Low after adding salt? How low? Have you let it sit 24hrs with a power head?

 

Don't worry about it. It is difficult to accurately test the pH of fresh ro/di water. Go ahead and mix salt into the water and let it mix overnight. Then check the pH.

 

When you add the salt it should bring it up.Check it tho.

 

:wavey: Welcome to TRT!

:agree: It will rise after mixing in the salt.

 

Ahhhhhhhh. I didn't realize adding the salt would bring it up. I just checked it right out of the bottle.

I do let my water sit overnight with a PH and heater before a water change just to make sure it's totally mixed, hey at least I do one thing right

 

Great! I lost many a fish in my newbie days just mixing and pouring not letting it sit circing... Just check before putting into your tank. All should read good..

 

Yeah, in my research when I first started I read many, many times not to pour salt into the tank so I took that to heart .

 

Ok just checked it and it's still a hair on the low side but very close, gee what a difference a little salt makes lol.

 

Your substrate should raise it to the correct level once you do your WC.

 

From the research i've done this is a misconception. once the ph in your tank is low enough for the aragonite to start buffering you are in trouble. If I'm not mistaken the ph has to be below 7 for the arag to start disolving.

 

You may be right, but IME my mixed water sits at about 7.8, but my tank is always 8.2 after WCs.

 

I could be wrong too. It's happened before

 

LOL! I would not be the one to tell you that you are wrong, that's for sure!

 

thanks, my wife does that enough.

 

run a venturi or a airstone in your mixed water with fresh air powering it and the ph will jump right up where it is supposed to be.

Im not saying you need to do this because it will happen soon enough when you get it circulating in the tank. But most likely the reason the ph in your mixing bucket is a little low is the water is low in oxygen