lowering ph
- Thread starter travelinman1969
- Start date
Get a new RO unit. For the volume of water that you're talking about, I don't think that any diy action will be very effective.
I'm not sure about tannins having any effect on KH. Tannic acid should lower pH, but I'm pretty sure that the conjugate base, what's left after the H+ leaves and lowers pH, would contribute to KH. The net effect should balance, like adding CO2, pH goes down, KH stays the same.
Like OG said, water softner won't help either. It's just an ion swap. I'm not even sure that it even affects carbonates. I think that it just works on the cations Calcium and Magnesium, but I'm not positive about this.
I'm not sure about tannins having any effect on KH. Tannic acid should lower pH, but I'm pretty sure that the conjugate base, what's left after the H+ leaves and lowers pH, would contribute to KH. The net effect should balance, like adding CO2, pH goes down, KH stays the same.
Like OG said, water softner won't help either. It's just an ion swap. I'm not even sure that it even affects carbonates. I think that it just works on the cations Calcium and Magnesium, but I'm not positive about this.
happchem - for the standard salt-exchange softeners, you are right on. only Ca++/Mg++ swapped out for Na+. Acid-base resins will do both anions and cations, but the tanks have to be swapped out for recharge, not a home practice IMHO, too $$, too hazardous.
So, for the watersofteners that people have in their homes that use NaCl or KCl for ion exchange, do these swap Cl- for carbonate species? My learning on water softning was more off hand knowledge than study, and all I picked up on was the Na/K swap for Ca/Mg.
