New to saltwater fish. Bought 6 fire fish from LFS on Wednesday (tho they were shipped in). Had a QT that I had setup for about 2 weeks and did fast cycling. I’m doing hyposalinity. They came in 1.015, and since I had planned to do hypo, I just moved them into 1.010 water. No ammonia measured, low nitrates, low nitrites. Here’s my dilemma: lost the first fish after 36 hours and lost the second one about 24 hours later. All parameters seem ok except pH and alk were super low. About 3.xx and 4.xx respectively. Rushed and did a 100% water change, and now (about 6 hours later) pH from my Red Sea kit says 7.8 and Alk from Hanna checker says 3.46. No clue why the water is so acidic. 2 PVC elbows, and 1 large shelf dry rock. HOB filter. Basic power head for minimal flow. Nothing else in tank. Idk what I’m missing. I’d see if I was a little off, but I’m way off and I don’t know why. Oh, I’m using Red Sea blue bucket.
HELP!!! Acidic water!
- Thread starter speacci
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Mjrenz
2500 Club Member
They're both low because of the hypo, you have a lower concentration of everything that's in your salt mix including the buffers. You don't need to worry about testing for alkalinity with hypo but ph is important. You're fine at 7.8 however, it's only dangerous if you drop below 7.5. You can make a ph buffer by using baking soda, it needs to be baked for one hour on a baking sheet at 300 degrees first to drive off carbon dioxide and moisture
Mjrenz
2500 Club Member
