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PH problems

G

Gonzapa

I am at my wits ends trying to raise my PH

I have a 150 G setup with a 1.5 inch sand bed and 150 pounds of live rock.

If I leave the system by itself PH hovers at about 7.7 which I think is way to low.

I replaced my RO replacement water with kalk and now my PH hovers at 8.05

my alk seems to be stable at 10 dkh.
CA is about 420

Any Idea of what can I add that will bring my PH up permanently to like 8.3
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Try taking a cup of water out of the tank - then aerating that cup of water and testing the ph. If your ph goes up - then your tank is not adequately aerated enough. It's a simple enough test without going to buy anything.
 
N

njstillwell

Guest
How many fish are in the tank....i does my 120 with marine buffer once a week to keep my tank at 8.3.I just mix it in with my water changes.
 
N

njstillwell

Guest
njstillwell said:
How many fish are in the tank....i dose my 120 with marine buffer once a week to keep my tank at 8.3.I just mix it in with my water changes.
Click to expand...
 
G

Gonzapa

njstillwell said:
njstillwell said:
How many fish are in the tank....i dose my 120 with marine buffer once a week to keep my tank at 8.3.I just mix it in with my water changes.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I have
1 - 4 inch blue hippo
1 - 4 inch yellow tang
1 - 3 inch bristle tooth
1 - 3 inch pseudochromis
2 - 1 inch green chomis
1 - small clown
 
N

njstillwell

Guest
OK so your stocking levels are good..Try dosing with a buffer till you get 8.3 and let it go until you start to see it dropping.Circulation in the tank ? And have you tested it at night with the lights off ? May go back up to a good level. And what temp are you keeping your tank at? no big temp swings like more than 5 degree change from day to night
 
G

Gonzapa

njstillwell said:
OK so your stocking levels are good..Try dosing with a buffer till you get 8.3 and let it go until you start to see it dropping.Circulation in the tank ? And have you tested it at night with the lights off ? May go back up to a good level. And what temp are you keeping your tank at? no big temp swings like more than 5 degree change from day to night
Click to expand...

I started dosing Brightwell 8.3 two days ago.
Circulation in the tank is prety good I have 1 koralia 4 and 2 koralia 3 + return pump.
At night PH is even lower sometimes I see it drop .2 .
Temp is very stable 76 +/- 1 degree
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I certainly would run the simple test for CO2. With that large a swing, I think it is the major component causing the pH problem. However, the one thing you didn't mention was your magnesium levels. Magnesium is part of the overall alkalinity / pH thing going on. Make sure your magnesium level is good as well.
 
G

Gonzapa

I am now passing the effluent of the calcuim reactor through more media to increase its PH on the way out. It seems to be helping just a little by raising PH by half a point.
I measured mag and it was 1350. Is there an equation somwere that relates MAG alk and PH?
 
K

kason42

Gonzapa said:
I am at my wits ends trying to raise my PH

I have a 150 G setup with a 1.5 inch sand bed and 150 pounds of live rock.

If I leave the system by itself PH hovers at about 7.7 which I think is way to low.

I replaced my RO replacement water with kalk and now my PH hovers at 8.05

my alk seems to be stable at 10 dkh.
CA is about 420

Any Idea of what can I add that will bring my PH up permanently to like 8.3
Click to expand...


Question- what else are you keeping? Sps, Lps, Softies? How are they opening/growing? I see that you're concerned with the level, but do you see any negative repercussions from it?
 
G

Gonzapa

I finally found the problem.
I had a bad alk and CA test and . When I tested my alk with my new kits my alk was 18 dkh and calcuim was 330 probably from too much flow through the calcium reactor. As soon as I turned the Kalk and calcium reactor off the PH started raising slowly. Once everything gets back to normal I will have to recalibrate every reactor
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

Your 18dkh is from all the buffer you've been dosing and the low calcium is an effect of the extremely high dkh. I would recommend a few 30% water changes over the next week or so to level things out again. Then start with either the CA reactor or the kalk dosing and test your parameters frequently to see if your pH is stable.
 
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