R.o. - doh!

[Cosmo]

Been a long long time since I used any large quantities of RO, lately it's been just a little here and there to add to the mix with tap water, but, since I got the new 100gal storage tank specifically for RO only, I filled it up then screwed it up :p Relearned a lesson I'd forgotten :angry:

Had 90 gal of pure RO day before yesterday, TDS of 3. I stuck in my ph meter and it jumped right up to about 7.8, which is where my tap water goes after it gasses off the CO2. So, being the noob that I've become I added that same amount of phosphoric acid that I add to tap water to bring it down to about 7.2. Problem was, the RO never really was at 7.8 so I ended up with 90 gal of 2.67 give or take acid in my storage tank. I added some buffer and it jumped all the way up 3.27 and a TDS of 107:huh:

I'd forgotten that RO is acidic by nature and out of the membrane is in 5.xx range in Ph - I know a lot of people want to believe RO is neutral, but trust me, it's not. The reason my pen had been reading the higher number was because the gas off created an artificial ph. In the old days I'd always add a couple grains of salts before reading cause even a small amount of Gh would give you a better reading, plus, in the old days my water wasn't saturated with frigging CO2.

Anyway, since RO has ZERO Kh buffering capability, the actual ph plummeted from the 5.xx range into the 2.xx range. Even a drop or two would have sent it way down, I put 20ml of acid into it :bandana:

Pumped it all down the drain yesterday :cry:

lesson learned :p

prolly cleaned the drain out real nice though hahahaha

[Las Vegas]

I don't understand the PH readings with R/O water that a lot of people post here. I use straight R/O water for my tank. The PH reading is 6.6. The next day it's 6.6 or 6.4. Then on 3rd day which is water change day it's 6.4 or just a bit lower. I change 50% to 75% of the water and the PH just starts all over. I did test to monitor the PH levels, nitrate, nitrites and ammonia levels using the master test kit. I did this for awhile, more than 3 weeks before I finally said, enough, water conditions are fine. I had once gone on a week long trip and upon my return I did a water test just to see readings. I remember, levels were high, except PH level was 5.0. All my fish were alive and well, but I don't think I would go longer than a week without a water change again. My straight tap water PH level is 8.0. For me, that's to high.

[Altum Nut]

Sorry Jim that you had to waste all that R/o and waste water to make it.
Was it possible to just drain half and top it up with straight tap to neutralize your number for use.
I bet it cleaned your drain real good.

...Ralph

[Cosmo]

I don't understand the PH readings with R/O water that a lot of people post here. I use straight R/O water for my tank. The PH reading is 6.6. The next day it's 6.6 or 6.4. Then on 3rd day which is water change day it's 6.4 or just a bit lower. I change 50% to 75% of the water and the PH just starts all over. I did test to monitor the PH levels, nitrate, nitrites and ammonia levels using the master test kit. I did this for awhile, more than 3 weeks before I finally said, enough, water conditions are fine. I had once gone on a week long trip and upon my return I did a water test just to see readings. I remember, levels were high, except PH level was 5.0. All my fish were alive and well, but I don't think I would go longer than a week without a water change again. My straight tap water PH level is 8.0. For me, that's to high.

Mark, my guess is you're TDS is higher than man and that your RO contains more minerals than mine. Very unusual for pure RO to last a day or two without crashing, at least in my experience. Been so long I don't recall the exact Ph reading but it was in the low 5's and I had to add buffers to it to bring it up to 6.2, which is what I kept my Discus in at the time. Since the RO process removes all kh buffers, not sure how yours can stay so stable ???

[Cosmo]

Sorry Jim that you had to waste all that R/o and waste water to make it.
Was it possible to just drain half and top it up with straight tap to neutralize your number for use.
I bet it cleaned your drain real good.

...Ralph

Thought about that Ralph, even thought of mixing with my tap in small amounts to use in place of the phosphoric acid, but I know how x amount of acit effects the water while the the acid RO water was a giant question mark, decided it wasn't worth the gamble...

[Las Vegas]

Mark, my guess is you're TDS is higher than man and that your RO contains more minerals than mine. Very unusual for pure RO to last a day or two without crashing, at least in my experience. Been so long I don't recall the exact Ph reading but it was in the low 5's and I had to add buffers to it to bring it up to 6.2, which is what I kept my Discus in at the time. Since the RO process removes all kh buffers, not sure how yours can stay so stable ???
Yea, you might be right. Other people have said similar comments. But I just know that my Discus raising has never been this easy or have such good results. Since I started doing my water this way, I have not lost any fish to illnesses. I was raising Angels before the same way with great results. No chemicals added of any kind.

[Cosmo]

Yea, you might be right. Other people have said similar comments. But I just know that my Discus raising has never been this easy or have such good results. Since I started doing my water this way, I have not lost any fish to illnesses. I was raising Angels before the same way with great results. No chemicals added of any kind.

no need to fix what ain't broke :)

[pitdogg2]

man straight pure lemon juice has a Ph of 2. What you needed was some flavoring and or sugar:drummer: