New Water ... Crazy PH? Suggestions Needed Plz--

[coloagro]

Need some help ladies & gents so plz bare with the long post!~
Ok so I recently purchased a 75gpd Deluxe BRS Chloramines Ro/DI unit and finally made my first batch of water last night~

Today I did my weekly 5 gallon water change on my 22g and noticed the PH skyrocketed from my standard 7.89 in the am to 8.19 in the pm TO a PH of 8.4! Now as the night has progressed I'm at 8.5 and growing! WTH! Salinity and Temp was matched but like most people didnt check Alk, Calc and PH of the new water...never had an issue before. I dont dose anything, I run a fuge with no skimmer and have a very mixed reef that is incredibly happy as we speak.

I doubled checked the PH with my secondary Hanna meter and its correct. The tank looks great...coral is wide open and happy including SPS..no problems... so I'm not totally freaked but I'm not understanding what in my home water is causing this insane PH level?!

I tested the water by itself and its like 9.0+ PH level so obviously this is the cause but I'm running a brand new unit so clearly its the water not the unit. Does anyone else in Denver have a HIGH PH with their home RO/DI unit's water

I need some feedback! I mean I'll take the higher PH but my god I didnt think it would be this high after a 20% water change lol! Thx!

 

[Cake_Boss]

Did you let the unit run for a few gallons before you used the water? Think I heard 50ish. I live in an area that has exceptional water so I've never needed one, hopefully someone can chime in

 

[Mini T]

I never check my ph, so who knows. Do things look upset in your tank?

 

[SteveT]

From what I understand 0-TDS RO/DI water should be the neutral PH of water (7) because all minerals are stripped from it leaving equal amounts of hydrogen and hydroxide ions. I would guess something is going on with the RODI unit. Probably what Rockies-Pride said about letting it flush out first. do you have a TDS meter? I would check it to make sure your unit is putting out 0-TDS

 

[Wicked Color]

Thats crazy high for FW out of the tap, double check your results with another test kit.
Potassium carbonate (potash) will lower PH.

 

[Off The Deep End]

Your tap water should be around 7 even after running it through RO unit. You are supposed to flush 100g through the RO anytime you replace filters(i flush 50g) your TDS meter will tell you when there ready. What filters did you put in it and where did you get them?

 

[Cherub]

You say I live near you and I have issues keeping PH up. I have to dose kalk to keep it above 8, maybe you need more coral

 

[coloagro]

Hey guys thanks for the advice... I flushed the RO unit before using for an hour as well as the final product for about an hour just to be safe. The unit is literally brand new never used and it has a TDS meter built into it. This is a Deluxe 5 Stager from BRS. The TDS going into the final canister was 1-2ppm and leaving the canister was 0ppm. I monitor my PH with my RKL ( only 1 month old) but I also have a handheld PH hanna meter that I use for backup...testing the FW with both had the same 9.0-9.5+ PH reading!!! I was shocked!!!!

BUT the good news is that my tank is very happy...no signs of shock or trouble! I turned off the lights last night early to stop photosynthesis and now I'm at a nice 8.15 PH this morning. We'll see how high it raises throughout the day...lights are off until 2pm

I'm going to call BRS today to see what they say.

 

[Cherub]

good luck on that