Low PH 5.5 make up water

[cumbeje]

My well water has a PH of 5.5. I am worried about the constant battle of adding it to my 715 Gall reef tank as make up water. I add roughly 5 gals a day because of evap. and protein skimming. My tank Ph hovers around 8.0-8.1. Should I buffer the water or not? Any ideas?

 

[DaveK]

Assuming that you are using RO/DI water for you make up water, the pH reading is a non issue.

With the water having an extremely low amount of ions in it, the slightest addition will shift pH by a big factor. This means that there is no need to add any buffers or other additives to your make up water.

Now if your using regular tap water, you night have an issue, because there can be a lot of minerals in the water, and this will effect the pH in the tank. In this case, switch to RO/DI water.

 

[ddelozier]

+1 DaveK If you use RO/DI, it will filter out whatever is dropping your ph. If your talking about adding strait out of the tap water as top off water, id advise against it. You will end up with whacked parameters.