PH help

T

Tj51

I've not had a PH prob. until lately, adding a buffer everyso often
yesterday I noticed my xenia's withdrawing, and leathers wilting.

I had my water checked at NDA and my ph was 7.7 and salinity was 1.028

I took out 3 gallons and replaced with with top off water and then added a ph/alk buffer.

My ph is still low but salinity is 1.025 stoneys and torches doing great, but xenia and some of my leathers not doing so great.

I had a major "operation" in catching a fish for a trade and moved 1/2 of my rocks raising a lot of debris, but ph tested fine after that.

I also added about 7 lbs of new live rock

I religiously change at leat 10% weekly and had just changed 10% Thursday


Advice? (BTW nitrates test low at NDA :))
 
@tj51 wrote:
I've not had a PH prob. until lately said:
If you are adding buffer, I would make sure to check your Alkalinity. Also that drop in Salinity will have some impact if it was done all at once. Xenia react to alk, salinity and temp changes very negatively.

Check your alk, mg and calcium and let us know what they are. Also keep an eye on your temp and make sure its not running large gaps during the day... 79-81 would be fine, but 79-84 or more would be a problem.

If you alk is low, then that explains your pH... but if its within normal range, it could be CO2 buildup in the tank. Do you have a skimmer running? How about glass lids on the tank? Canopy etc...
Click to expand...
 
Thx for the quick response!

the only constant in my tank so far is the temp. I've kept it at 79. Got rid of glass covers and using eggcrate. I will test alk this evening. My protein skimmer pump has gone kaput, so I'll be replacing it hopefully tomorrow, but 'trates are low (yay)

Could it have something to do with the new live rock I put in?

DNA suggested buffering until it's over 8 and then just automatically use the buffer once every three or four days (of course they might be wanting to sell more buffer)
 
@tj51 wrote:
Alk. = 268 Calcium = 480 said:
is that parts per million on the Alk? Which kit are you using?

If so your alk is way high.. at around 12.5 dKH.

If its 2.68 meg then you are at 7.5 dKH and that would tie into your pH value a bit better.

Here is a chart to use to convert.. your alk should run between 7 dKH and 10dKH. Some people run a tad higher, into the 11 and 12 range, but in my opinion that is way too high. I target 8.5 - 9.5 in my tanks.

http://ozreef.org/library/tables/alkalinity_conversion.html

Lets figure out the alk first, then we can address the pH. If your alk is really 12.5, your pH should be around 8.4 or so. So if that is the correct number, you most likely have a CO2 problem.
Click to expand...
 
yeah, I was surprised using the API and it took 15 drops to turn the blue to yellow. I'm wondering if the buffer I'm using to try to raise ph is raising a alk. that was ok to a high level

Going to test again in a few
 
@tj51 wrote:
yeah said:
check the boolket that comes with the test kit.. find the unit of measure its reporting in.. ppm, meq/l or dKH.

To answer your question, yes, most buffers will raise alkalinity that is why I asked for your alk number first. Once you get your alk stablized, your pH issue may resolve itself or if not, we can look into other issues.
Click to expand...
 
PPM

ran the test again, pretty much the same......so if alk is that high, I assume you would not want me to add buffer......is high alk dangerous? If so, I can get some H2O tomorrow and do another water change
 
@tj51 wrote:
PPM ran the test again said:
Ok.. since its PPM, yes your alk is high. Dangerously high? Its borderline. Depends on if you have SPS or not, if you do then it could cause some problems in the coming days but a drastic change could do more harm than good. If you stop dosing buffer, it will go down on its own over a course of a few days or so depending on what you have in your system. A water change would not hurt, so long as its not massive. With alk you don't want to raise or lower it too fast, that causes more problems than temporary spikes more times than not.

What bothers me is that if your alk is really that high, your pH should be MUCH higher than 7.7.

Is DNA your only source for pH testing or do you have one on hand? Let's get that 7.7 verified if we can. Test kit mistakes do happen.. so lets verify that before we do anything.
Click to expand...
 
@tj51 wrote:
PH is up to about 8.0 said:
That's better.. tell you what. Let's give it a day or so to stabilize. The buffers sometimes take a few hours or longer to take hold so test it again tomorrow, mid-day and see what it is then. 8.0 is not bad for night time but to get a good idea of things we should do it after your lights have been on for at least half the day.

So for now, no more buffer, no water change. Keep the water on hand though in case its needed tomorrow.

None of these numbers are that critically bad that you need to do anything immediately on so another day won't hurt. It will also give the alkalinity a chance to settle out some.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top