Water Quality

[Eversurf]

Seems like I am having a hard time with the PH. Again tonight it was at 7.4. I had it up to 8.3 with the special solution stuff, but it went down again. What could be causing that?

thanx

 

[Eversurf]

the PH is back to 8.3 this morning after I added the treatment lasat night.

 

[SkiFletch]

Whoa there, hold the phone, whats this "treatment" you're adding? Sounds to me like your causing an imbalance between calcium and alkalinity causing the two to percipitate out in your tank in the form of cacium carbonate... Low pH is usually the result of the combination of low alkalinity (carbonate hardness) and low magnesium. Unfortunately you cant just correct it willy nilly without risking crashing the pH again. You're gonna need to do two things:

#1, get calcium and alkalinity test kits to see if they're in an imbalance.
#2, read this article about calc/alk/mg/pH balance by Randy Holmes-Farley. Its long and detailed, but will give you an understanding of why you're crashing your pH

 

[callell]

You need to understand the reasons behind adding a PH buffer as this will affect you kh, calcium magnesium, oxygen

Adding any chemicals to a tank is a bad idea without an indepth knowledge of the effects behind it

 

[Eversurf]

Well I read some of the article you gave me, but it doesn't give solutions on how to fix it. I went to the store this morning and picked up what ever they had for testing kit. Strip stuff.

Looks like my water is way hard and that the Alkalinity is way up. How can i fix this and is it possible to have a stable water by this coming tuesday. I just bought some stuff online and it should be here on Tuesday.

Thanx

 

[SkiFletch]

Yikes, strips aren't the most reliable but we'll have to go with them. How high was the alkalinity? Its supposed to be high in a saltwater environment, perhaps it wasnt high enough Also did you get a test kit for calcium?

Now that you know a little of why calcium and alkalinity can precipitate out and cause pH crashes, read this article about how to correct calcium and alkalinity imbalances to acheive a more stable pH.

What livestock did you order? Remember that a stable pH is better than a low pH. Most saltwater organisms (especially fish) can tolerate a low pH. Its really only corals and anemones that are in real danger of lower pH

 

[Eversurf]

Here are the results of my water test

Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
PH 8.3 This has been stable since my first post on this thread
Alkalinity is off the chart (High) over 300 ppm
Hardness shows that the water is very hard 425 ppm

Strips are awefull

I think we are good....

I didn't listen to you and I got the cleaning crew from Saltwaterfish

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, Ground hardness should be off the charts high. Alkalinity should also be off the charts high if the scale is in parts per million. We're more measuring parts per thousand . Most reef alkalinty measures are in the units of meq/L or dKH since its way off the ppm scale . If you'r pH is stable at 8.3, I'd stop tinkering and be thankful. Also dont over-react if it goes down to the 7.8 or 7.9 range within the first couple months. New tanks tend to have a lower pH than old ones.

 

[Eversurf]

Thanx dude makes me feel good.