products for rodi

edk · #1 06-10-2012, 21:34

Hi,
I recently took down my small nano reef and set up a fresh water tank for my daughter. If I use rodi I guess I need to add replenish and neutral regulator? The rodi is 0tds and 6.4 ph. If these are the right products could you recommend a dosage rate of each per gallon for a community tank. I guess soft to med hardness and 7.0 ph would be best to shoot for? Also, would the phosphates in the neutral regulator be an issue if I'm currently using some old reef power compacts (50/50s)?
Thanks

Tech Support HK · #2 06-11-2012, 10:03

Thank you for the post, edk!

Yes, you will need a product such as Replenish to add back GH/mineral content to the water. A GH of 4-6 will suffice. Since the pH of your RO water is 6.4, you should not need very much Neutral Regulator in order to achieve 7.0. Initially, you may need to add Neutral Regulator directly to the tank daily for a week, or until the pH stabilizes at 7.0. Once the pH does stabilize, then you should only need to add the Neutral Regulator during water changes.

The reef power compacts (50/50s) should not be an issue unless you plan on having a tank in which the nitrates will run high (heavily stocked) or you plan on dosing fertilizers and nutrients for plants.

The recommended dose for Neutral Regulator is 1 teaspoon for every 10-20 gallons. However, I would start off at half the recommended dose.

One dose of Replenish will increase GH by 2.8 degrees. When initially setting up the tank, you should double this dose in order to achieve the GH necessary for your tank. The routine amount dosed will really depend on how many gallons are within the tank, and the percentage of water changes performed.

edk · #3 06-11-2012, 20:01

Thank you. I actually started the tank with a mix of tap(7.4ph) and the 6.4 ph rodi. Mostly tap. The odd thing is the ph went up to over 7.6. I did a few doses of neutral regulator when I set it up and nothing seemed to happen. The tank wall still had some coraline algae on it, do you think the lower ph is dissolving the coraline and it is in turn buffering the water? I thought the neutral regulator raised the ph for some reason until I thought about the coraline. What do you think? Thanks.

Tech Support EH · #4 06-12-2012, 09:23

Hi edk,

Most likely the tap water had a high alkalinity consisting on carbonates and bicarbonates, which is why using it, even in conjunction with RO water, caused your pH to go up. Neutral Regulator is a phosphate-based buffer, which is a competing buffering system; therefore, the phosphates must be allowed time to overcome the existing buffering capacity and therefore take over pH regulation.

Here are a couple of questions from our FAQ which may explain what I am trying to convey:

Q: I tried to use Neutral Regulator to adjust pH to 7.0, but it failed to do so. What am I doing wrong?

A: There are two different buffering systems you can rely on in freshwater aquariums. The first is a bicarbonate based buffering system and the second is a phosphate based buffering system. Of the two, phosphate based buffers, like Neutral Regulator, tend to be more stable. In situations where a bicarbonate buffering system is strong, you will need to increase the dosage of Neutral Regulator until the phosphate based buffer can overcome the bicarbonate based buffering system. You can dose Neutral Regulator daily until you reach your desired pH. If you want a faster working solution (I'm assuming your pH is too high), you can use our Acid Buffer to dissolve some of your bicarbonate based buffering system to make things easier for Neutral Regulator to work.

Q: I purchased your pH 7.0 Neutral Regulator for my 26 gallon aquarium. I have added double the amount required and the pH is still around 7.8, all that seems to be happening is that the water gets cloudy.

A: Your water must be very hard (high KH) so you will need to get the KH down to a level where the Neutral Regulator can control the pH. Right now the Neutral Regulator is fighting a losing battle with the high KH. Use Discus Buffer or Acid Buffer to bring the pH down... it wil go back up again after a day or so, but add again. Eventually you will get to a point where the pH will take longer and longer to rise again... when that happens use the Neutral Regulator to lock in the pH at 7-7.2. Or use an alkalinity test kit, when it gets down to around 1 KH or so you can use Neutral Regulator to lock in the pH.

I would simply suggest that you add Neutral Regulator as directed directly to the tank daily until your pH stabilizes at 7.0.

Please let us know if you have additional questions.

edk · #5 06-12-2012, 14:46

Ok so if I just adjust my rodi with these products and just do water changes the system should eventually stabalize at the 7.0 that i make the waterchange water correct?

Tech Support HK · #6 06-12-2012, 14:50

You could perform a large water change with RO/DI in order to reduce dilute the KH of the tap water, which will allow Neutral Regulator a much easier job at buffering the water to a pH of 7.0. If you use this approach, you should not need to add Neutral Regulator daily for 7 days. You may only need to add the Neutral Regulator a few days in a row for the pH to stabilize.

edk · #7 06-13-2012, 10:46

One more question....I have an api gh kh test kit and some paper strips. Will any of these be able to test for the phosphate buffers once they "take over" the carbonate buffers.

Tech Support EH · #8 06-13-2012, 10:51

Neutral Regulator softens hard water by precipitating out calcium and magnesium; therefore, you will most likely notice a slight decrease in GH after using the buffer.

Your total alkalinity will increase when using the buffer, though not your KH, or carbonate alkalinity, specifically.

The API GH/KH kit will not register any change in pH, though the pH strips should give you an idea of when the pH hits neutral, or 7.0.

edk · #9 06-14-2012, 09:34

Looks like my ph may be coming down. On my ph alert it was reading like 8 when I first put it in. Now it looks like 7.8 but if I put a flash light on it, it looks like 7.0 or 7.4. I have an api kit that has read and still reads 7.6 ( highest on kit). Im confused now!

Tech Support EH · #10 06-14-2012, 16:07

That is frustrating, edk! Unfortunately, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish the colors on alerts and pH test kits. pH probes/meters tend to be much more accurate. The fact that your pH Alert seems to be indicating a lower pH is a good sign, but I'm not sure why your test kit does not seem to be registering a change.

It might be worth asking your local fish store if you can bring them a sample of your water for testing, so that you can at least see if it matches what the alert is telling you.