Am I crazy or what?

[Lynnzer]

After weeks of little to no rain I have at long last collected around 60ltrs of rainwater. I'm doing some maintenance early this week so I thought I'd do a parameter check of the rainwater. GH is at 30ppm but the pH is a bit puzlling as it's a light blue on the scale meaning it's around 8 - 8.5 pH.

Now, while it was in the test tube I thought I'd do something that may seem crazy but I put a drop of white vinegar in it and it immediately went to yellow which is pretty much what I prefer at around 7-7.5pH, or perhaps even lower for some fish.
So, and here's the "am I crazy or what" question, is it possible to add white wine vinegar to a tank the same as we add sphagnum moss or beech leaves for instance? Anyone tried it?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Pickled fish, eh?

Not sure I would do it...maybe others can point you in the right direction with that idea

 

[GaryE]

Vinegar is a mild acid, so it will change pH. If the water is buffered by minerals, the changes won't last and you'll have climbed onto the deadly pH roller coaster.
I collected rainwater for ages, and it never varied from pH 7.0, 0-10 ppm. Rainwater at a high pH is not normal. There's contamination somewhere.

 

[Lynnzer]

It;s absolutely pishing it down again now. The last water collection measures in at 23ppm GH and spot on yellow on the pH scale so about 7
Yeaaahhhh. My rainwater setup seems to have been a good idea now despite the last few months wondering why the hell I bothered.

 

[StevenF]

After weeks of little to no rain I have at long last collected around 60ltrs of rainwater. I'm doing some maintenance early this week so I thought I'd do a parameter check of the rainwater. GH is at 30ppm but the pH is a bit puzlling as it's a light blue on the scale meaning it's around 8 - 8.5 pH.

Vinegar is a acid so that would reduce PH. However your rain water is somehow contaminated. The GH should be about zero. and the PH should have ben about 6 due to CO2 mixed into the water. The bucket might not have been clean before it was filled within rain water. Or if the water was collected from the roof there may have been something on it before it rained.

 

[Lynnzer]

I think the problem is that the many weeks of little to no rain has allowed a build up of dust and other potential contaminents on the roof that's being used as the surface area for the rain collection. It does look slightly stained and I'd be reluctant to put it into a tank.
However the heavy rain over this weekend has been great. 27ppm GH and 7pH. The KH is exactly zero as the 1st drop of the test liquid turns the water yellow right away.
So, the stained water is going out and I'll replace it with the fresh.
I'm also happy that the inline drain pipe filter I made is working pretty well as it had a good number of dead creepy crawlies and moss etc in it that would otherwise have got into the barrel.