Cant Get My Ph To Stabilise?

[craigybaby37]

Still having problems with my ph and ime getting veyr very bugged by it as the whole tank has come to a stand still until i get the problem sorted out.

heres a link to a little video i made just to show the movement on the surface of the water just so you can tell me weather it is a sufficiant movement to give the tank the oxygen provided.

http/smg.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...19122007085.flv

tank stats are as follows i was supprised at what i was seeing.

temp 80F
salinity 1.024
ph 7.8
nitrate 20ppm
nitrite 0.75ppm
ammonia 0.50ppm
calcium 440ppm

i cannot get my head around any of this and ive concidered giving up and closing the tank down......but when i see pics on the website of other members tanks i just want to overcome the problem and get the tank back on track and have a beautiful reef tank.

 

[1entra]

What salt mix are you using? As certain salts wont allow your pH to go higher that?

Also it seems to me your tank still aint finished cycling as you have both ammonia and nitrites present? This will also effect the pH as die-off causing a spike in these params also produces acids which lower the pH in the aquarium! You should wait for your tank to finish cycling and your params to reach 0 before worrying about pH as it often fluctuates and goes down during cucling!

 

[craigybaby37]

only thing is the tanks 6 months old why on earth would it be cycling??? when i set up my extrenal fluval 105 filter about a month back i did add live rock into it would that new rock be enough to cause a mini cycle thats still cycling a month on???

and for my salt ime using reef crystals.

 

[1entra]

Have you got any other stock in the tank? The LR in your filter shouldnt have caused a mini cycle but ir it did then it shouldnt still be happening now. Seems to me like somethings has died in your tank recently polluting the water and causing your nitrites and ammonia to spike. If you have liestock then this caould lead to a domino effect where the spike can kill something else and the die-off from that again causes a further spike which again kills something else and so on...

 

[craigybaby37]

well a few weeks back i did lose 2 fish an 2 shrimps in 1 night and also a snail.......ive since lost 1 of my big snails and a hermit crab but thay have all ben romeved from the tank as soon as i spotted them.

 

[1entra]

Well is there currently anything in the tank that you may not have seen or thought you lost a long time ago? Have you moved all remaining livestock out of the tank? If not then this is the first step I would take and then do a water change or two and wait for the nitrites and ammonia to come down to 0!

 

[craigybaby37]

i cant think of anything that i have forgotten about its a bit of a mission trying to find all my snails and hermits as i cant see behind the rocks where it is possible for them to be but i will keep an eye out for them for sure.

i would like to move all my livestock out of the tank but i have no where to move them 2 as i have no spare tanks or any room to set 1 up if i could get hold of a tank. the fish are all looking ok and are eating fine and swimming around etc i just hope this doesnt do them any harm.

 

[1entra]

Well I'd personally wouldnt risk leaving the remainder of my stock in the tank and go and get myself a large bucket/container from a hardware store, stick a pump and heater in it along with your filter, mix saltwater to same SG and temp as tank and transfer all my livestock into it for the time being until my params dont go back down to normal. Also once livestock was all transferred I would do a couple of 60%ish water changes in the main tank over the period of a week to help bring the params down to 0.

 

[craigybaby37]

well ive got a 3 gallon bucket that i use to do my wate changes in....ive filled it up with ro water an mixed salt in.....just waiting for my heater to warm the water up....ive put in my fluval 2 filter ......would 2 clowns, a spotted mandarin and a watchman goby be ok in there as it would be very cramped for them once i have a piece or 2 of live rock in there and also???

and i have 5 nassuris (or however its spelt) snails....4 turbos, 3 hermit crabs and 1 large snail of some sort

 

[n3ont3tra]

Sorry if you mentioned this already but are you using RO water?

 

[1entra]

No I think the 3 gallon bucket may be a bit small for that livestock. I would personally invest in a larger bucket/container, about 5+ gallon minimum as its always good to have one at hand in case of an emergency where you need to tranfer your livestock from your main tank. It may well come in handy and save your tank from totally crashing one day!

 

[craigybaby37]

ime going to see if i can pick up a large bucket today from a hardware store and get my livestock into it asap.

ive got my remaining 3 corals in the bucket i set up last night but ill transfere them into the larger bucket when its set up.

will everything be ok in the bucket as its like a new tank set up if u get me?? its fresh salt water thats had no time at all to mature and build up the good bacteria needed??

 

[1entra]

Yes it should be ok as if you tranfer some LR into it also the that should introduce some of the mature bacteria from your main tank into the bucket. IMO its much better for the livestock to be in the bucket/container than in the tank with nitrites and ammonia. They shouldnt be in there for too long anyways as once they're moved, you can get going on elliminating the spike in your main tank by firstly trying to find a cause and secondly by doing several large water changes!

 

[craigybaby37]

tonight i found the cause of my problem and yes it was something dead......one of my large snails i found it behind the rocks at the back tonight i just happened to spot it there an fort ide just check to be sure and i knew from the moment i picked it up it was dead as its body didnt retract into its shell......and omg did it stink ive not smelt something so bad in a long time.

buckets all set up and ready to go ill transfere the livestock in there shortly and then start with the serious water changes think i gunna start with a %50 to realy get things down fast.

 

[1entra]

Told you something would have died causing the spike!

Yea thats what I would do also, do a couple of 50% water changes everyday to every other day and keep testing params daily until the nitrites and ammonia both go down to 0.

Then just let the tank run for a few days to make sure there is no further spike and when everything seems stable, introduce your livestock back into the tank.

Keep us updated as to how you get on! Good Luck with it all