Help with RO

[Jisaners]

I am having trouble with my water in my new tank set-up, can you help?

I started off with RO water ph 7.0-7.2ish, I then added the neccessary minerals to the water, that sent the ph up, I then added 6.5 buffer solution and the ph went down to 6.5, but it then rose again and is now about 7.4.

Should I have added the buffer before the minerals?

This business of the water chemistry is really boggling my head and I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance

:sad:

 

[OrionGirl]

What minerals were you adding? 7.4 pH is just fine for the vast majority of fish, though, so you would be fine just leaving it like that. Having the pH stable--anywhere from 6.5-7.5 is okay for most setups, but a fluctuating pH will stress fish (not the actual pH changes so much as the other changes that accompany these swings).

 

[Jisaners]

Tropic Marin Pro-Discus Mineral

 

[Jisaners]

What minerals were you adding? 7.4 pH is just fine for the vast majority of fish, though, so you would be fine just leaving it like that. Having the pH stable--anywhere from 6.5-7.5 is okay for most setups, but a fluctuating pH will stress fish (not the actual pH changes so much as the other changes that accompany these swings).

Tropic Marin Pro-Discus Mineral

 

[OrionGirl]

Are you keeping discus? Wild or domestic?

The order that the additions are made doesn't matter. If you are trying to keep the pH low, for wild discus or for breeding discus, you'll need to increase the KH without altering the other minerals in the water. The KH will increase pH a bit, but not substantially, and a KH of at least 3 will stabilize the pH and keep it stable.

However, if these are a domestic strain discus, it's unlikely that you need to modify the water very much.

 

[Jisaners]

Can you explain why my ph went back up though?

 

[RTR]

Because you used aquarium "buffers", which are very short-term and IMHO not suitable to trying to maintain fish.

 

[OrionGirl]

Once the minerals are added to the tank, they increase the KH. Higher levels of KH mean the water will be stable at a higher pH. Buffers temporarily suppress the pH by adding acids which are quickly consumed without significantly impacting the KH. So, the pH drops off when the acids are added, then bounces back up when the acids are neutralized. Continually adding the buffers won't change the water for long, and it adds even more dissolved solids to the water--not the way you want to go.