1.026 salinity fine?

[pairenoid]

It may effect pH, tap water is not advisable for reef tank use and is not 0 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).

it may affect ph? how? please provide explanations, i read 2 different articles stating they wont affect each other

 

[menotakoala]

it may affect ph? how? please provide explanations, i read 2 different articles stating they wont affect each other

When you add top off water that has a lower ph than your DT, that top off water will slowly bring down the ph in the DT because they are balancing each other out. Also, I strongly urge you to get a RO/DI unit as this will save you money in the long run and you will know for sure that you are getting water with 0 TDS. Store bought and LFS water can't be trusted for 0 TDS and I don't like using grocery store distilled water as you won't know if that water had contact with copper or not in the final process. I bought a bottle of distilled water for some other purpose previously and did a TDS test which came back with a result of being other than 0 TDS.

 

[pairenoid]

"down the ph in the DT because they are balancing each other out"

umm can you explain that scientifically? because i read published articles that said that they dont balance out

 

[menotakoala]

"down the ph in the DT because they are balancing each other out"

umm can you explain that scientifically? because i read published articles that said that they dont balance out

Pairenoid, let me be as scientific as possible while being understandable. pH is a measure of Hydrogen ion concentration. The lower the Hydrogen concentration, the higher the pH (basic) and the higher the Hydrogen concentration, the lower the pH (acidic).

Let's use an example scenario of mixing two different vials of water. Vial 1 has a pH value of 10 (basic - lower concentration of Hydrogen ions) and vial 2 has a pH value of 5 (acidic - higher concentration of Hydrogen ions). When you mix these two vials of water, the concentration of Hydrogen ions want to be in equilibrium. Therefore, the higher concentration of Hydrogen ions will diffuse into the lower concentrated solution so that they will be in equilibrium. What does this do? The first vial (vial 1) will now have a higher concentration of Hydrogen ions than it originally had because the high concentration of Hydrogen ions from the more acidic vial diffused so that the concentration would be in equilibrium (balance out in layman's terms). Now that vial 1 has a higher concentration of Hydrogen ions present, what has happened? The solution has become more acidic (a decrease in the value of pH) due to the increased concentration of Hydrogen ions. This holds true in physics as well with examples such as heat, but that is another topic.

Therefore, yes, adding top-off or performing PWCs with a lower pH compared to your DT will have an affect on your DT's pH level as well.

Now then, will this have a drastic impact on your tank's pH level? Depends. with top-offs, probably not so much (0.001-0.1 depending on top off amount). But long-term wise, yes. PWC? Definitely since PWC is enough volume to have a larger affect on the overall water column.

 

[pairenoid]

i really cant tell if you are really serious or not (no offense at all)
i just did a google search and every link i clicked was conflicting with what you said
here is the article i read

Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com, in short


The pH of the combination of two solutions does not necessarily reflect the average (not even a weighted average) of their two pH values. The final pH of a mixture may actually not even be between the pH’s of the two solutions when combined. Consequently, adding pH 7 pure water to pH 8.2 seawater may not even result in a pH below 8.2, but rather might be higher than 8.2 (for complex reasons relating to the acidity of bicarbonate in seawater vs. freshwater).

a quote from a random forum
"You don't need to adjust the pH of RO/DI water. Since it has virtually no ions to buffer it, it has no buffering ability itself and will immediately go to the pH of the salt water upon addition to the tank. Not only that, but pH readings of water that is deionized can be inaccurate, so don't even trust the pH measurement of your RO/DI water."

"Only pure water evaporates at an assumed pH of a neutral 7.0. The incoming RO/DI water should be very close to tha"

so basically im only putting in what i lose from evaporation, nothing different, essentially
so you see why i have trouble on who to believe, i will side with the majority

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Run some chemi pure and that will stabilize your ph and don't worry about it a little fluctuation won't hurt. It will return to the proper ph when you top off IF it even changes.

 

[menotakoala]

pairenoid, you asked for a scientific answer and I gave you one. Whether you feel I am talking out of my *** or not is up to you. I am just telling you from what I gained during my time in MIT's Analytical Chemistry program.

 

[pairenoid]

i just ordered a 4 stage plus ro/di from bulkreef supply so all that doesnt matter now