Chloram-X and pH

[DavidH]

OK help me with this one?
My water has Chloramines!!
I use Chloram because I can't stand the sulfa smell of Amquel+ or Prime,
But chloram lowers my pH overnight from 7.0 to 6.6 so I add a little baking soda to maintain pH. If I let it go my pH will just continue to drop.
Should add my kH is 3, so very touchy.
Amquel, Prime stay pretty steady but again the smell.
Is there something in Amquel that is buffering the water?
If I add baking soda to the holding tank it raises the pH prior to going into the tank, same swings again.
50% water changes daily in a 130 gal tank.
Any suggestions, thx Dave

[Graham]

Amquel and ChloramX are exactly the same thing other than powder verses liquid and both have very low buffering ability.

Amquel + has buffers in it to maintain the pH

Fix the pH in the water before using it in the main tank if you're going to use ChloramX

[DavidH]

Graham, that sounds simple, but if I add baking soda to the holding tank it raises the pH where as Amquel+ doesn't, It stay more stable. What are they buffering the amquel+ with?
With the baking soda I have to moniter and adjust constantly, and I still get an overnight swing?
Dave

[Graham]

You should be able to add some BS, getting the KH up to 4dH without taking the pH much above the 7.0 that it was at to begin with....it should hold


Are you overdosing the ChloramX so that there's lots left and it has nothing to react with? Unless CO2 levels are building the pH/KH should hold. These would be your only 2 sources of acids

[DavidH]

Hey Graham, using 2 tsp BS per 55gal in the holding tank.
I'll experiment a little this weekend and see how things hold.
Thx again, Dave

[sophie68]

Hi Dave,

My water also has chloramine and I am using Ultimate (by Hikari). It's a great water conditioner which neutralizes everything: heavy metals, chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite, etc...I buy the biggest bottle so that it's cheaper (about $34 for a gallon). I also have a low KH (about 3). I have never had PH swings problems and I don't even age my water. I don't know if it's due to Ultimate but you might want to try it. It actually contains ChloramX and buffers.
Good luck

Sophie