonder if I have been adding water with a higher pH all along, and my tank was bringing it down a bit. I am going to wait and not change the water today. Will re-test the bucket tomorrow and see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 I stuck an airstone in there. Will retest tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trotwood Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 I have the same result when I use Gh/Kh+. The PH goes up to at least 8 when I mix the water to a TDS of about 150. It drops a bit when I let it sit but remains quite high. I decided not to worry about it and haven't had any problems in the 8 months or so I've been using it for neos and tigers. sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 I have the same result when I use Gh/Kh+. The PH goes up to at least 8 when I mix the water to a TDS of about 150. It drops a bit when I let it sit but remains quite high. I decided not to worry about it and haven't had any problems in the 8 months or so I've been using it for neos and tigers. Wow, interesting. Glad it's not just me. What is the pH in your tank? Would you mind sharing your other parameters too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Well, after less than 24 hours, the pH in the bucket is 7.65. Water change time Thank you all for your input! Shrimple minded and Duff0712 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimple minded Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Schweet! Should settle to something reasonable in your tank. sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 I have the same results when I test the Gh+/KH+ in the bucket. However, in my tank my PH would plummet and I still haven't found out why (I have bog logs, but nothing else to lower ph from 8ish in bucket to <6). I had very little life in my tank so over the past week I was adding the SS directly to my tank. I would add around 1/2 of the spoon daily unless I saw any signs of stress. Before PH <6, TDS 180~ and KH 5-6. After PH 7-7.2, TDS 250~ and KH 7-8. I definitely don't recommend just dosing into the tank, but those are my findings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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