Mixing Seachem Acid/alkaline Buffer And Equilibrium With R/o

HI my tank has been cycled for around 2 weeks or more and I have been using r/o with tap mix to get my desired kh/gh. I mix around 26 gallons of r/o to 4 gallons of tap. I get around a 4 kh/gh. Only problem is something in my tap water is making making my PH just up to 7.9. I have test for Phosphates and the test from the tap comes back with a 5+.
So I decided to try mixing my r/o with the above listed products. I was just going to settle with the PH of 7.9 but the products are not that expensive. So I thought why not just have the cleanest water to start out with. Who know how my tap water will change through out a year and it's just easier to start with clean good r/o water.
The tank is a 75 gallon. I have pool filter sand as substrate and I also have a decent amount of drift wood in the tank. The tank is going to be planted, but I am going to order the plants with the fish to save on shipping and total cost of purchase sense I have a 15% off promo code. I boiled the driftwood for 3 hours and it is no longer leaching anything into the water.
Stock List:
* Angels
* Rams
* tetras

Here are my questions about the buffers:
The alkaline buffer and acid buffer are to be used in conjunction to achieve the desired KH and PH. So say I shoot for a KH of 4 or 5 or something around there. And lets say I shoot for a 7 - 7.2 ph or something close to that. Will my PH start to rise after a short amount of time like ph likes to tend to do. Or are these products pretty good at holding your ph where you mix it to be at. I'm worried if I want a 7 ph and make my mix to give me a 7 ph that it will start to drift up because I have the KH around a 5.

Thanks in advance for any comments. I just really want to get my fish already. LOL. But want a stable tank before I order them. I was going to order them this weekend to have them in by tomorrow, but wanted feed about and a stable tank before I order $300+ worth of plants and fish
Thanks again

 

What is the KH and pH out of your tap? If the KH is high enough, I would leave out the RO so you won't need to add back in any buffers and minerals. None of the fish you want to stock the tank with need a specific pH of 7.0 anyway. I've kept an angel, ram and tetras at a pH of 8.0 and they've all thrived.

Having said that, I do use Seachem Alkaline Buffer (no Acid Buffer) at each water change because my KH is at 2-3 drops out of my tap so it helps to raise it to 5dKH and keeps my pH stable at 8.0 in my tank.

 

Hello, when you target a pH and use the ratio chart note that it is designed for RO/DI water. If your water has carbonate hardness (KH) the amount of acid buffer will not be simply divided by the middle number in the chart.


If your water has KH:
My advice would be to start with current KH (meq/L) and desired KH (meq/L) and use the calculator tab on the Alkaline Buffer product website, enter current and desired level. You will have to go above this level because when you add acid buffer it will reduce your KH. Start slowly and record how much is added and try different ratios until you can find one that works.

I mix 2 gallons at a time and my target was 6.8 ph / 5 kh and it took about 12 different mixes to determine the correct amount. My refill water had 2 dkH and it took 0.9g alkaline buffer / 0.38 acid buffer to get 6.8 ph and 4 kh. My tap water has 3 dkH and takes 0.54g alkaline / 0.35 acid.

If your water doesn't have KH:
Simply convert dKH (if using the test kit) to meq/L (divide by 2.8 or use KH conversion calculator online e.g. 5 dKH = 1.786 meq/L) enter on (Seachem - Alkaline Buffer) calculator tab or use the "Dose2" app. Add that much alkaline buffer, then go back to "Details" tab on the product website and use the ratio chart and divide the amount of alkaline buffer by the middle number in the chart.

When I had 15 gallons of water with 0 dkH and targeted 7 pH and 5 dkH the ratio chart was exactly accurate. Since I mix 2 gallons at a time I have to use a digital scale (Seachem also has a digital spoon). Depending on the current water KH it will take some experimenting.

The pH holds steady. Test kH daily to determine how quickly your buffer is reduced then you will know how long before you should update the parameters. After that I recommend testing every few days until you have consistent readings and are comfortable working with the buffers.

 

My tap water has anywhere from 20-25 kh. Gh is usually 3 or 4 degrees under kh. I live in rural MN. Nothing but farm land all around me. So the possibility of fertilizers and other thing running off into my towns water is high and very likely. My tap water ph settles out around 8.4ish. I'd just mucj rather mix my water with r/o sense I have an r/o system. My tds supply is 300. After r/o filter I can get it down to 6. I think there is something else in my water I can't figure out with a test that is helping buffer my water. So the r/o route is much easier for me to deal with instead of mixing tap water with r/o. Because there is a high chance my tap water can change from month to month.
I'll be getting my seachem products in a couple of days. I'm excited to hear that the buffers will hold the ph. It will be exciting to see a 4 to 5 kh and a lower ph other than 8.

 

Yes I think you will be pleased when using it with RO water. It is very accurate and stable, although Seachem offers even more stable buffers, they have phosphates in them which are not good for a planted tank (can cause algae). The Seachem buffers work very well for me.

 

Aquaboy, have you used equilibrium before. I have done a little ready on it and it sounds like you add Equilibrium first to get your desired GH. Then you go ahead and add your buffers.
I would also like to know if you add your alkaline buffer first to find your desired KH , and then add acid buffer for PH.

 

Tap is jumping due to dissolved oxygen. It gases off in 24 hours and the pH rises.

To combat it, you can get a large brute trash barrel to store tap water for your water changes, or simply let your tap water sit out overnight before adding it to the tank.

 

Aquaboy, have you used equilibrium before. I have done a little ready on it and it sounds like you add Equilibrium first to get your desired GH. Then you go ahead and add your buffers.
I would also like to know if you add your alkaline buffer first to find your desired KH , and then add acid buffer for PH.

I have never used equilibrium. I don't have RO water so I already have ~6 GH. I use the alkaline buffer first then acid buffer. I don't think the acid buffer precipitates magnesium or calcium (GH) so it shouldn't matter if you add equilibrium before or after the buffers.

 

Aquaboy, I have a couple quick questions for you.
I have done 3 mixes of 30 gallons so far and have it pretty much narrowed down to exact amounts of Equilibrium and Alkaline Buffer I need to get a 3.5ish kh & gh. The problem I am having is I can get the PH down with the Acid Buffer I just can't seem to keep it down. I add 11 grams of Alkaline buffer for a 3.5kh for 30 gallons of water. I then add 5.5 grams Acid Buffer for a PH of 7.0 . This mix will then continue to climb up to 7.9ish PH over next day and a half or so. In my 32 gallon trash cans I have a circulation pump running to mix the water while heating it.

What exactly am I doing wrong? When you said it holds steady, like what kind of timeline are you talking exactly?