Couldn't I just use distilled water to calibrate neutral pH for a pH meter?

[emartin]

For digital pH meters, to just calibrate neutral pH of 7 instead of buying that kind of solution couldn't I just buy and use pure distilled water? Distilled water has a pH of 7 right?

I'm testing for pH from tanks ranging from 6 to 8.8 on the pH scale.

I bought a generic brand meter a few moments ago on ebay (the brand is legitimate, I know a few people on other forums that bought pH meters from the same brand though different models though) to use to get more accurate pH results for when I test to see how much pulverized Lime I need to add to buffer the pH to where I want it.

~Ed

[Heyguy74]

To properly calibrate the ph moniter, you need two different points to calibrate. Either 4.0 or 10.0 and 7.0. Distilled water should be the same as RO water or DI water. At least verysimiliar. DI and RO water have no PH. Any reading is a false reading. There are nothing in the water for the ph meter to read. There is just pure water.

[Flareside]

Heyguy is right.

I dont want to offend you, but are you sure that you need to be so precise with regard to ph? You could probably relax a bit and be fine. I dont even test my water. I threw out my test kits years and years ago. I dont stress over that stuff, and I enjoy my fish more

[emartin]

Heyguy is right.

I dont want to offend you, but are you sure that you need to be so precise with regard to ph? You could probably relax a bit and be fine. I dont even test my water. I threw out my test kits years and years ago. I dont stress over that stuff, and I enjoy my fish more
I know I rarely test my water myself. It's just that recently I switched my buffers to Baking Soda (and am looking into using Lime when the baking soda is used up) and the test strips I have aren't that accurate (they just give a general idea what range the pH and other chemicals are in) and liquid tests don't go higher than 8.

I just figured I'd go ahead and get the pH meter since it's 100% water proof and has a thermometer for only $30 (compared to the ones Hanna makes which they sell for a fortune, which is actually from a company called Kelilong and you can get their generic equivalanet for a fraction of the cost) so I can be 100% sure how much baking soda or lime I'd have to add to the water to get it to the pH I want so I can write down exactly how many teaspoons I have to add of the stuff. Right now based on my test strips I add approximately 1tsp/10gal, but I have a feeling I accidentily buffered one of my tanks to a pH of 9-10 instead of 8.

[fischfan13]

Ed, stop using different products...stick to one.

Three choices...
Seachem Marine Buffer
Baking Soda
Nothing

Sick back and relax and ENJOY your tank(s).

Not enough people sit back and enjoy their tanks...this was said to me recently by someone who has been keeping Africans longer than all of us.
Take his advice Ed.

[CJC]

Bill, you can add crushed coral, shells, etc, to your list.

[emartin]

Ed, stop using different products...stick to one.

Three choices...
Seachem Marine Buffer
Baking Soda
Nothing

Sick back and relax and ENJOY your tank(s).

Not enough people sit back and enjoy their tanks...this was said to me recently by someone who has been keeping Africans longer than all of us.
Take his advice Ed.
:lol: Right now though I am only experimenting with the stuff in an empty 20gallon and just trying to find the most cost effective buffer!

CJC:
For some reason crushed coral and oyster shells never worked for me. I hear EXCELLENT things about Oolitic Sand and aragonite though but there aren't any Oolitic sand deposits near me (though anyone in Utah, especially those near the Great Salt Lake, can get it for free) and aragonite is too expensive to buy for 13+ tanks...

[Heyguy74]

What the ph, kh and gh out of your tap?

[fischfan13]

Bill, you can add crushed coral, shells, etc, to your list.

Absolutely Rick!
Holey Rock would help as well.

[emartin]

What the ph, kh and gh out of your tap?
I don't recall the exact levels but my tap seems to vary throughout the year from a pH of +/- 5.8 to 6.5, the hardness is on the medium-soft side. Don't recall the alkalinity but it was either very low or zero out of the tap. I do know my tap has exactly 2ppm of phosphates though.

[Heyguy74]

I have a question about something I read. I cant find it, now that I want to use it. It basically said, that if you are using crushed coral/etc. That once a biological film grows over it, it losses alot of its abilty to buffer due to the fact that its no longer has any or much contact with the water itself. Any Opinions on this?

[Heyguy74]

I don't recall the exact levels but my tap seems to vary throughout the year from a pH of +/- 5.8 to 6.5, the hardness is on the medium-soft side. Don't recall the alkalinity but it was either very low or zero out of the tap. I do know my tap has exactly 2ppm of phosphates though.

I would use a seperate container to age the water and buffer it. At such a low ph your water should react pretty good w/ crushed coral. I use a AC powerhead w/ a quickfilter attachment filled with crushed coral. My tap has a ph of 7.0 kh= 2 and gh=3. Pretty soft. After a day the ph is 7.8 and the GH and kh have more than doubled. After that, it take a another day or more to raise the PH above 8.0. As the ph raises the rate of reaction seems to slow. I do add baking soda to get the kh a little higher. Also I add epsom salt much more sparingly now.

[Flareside]

that makes sense- because when I had test kits and I was anal, I found that shells, dolomite, coral etc...dont do much at all. In the filter or as substrate.

I'd use baking soda I were Ed and in Ed's shoes due to his concerns.
Since Im not Ed, if I had the same water parameters, I would do nothing at all because I know from experience that I can pull it off with no ill effects to the fish. They will thrive and breed. With water from the tap remaining untouched- there are no ups and downs (frequent fluctuations) in the water chemistry, your fish will appreciate that more.

Think about it in human terms- most people are comfortable in 65 degree temps. When it goes into the 85 degree, "you stress" a bit because of the change, but after a few days of that, you get used to it.

If you were to alternate 65 and 85 every other day- your body is always trying to adapt to changes in your environment- you are less comfortable

[emartin]

I know it's always possible to adapt Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids to different pH's, but I definitely don't want to take any chances with any of my wild fish..

[triscuit]

Outside of the question of relevance to happy hobbying, let's talk some chemistry. :nerd:

Distilled (RO, or DI) water in equilibrium with the atmosphere IS NOT pH=7. It's more like 6.3 or 6.5. As soon as you calibrate your instrument using water that is not properly buffered, you are changing the ball game. RO/distilled/DI water can be too dilute to properly conduct electricity... which affects how your electrode pH probe works. You need to calibrate using a solution with similar ionic strength to what you want to measure.


Next big myth that drives me nuts. It's back to diffusion, boundary layers, and equilibrium kinetics. :hypnotized: Before your eyes glaze over, think about how much and often you do water changes, and realize how long it would take for some of the above mentioned substrates to actually dissove in your tank. Crushed shells, coral, cichlid sands, and holey rock contribute very little to the long term buffering in a tank. Initial bumps in GH, KH, and pH are due to very fine particulates (dust). I'm not sure how biofilms affect dissolution, but it could help or hinder, as the organic acid byproducts from the biofilm could potentially dissolve the underlying substrate