No this was my first run and was worried about chlorine so just went with RO and let it fill a big tank with a float valve off my filter so it always stays full. When I need water, I need as much as 130-140 gallons at a time and I was concerned that dealing with de-chlorinating that much water at a time would be a pain in the ass.
Tried out your mixture last night and it took a whole quart to get from 5.4 to 5.9. I think I may need to mix it a little stronger or add some of the hydroxide
I may give this a go. If I do a res change tonight itll leave my storage tank half empty so I could fill the other half back with tap water. Would give it a few days to sit before i need water again.
@cannabineer is the organic chemist here. Let's ask him
I don't think that was a bad thing. The buffer "cliff" for phosphate near the desired pH of 5.5 to 6.0 is steep. So I think you actually did pretty well. I would not admix hydroxide. Keep in mind that you're introducing carbonic acid into the res so expect the pH to relax in an upward direction a day or so after application. Small increments and patience will help a lot in that instance.
There are two kinds of chlorine: volatile (elemental chlorine) and nonvolatile (chloramine). The nonvolatile will, as the name suggests, not evaporate. You'd need to add a bit of reducing agent ... like a single 500mg vitamin C tablet. Even so, at the low dosings of chloramine for typical drinking water, I'd expect the bennies to survive. (Volatile) chlorinated tap water does not kill the bennies, a grower I know has determined.
Thanks for the reply and info! Ill watch it for a while longer and see what happens. I added 1 TBSP potassium carbonate to ~90 gal of water.
Put a tablespoon of the bicarbonate into a quart of water, then use that solution. A quarter cup of that 1.5% solution does for a 10-gallon reservoir. So it sounds to me like you got equivalent results. Doing the math over my thumb, about 10 grams dry bicarb should be just right in your 90-gallon reservoir.
Yes this is all very encouraging.
That is very good tap water.
yeah i am weighing out 14g to mix per quart. seems ok enough so far.