top up and ph
 

i am wondering what people do to maintain ph. I understand the salt mix buffers the water. what about water used to top off for evaporation? does this water alter ph? thank you!

I'm not adding any buffers (other than what's in salt mix) and my pH stays constant between water changes (slight dip after lights go out).

I do though aerate my change water (fr a home ro/di unit) for a day or two before adding salt.

Before I had the direct hookup I was also aerating the topoff water in gallon jugs before adding, now I'm straight from the ro/di unit through a float valve to sump and notice no difference in pH. Still believe though a good idea for larger volumes to aerate first.

If its small amounts of top off at any one time,it wont change your PH.Larger top offs you might want to use a PH buffer.I get 2 1/2 gal a day evaporation this time of year without my sump fan running and dont worry about PH.But if I forget and have to add 5g I'll buffer it. Thats on a 60-70g total system.In the Summer when my fans are going I use buffer due to the larger amount I have to add.

I drip kalk nightly.

2 teaspoons of kalk mix dripped from a 1 gallon milk jug of RO/DI water each night. dripped at about 1 drop per second through knotted airline tubing siphoned from the milkjug. oldschool cheap bastard style :D
120 gallon setup. Works well, but it's a real pain to do EVERY night. contemplating an aquamedic reefdoser 3 or 4 channel peristaltic pump after x-mas. dose 3 part alkalinity/calcium/magnesium, AND top off!