calibrating pH meter

[RTR]

Do not ever under any circumstances use any commercial buffers in aquaria. They are highly destructive to the water chemistry of the tank and can easily stress the fish while increasing your TDS with all the wrong ions which do not belong there.

On this planet there is one, repeat one, buffering system for water in the wild. That is carbonate/bicarbonate. It is known to hobbyists as alkalinity or carbonate/bicarbonate hardness, and is tested by liquid test kits for KH. That is the one and only system which is effective in FW, BW, and SW. Adding commercial garbage buffers is also called pollution. It enriches the LFS or chain store, the manufacturer, and screws up your tank' operating chemistry. Don't pay money to pollute your tank.

HTH

[GBobNorth]

You're probably right, when I first moved my fish from his 9 gallon home to his 40 gallon I used it because some test strips I used showed the two tanks to be at the same pH and I figured it'd prevent shock...he didn't look well and I had to reset the 40 gallon fast. Long story short, puffer not happy, hours salt conditioner stess coat wasted, and I haven't used the product since (their website claims it contains water conditioner but the package does not, API doesn't communicate at all)

You're probably right about the buffers, I've already kinda figured out that pH is a symptom of a problem that needs to be cured not treated, but more importantly I've learned never to trust test strips, I think I'm going to have more luck with a cheap modified ohm meter.

[RTR]

Exactly. The pH test kit is a quick and easy check on the stability of tank conditions, and is valuable for that. But its value is in long-term changes and trends which indicate shifts in the water chemistry without detailing or pin-pointing what the change really is or how to correct it. Just changing the pH by buffers usually does nothing for the underlying chemistry change.

The underlying change is usually loss of tank water KH, but other changes are possible. The KH is most easily restored by water changes. An extra 50% partial or two can do wonders when that is the issue.

HTH

[GBobNorth]

Yes it's easily restored, if calcium is needed that's no problem. The tap water I start with is loaded with calcium, it's constantly building up in the shower.

[RTR]

Calcium ion does not influence pH.

[GBobNorth]

I've read a few interesting articles on the relationship between kH and pH, from what I gather, if you take the calcium out of the water CO2 building up in the water will eventually form Carbonic Acid H2CO3 causing a drop pH...which I can now detect with the push of a button....at least I'm pretty sure I can, it's been bouncing around 7.6 - 7.8 since I last calibrated it.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthrea ... -KH-and-pH

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/gh_kh_ph.php


I can't use the suction cup to stick the probe in the tank permantently, it's got a glass probe on the end that appearantly looks like a snail...

[Reaperpilot2014]

My Fahaka tried to eat my digital thermometer node for the same reason. He leaves it alone now lol, so the metal must not have tasted very good.