Should I be worried???

[MadReefer]

I have a 55 gallon tank that used to have a canister filter. This past weekend I removed the canister and installed a hang-on fuge. I used the ceramic from the canister, some live rock and cheato in the fuge and placed an incandescent light over it. There is no sand in the fuge as I have about 20lbs in the tank. I have a Przim skimmer and two Seio pumps. I also rearranged the LR, not by choice trying to net a fish. I noticed Tuesday that the skimmer was producing much foam. On Wednesday it continued so I moved LR around and found a dead 5" blenny which I removed. Then decided to do a water change. Siphoning out the water I noticed it was very dirty and did a 10 gallon water change. I try to do 5 gallon every two weeks but haven't had time since Jan. So about six weeks ago was my last water change. Waking up this morning I could see that the coral looked really bad. The Xenia looks like some stalks are dieing and not extended out much. The Anthellia aren't extending either. The few yellow polyps seem okay but are usually brighter. The hairy shrooms look fine and so do the fish. I tested the water and found that the PH dropped to 7.8. The ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, and Nitrate is 10, salinity is 1.0215. Should I be worried?

Mark

 

[Brian]

Mark,

What was your PH before the problem started? That is the only parameter I would be worried about. If it dropped significantly that could cause a lot of problems. You could also raised your Salinity a little bit. But if that's what you have always been keeping it without a problem, then I guess I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[MadReefer]

Brian,
PH is usually at 8.1 salinity usually at 1.022. Should I raise the PH? If so how?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Brian]

I guess that drop isn't too bad. You have to figure out why it dropped. You can try opening a window for a little while and get some fresh Oxygen in the room...See if that raises your PH. I would stay away from any products like PH Up. You can really mess everything up using that kind of chemical.

 

[MadReefer]

Brian,
Good you posted I was just about to use PH-UP. I have used it before but with fish only. The tank is in the front of my hiuse every time you enter/leave fresh air comes in. Should I do another water change and increase the salinity some? Here are pics of the Xenia/Anthellia. The Anthellia is hard to see but the base is turning white.

Mark

 

[JohnS_323]

How big is the fuge and how much head space do you have in it (distance between the water level and the top)? Depending on the size, it could be suppressed CO2, driving your pH and Alk down.

Just a thought (probably not a good one!)

 

[MadReefer]

John,
It's a CPR hang-on, 19"L x 14"H x 4.5"W. It extends about 3" above the tank. The water is about 1" from the top of fuge. The light sits about 1.5" above it.

Trying tp post pics of fuge but not working. Will try later.

Mark

 

[Brian]

Mark,

I'm not sure that the door opening and closing would be considered enough fresh air to help introduce oxygen to the water. Have you tried using any PH buffers? (like superbuffer?)

 

[JohnS_323]

Just to close the loop on my thought, that's about 5gal (<10% of the total) with only 1 inch of head space, so I don't think CO2 is the problem.

 

[MadReefer]

Brian, I'll try that but how did get the PH up first? Water change? Maybe an air pump.

John, that is the way it was made. Baffle comes up about 13" from bottom. The water spills over to the next chamber and fills up. There is hose/pipe in the middle so as the water rises it enters there and goes into the tank. I tried to upload pics but had some problems will try again later.

 

[Brian]

Try a water change fist. If that doesn't work, you can try use some kind of PH buffer.

 

[saltwater4life]

when my pH went down i was told on here to set my air pump out side running fresh air into the water and that did the trick for me so idk if you've tried that yet.

 

[MadReefer]

Because of evaporation the SG is now 1.022. I used Kent supper buffer and the PH is at 8.2. The corals are starting to look healthier. Thanks everyone for the advise.

Mark