stoopid move = low ph

[clownlover]

hi all my 125g has been running b-tifully for awhile now. i did a water change a couple days ago and added a new product my lfs recommended (liquird form). i also added my usual vitamins, and calcium but didnt shake the bottle so a glob of calcium got into the tank. any my xenias and cooral started to look bad. i checked all parameters and everything was great. 1.025, 440 ca, very low phos and trate. the only two things that were wrong were my alk went down to 2 and my ph dropped to 7.6. since then i have added alkbuffer to keep my ph at 8.11 but it keeps dropping. am i missing somethign. is there another cause?

 

[House of Laughter]

how is your circulation and evaporation rate?

House

 

[clownlover]

dont know about evap rate. my tanks top is open though. i have 2 rio 2500's at each end for circ.

 

[Deanos]

Low ph Causes and Cures

 

[jgiordano]

Do you check at the same time everyday before or just since you added the (liquird form)?

 

[meschaefer]

Magnesium level?

 

[clownlover]

i have a digi so i check througout the day. things seem to be stabilizing now. is 8.11 ok or should i try n raise it higher? i dont know my mag level as i seem to be too stupid to figure out the salifert test. thanks for the link dean im going to go thru it now

 

[meschaefer]

On my old tank, I PH was constantly on the low side without ill effect. The daily swing Ranged between 7.9 and 8.1.

 

[clownlover]

checked magnesium level = 1400. is that too high?

 

[Deanos]

checked magnesium level = 1400. is that too high?

Magnesium

 

[clownlover]

thanks deanos great read.

 

[cali_reef]

How do you know if your "digi" PH meter is reading correctly?

 

[clownlover]

well i have the calibration fluid but to be honest it was a bit hard to get spot on even with the fluid. but anyways, i backed it up with a test tup ph kit that confirmed the ph. seems to have stabilized at 8.1 - 8.15 (during the day). is that good enough or should i fight for 8.2?

 

[clownlover]

jeez back down to 7.9 during the day. i just dont get what the problem is. the only othr thing i can think of is the sulfur denitrator. but its running at 2 drops per second. nno way it could alter the ph of the whole tank so fast.

 

[jgiordano]

Have you been running your house heater more now that the temp is cooler out? You could be throwing more CO2 into the air.

 

[Phyl]

You could try running the output of your denitrator through dolomite/large size crushed coral. This will counter the lowering effect of your denitrator and add some Mg/Ca along the way. You can either make a PVC pipe with hose barb on the ends of it or feed a phosban reactor.

Have you tested the PH of the effluent? That may be having a larger impact than you'd suspect!

 

[clownlover]

ph of effluent is 7.8. house heater has turned on. there is dolamite in the reactor but it is running out.