Why is PH changing?

[Rocketman]

Hey, what do you mean you use rainwater? In the US, isn't it illegal to use any naturally faling water for anything that may bring it in contact with and wildlife...?

Anyway, make sure you wait a good 24 hours before you test your tap water for pH, this gives the chemicals time to dissapate...who knows some of our acid rain may have fallen across your border?

 

[slipknottin]

Originally posted by Rocketman
Hey, what do you mean you use rainwater? In the US, isn't it illegal to use any naturally faling water for anything that may bring it in contact with and wildlife...?

ive never heard that... whats the reason? dont fish that live in ponds and lakes get rain water too?

 

[perrito_blanco]

I had a similar problem in the past and solved it (with the help of a few great forum members) by adding baking soda to the water to keep the KH around 2-3 ppm. This is something that I have to keep an eye on. I test weekly. Lots of fish were dying... it was a terrible scene.

Don't let this happen to you! The fish are being stressed out big time!

Keep an eye on the KH.

 

[OrionGirl]

Rocketman--not sure if this is what you're thinking, but there are in fact laws regarding the use of water that is in streams/rivers/lakes. You can't just take the water out of a flowing system and use it for whatever you want, nor can you return water to a system without certain permits.

Most states have instream flow legislation that determines who can take what amount of water from each system, as well as what it can be used for, and if it can be returned to the system. None of these laws limit the private collection of rain water for personal use (watering, drink, fish tanks, etc). Release of this water may be limited, depending on use and your location.

 

[wetmanNY]

perrito, the baking soda you used was "bicarbonate of soda" I think sodium bicarbonate doesn't stabilize pH like calcium carbonate does.

nah, Rocketman, those British Columbians get their weather fresh from the Pacific! There's more than a whiff of algally-produced sulfur in those damp seabreezes though. I think* it's carried as dimethyl sulfide. The sulfide gets oxidized to sulfate (SO4) in the atmosphere, and then when oceanic rain hits the unbuffered watershed, it does put some H2SO4 and maybe even some acrylic acid into the percolation. Voila! naturally-produced polluted acid rain! This is at issue in Scandinavia, with oceanic sulfur raining into granitic lakes.

Now I shall refresh myself with a www.google.com search: what was it? ah dimethyl sulfide . Bound to be geekatoid links in that one!

*think? hah! I just checked James Lovelock, The Ages of Gaia: a biography of our living earth and got the name of this chemical, which wastn't exactlyon the tip of my tongue, eh.

Yes! very satisfying geekatoid links!

 

[Rocketman]

I was being a little sarcastic with the illigal rainwater bit, but what I was trying to say is that the rainwater we get here is straight from the most polluted place on earth - Gary, Indiana. So, using this reasoning, I figured anyone in Michigan could most likely be sued by some animal rights group for making such a dumb mistake of killing their fish instantly with Michigan Rainwater. Hell, it could probably kill a person. I once had to test the Rogue River as part of this annual clean-up deal...community service...
The test results were skilled on a chart - "Safe for human drinking water...safe for human swimming...safe for filtered drinking water and bathing... safe for vertabre life forms... safe for invertabre life forms...safe for protozoan life forms...unsafe for any life form..."
Needless to say, the tests came back negative for the first one... and the second one... and barely made it to the filtered water result. Still, there was E. Coli crawling all over our petri dish sample.

 

[perrito_blanco]

Originally posted by wetmanNY
perrito, the baking soda you used was "bicarbonate of soda" I think sodium bicarbonate doesn't stabilize pH like calcium carbonate does.

Calcium carbonate will also raise his GH though. We don't know what his levels are of either.

I was being a little sarcastic with the illigal rainwater bit, but what I was trying to say is that the rainwater we get here is straight from the most polluted place on earth - Gary, Indiana.

Would running it though a canister filter with mucho activated carbon make it safe for use?

 

[wetmanNY]

that sinking pH feeling...

Sure it'll raise the totals of Hootchieman's "general hardness" which includes the "carbonate" hardness responsible for the KH reading, plus all other dissolved salts. Hootchieman was posting for explanations of the falling pH (from 7.0 to 6.0) in his medium-soft water. Perritobianco's experience with sodium bicarbonate (HNaCO3) reminds us that it doesn't stabilize pH, though it does temporarily boost it. When the CO2 dissociates, you're left with that Na that doesn't work as a buffer.

Perrito's got a good point about filtering rainwater with activated carbon. I'd add floss too, for particulates. I'd even use PolyFilter.

But of course by the time rain hits a swamp it's swampwater, or riverwater-- or in my case it would be tarpaper roofwater. That's not not nice either!

 

[perrito_blanco]

Re: that sinking pH feeling...

Originally posted by wetmanNY
Sure it'll raise the totals of Hootchieman's "general hardness" which includes the "carbonate" hardness responsible for the KH reading, plus all other dissolved salts. Hootchieman was posting for explanations of the falling pH (from 7.0 to 6.0) in his medium-soft water. Perritobianco's experience with sodium bicarbonate (HNaCO3) reminds us that it doesn't stabilize pH, though it does temporarily boost it. When the CO2 dissociates, you're left with that Na that doesn't work as a buffer.

OK. So your saying calcium carbonate will stabilize the pH with the initial application? If so, sounds good. Where could I pickup some?

 

[DGC]

nearly 10 years ago, in your opinion how would you answer this interested to see