need help with H2O chemistry

[albie611]

two questions for those experts out there.
i noticed the frags in my frag system looked bad for the last 2 days and i ran a set of water test to check quality . this is what i found.

1: my frag tank has just had a sudden ph spike....it was 8.0-8.1 ....when tested this morning it was 8.6 with a alk reading of 8DKH and a calcium of 420ppm.
? how do i get it(PH) back to normal without doing anything drastic or affecting the alk and calcium.
if i added an airline to the tank would it help or make it worse?

2: my show tank(20 gal tall ), when tested today had readings of PH 8.1,alk 6DKH, and calcium 560.
now i know the alk is low and the calcium is way high so the question is how to get them back to the proper relationship again without affecting the PH, and doing anything drastic.
the only thing added to both tanks is kalk for top off and water changes every 4 weeks.

 

[stcreef]

1. Use soda water, plain old soda water from the supermarket. Make sure it has nothing but water in it.The co2 in the soda water will drop the Ph. Put it in a little at a time. 1/2 cup at a time, wait half an hour, measure, repeat as needed.

2. 1st stop the kalk. let the tank consume the ca. For the alk, I would just mix the alk portion of randy's two part, baking soda and ro water and drip as needed till things are back where you need them


Forgot to ask, how are you measuring the ph, and if with a meter, when was the lastime it was calibrated. Always check the meter first. If everything has been stable and you haven't made any changes to your system, suspect the measuring equipment first.