A quick question about water pH

[spiral_72]

I'm having a hard time finding a conclusive answer to this one.

I run off well water, the conditions are as follows:

Through the water softener I get a 6.8-7.0 pH immediately from the tap.
If I let the water sit on the counter for several hours the water
becomes a permenant 7.6 pH

Straight out of the well (not through the water softener) the water is
6.0 pH (actually it may be lower than this, the test only measures a
low of 6.0). If I let the water sit...... it becomes a permanent 7.6
pH.

>From what I have read, the softener decreases the KH which (I think)
could possibly make the water more acidic but surely affect the
buffering. So, why is the final, resulting pH the same?

My guess is some gas is dissolving out of the water, into the air.
Since it is well water, I don't expect this to be chlorine.
What is going on? Unfortunately I don't have a KH test yet.

[Ali Day]

"spiral_72" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I'm having a hard time finding a conclusive answer to this one.
>
> I run off well water, the conditions are as follows:
>
> Through the water softener I get a 6.8-7.0 pH immediately from the tap.
> If I let the water sit on the counter for several hours the water
> becomes a permenant 7.6 pH
>
> Straight out of the well (not through the water softener) the water is
> 6.0 pH (actually it may be lower than this, the test only measures a
> low of 6.0). If I let the water sit...... it becomes a permanent 7.6
> pH.
>
> >From what I have read, the softener decreases the KH which (I think)
> could possibly make the water more acidic but surely affect the
> buffering. So, why is the final, resulting pH the same?
>
> My guess is some gas is dissolving out of the water, into the air.
> Since it is well water, I don't expect this to be chlorine.
> What is going on? Unfortunately I don't have a KH test yet.

You're correct, it's CO2 coming off the water is why the PH is rising.
Others will be able to answer more in depth as to the why's and what for of
why you are getting different levels after the softener.
Have a look through here as well http://tinyurl.com/4hvo5


Extract from the Krib http://fins.actwin.com/aquariafaq.html
"Typical home water softeners soften water using a technique known as ``ion
exchange''. That is, they remove calcium and magnesium ions by replacing
them with sodium ions. Although this does technically make water softer,
most fish won't notice the difference. That is, fish that prefer soft water
don't like sodium either, and for them such water softeners don't help at
all. Thus, home water softeners are not an appropriate way to soften water
for aquarium use."

[Margolis]

the softener doesn't affect the kh or the ph. It only affects the gh.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Ali Day]

> the softener doesn't affect the kh or the ph. It only affects the gh.

As I understand it, it's a false sof****er gh no? because it exchanging one
type of salt for another, so the fish don't really notice the difference.

A