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PH = 8.7

J

junk

What's the best way to lower ph without buying more equipment? My ph is now up to 8.7 :eek:

Tank was setup around Jan timeframe but was never fully hooked up till 2 weeks ago. Has now had 50% water change, and rest of parameters that I test for, amonia, trites, trates are ok although trates won't go below 10. Currently only has cuc, one small lobo and frogspawn from other tank. No fish yet. GSP were encroaching the lobo and frogspawn, so I needed to move.

Thx
 
steamman

steamman

I wish that lowering ph was a problem for me. Sounds like to me that things are happening too fast. What trace elements are you adding to the tank? Why are your nitrates so high with such little livestock? Are you overfeeding?
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

How are you measuring it...? I'd be sure that the test is correct before taking any of these actions:


http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.php

Couple suggestions in there:
just put in an airstone to drive some more CO2 in. The ph should also drop during the daytime when more things are "breathing".

Add sodawater.

btw - my ph (in the past) has gone up to 8.7 temporarily when I dosed a bit too much kalk. Not a big deal - everything survived and the PH just gradually came down.
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

If you're not dosing anything, especially Kalk, I would verify the test kit is accurate first. Same for the nitrates.

You're not putting your finger over the test vial to shake it up are you? That will mess up your results.
 
J

junk

Thanks guys. Not using a kit, instead using a hanna probe which has always been pretty acurate. Maybe I just need more live stuff in there as hawkeye says "breathing". thx.
 
steamman

steamman

Is your probe old? Did you calibrate it? Have you checked the ph of your salt mix before you add it to the tank when you do a change. What is that ph reading? Did you test the source water you are mixing with? What is the source water ph reading?
 
H

hayabusa2003

If your livestock isn't showing any sign of stress due to the high Ph, the safest way
to bring down the Ph would be to do a large water change.

If you need to bring down your Ph faster, then 1ml of distilled white vinegar per gallon will lower Ph by 0.3 units. Do the math and bring the Ph down to 8.3 slowly over a few hours so you don't shock your livestock.

good article to read -

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.php
 
steamman

steamman

Great information in the article. The lowering of ph that is described is a good short term fix. You still need to find the root of the problem. As long as the instruments are reading accurate something is driving up the ph. Could there be something dissolving in the tank. I read that some synthetic rock (man made) if not given enough time to cure (concrete) will continually raise ph. This is just an example. I know nothing about this tank except the ph and nitrates readings are too high.
 
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