Top off water & water for salt mix

[aeroblnde]

Hi everyone,

I am taking a poll question, What does everyone use for there RO/DI top off water to raise PH ( marine buffer, reef buffer, osmo prep, ro/right, ect....)

Also the RO/DI water used for mixing salt does anyone use anything in the water before mixing salt like osmo prep or do you just use salt mix? I switched from IO salt to IO Reef Crystal's but the PH & Calcium levels still isn't to my liking so I am woundering If anyone adds anything before mixing or is there a better salt mix? Is there a better salt mix.

Tom

 

[Phyl]

I use RC straight out of the bucket. I don't add anything to it before adding it to the tank and I don't buffer my top off water either. The only thing that is evaporating out of the tank should be water.

 

[aeroblnde]

Oh I should have mentioned my RO/DI water's PH is 7.1 and after a week of adding top off water to the tank the PH drops to 7.8 from 8.2 for some reason I can't keep it stable without adding something. I also loose about 1/2 gallon a day evap. Dam forced hot air heat.

 

[concept3]

Use kalkwasser water as top off. It has helped me greatly in the past before I had the calcium reactor. I drip the Kalkwasser as my sole topoff. As a matter of fact, I still use it every other day in addition to my Calcium reactor and regular topoff. As far as water changes, I throw in a teaspoon of baking soda for every 5 gallons of water to buffer it out a bit, I use TropicMarin Pro.

 

[Brian]

I have been using Kent Marine's PH Buffer To try and raise the PH a bit and keep it stable. Whether it works or not it is another story. But This gets dumped directly in the tank. I stopped dripping Kalk and have been using Tropic Marin Bio calcium which doesn't affect the PH at all. I am also using Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt.

My whole problem is my tank is in the basement which was finished not too long ago (new windows, insulation)  so I think I have some Co2 issues.

My PH goes from 7.8 in the early morning to 8.1 when the lights go off. I got it up to 8.2 for a day or two... But then it dropped again.