Ro / Di and pH

[jeffaquarius]

The pH which is the power of Hydrogen is a value that indicates the level of oxygen in the water. It is the result of splitting H2O (water). The higher the hydrogen the more oxygen in the tank. I would prefer to maintain my tank with more oxygen.

 

[bribo12]

The pH which is the power of Hydrogen is a value that indicates the level of oxygen in the water. It is the result of splitting H2O (water). The higher the hydrogen the more oxygen in the tank. I would prefer to maintain my tank with more oxygen.

pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of a solution. It has nothing to do with oxygen. pH measures the activity of hydrogen in a solution

Edit: pH does influence oxygen but does not indicate oxygen levels. A lot of factors influence dissolved oxygen though. There's a whole lot of chemistry behind it

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[Gregcoyote]

Okay, if you want to get perfectly accurate;

pH is a measure of the hydorgen ion concentration of a solution. Solutions with a high concentration of hydrogen ions have a low pH and solutions with a low concentrations of H+ ions have a high pH. This may seem like a confusion way to express these reationships, and it is, until you understand what pH stands for. The equation that defines pH is given as follows:

pH=-log[H+] concentration,

which is read:

the pH is equal to minus the log of the H+ concentration.

For example is the H+ concentration is very low, lets say about 0.0000001M, then the pH is

pH= -log[.0000001] whis is the same as -log[1 X 10-7]

the term log[1 X 10-7] = -7

- (-7) = 7

You add salt and it's mineralization and the equation gets even more complicated. It comes down to ionic balances.




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[bribo12]

Yay math and chemistry! Woo


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[Gregcoyote]

I'm a engineer. Sorry.

C02 concentration in your home can really effect pH. When my windows are open I steady out at 8.4, when air conditioning is on I average 8.0-8.2.


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[bribo12]

I'm a engineer. Sorry.


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Haha no I understand it for the most part. Thanks for laying it out like that.


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[jeffaquarius]

Can you translate that in layman's language? Explain why pH increases when oxygen is high with water surface agitation?

 

[jeffaquarius]

Do you agree that lower value of pH (less Hydrogen) or dKH means more acidic?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Can you translate that in layman's language? Explain why pH increases when oxygen is high with water surface agitation?

It's more about lowering C02 concentration in the water. Dissolved C02 lowers pH. When atmospheric C02 is low, then so is the tanks C02 as it balances thru gas exchange at the surface (or skimmers). A sealed up tank or house raises C02 levels, a lot. That's why we recommend open tops that can breath. It's as much about C02, or more, than it is oxygen levels.

Oxygen is usually measured by redox potential (ORP), which indicates not so much how much oxygen is available, but the reduction or oxidizing potential of the tank water (which requires O2). As biological process's depend on these oxidizing potentials, a high value is preferable.


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[Gregcoyote]

Do you after that lower value of pH (less Hydrogen) or dKH means more acidic?

dKH is the hardness of the water, it's control over pH is that a high dKH level can "buffer" the pH and restrict it's range. Here the chemistry gets a bit more complex as magnesium levels also have a role in ionic balancing the tank water. But IMO, acidity is controlled by tank age, feeding and how much detritus is breaking down and/or C02 concentrations in the water.

A low dKH can be dangerous in many ways, one is it can allow pH to accidentally drop too low. Rarely does it go too high. The chemists can take it from here.

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[jeffaquarius]

Here is my take on the pH. It is a value to indicate how much hydrogen ions on a solution or water in our tank. Ion can be with negative sign since we are dealing with electrons. Deducting something from a negative becomes positive. The "power" means the logarithm from the formula you showed (pH= -log[.0000001] which is the same as -log[1 X 10-7]). When the pH is 7.0 it only means that the number of ions is equal to 10 to the power of 7. It becomes acidic when it is below 7 and that is when your algae proliferates. The alkalinity (dKH) value has an influence for the pH stability. Where do hydrogen ions come from? The simple answer is from any element containing it such as H2O. Where does oxygen comes from? The same answer as the previous one such as CO2.

EDIT: This is why the pH level goes up when you have more oxygen available in your tank.

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