Help! Dosed Citric Acid into Reef Tank Water

[SeaShine]

you just did a 100% water change so that is the value of the new water.

I ment when you added the acid, because that should have lowered the alkalinity.

Yes, sorry for the confusion. The first thing I did was run to my coral store, buy 20 gallons of water, and changed it all. At that point I didn't know what happened so thought it was my salt water mix, which it was, but I didn't know why. I wasn't sure if that fix was enough, but hopefully it was. Still, new water's PH is only 7 but then maybe the test strips don't work. I need to order a new PH checker. Thanks for your help.

 

[OrionN]

I would not add any chemical. Best just to do water change. I think pH of 7.0 and Alk 10.1 are wrong. At least one or both of the test. Dilution is what you need. The problem now is decay of the organism that died due to the pH drop. You need to take care of the toxin release by these organism. The citric acid you added is just that acid. It should all taken out with the water change.

 

[SeaShine]

I would not add any chemical. Best just to do water change. I think pH of 7.0 and Alk 10.1 are wrong. At least one or both of the test. Dilution is what you need. The problem now is decay of the organism that died due to the pH drop. You need to take care of the toxin release by these organism. The citric acid you added is just that acid. It should all taken out with the water change.

Okay, thanks! I won't add any chemicals. The alk is probably right since I tested it with a hanna tester. The ph was tested with an alkalinity test strip that must have come with something I ordered. I can't find the color chart for my ph tester. You're right. It doesn't sound right.

 

[OrionN]

Don’t bother to spend you money on pH checker. It is highly inaccurate and does not really matter. You should see the pH of people who monitor it continuously. It is like a saw tooth they don’t do anything with the data other than “that’s neat”…. Meaning DOES NOT MATTER.
These people have to calibrate the probe constantly….UNRELIABLE.

 

[OrionN]

pH change with people on the fish room, more people on the room, the heater is on, party going on, door open or close ……

 

[SeaShine]

Don’t bother to spend you money on pH checker. It is highly inaccurate and does not really matter. You should see the pH of people who monitor it continuously. It is like a saw tooth they don’t do anything with the data other than “that’s neat”…. Meaning DOES NOT MATTER.
These people have to calibrate the probe constantly….UNRELIABLE.

Lol. Thanks. Okay, I won't do that then. I'll make more water and do another water change tomorrow. I'm done for tonight and the corals are starting to open. Bristle worms and snails are still alive and I took out my only dead emerald crab. But there might be some bristle worms and unfortunately, I had just added an intank refugium with chaeto and pods (I have an IM 20 Nuvo). I might have some dead pods floating around. Thanks again.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Don’t bother to spend you money on pH checker. It is highly inaccurate and does not really matter. You should see the pH of people who monitor it continuously. It is like a saw tooth they don’t do anything with the data other than “that’s neat”…. Meaning DOES NOT MATTER.
These people have to calibrate the probe constantly….UNRELIABLE.

true dat, all this ph jargon drives me nutz sometimes, back in the day that's exactly how people treated PH "that's neat"

 

[SeaShine]

Anybody have any idea how long I need to wait to add the fish and inverts back in? If the corals are open tomorrow, should it be okay? I just replaced all the water so don't know if it needs to re-cycle but there's plenty of live rock in the tank and I'm a little concerned about my new pink-streaked wrasse who looks a little stressed with all the new inhabitants I dumped on him in his ten gallon observation tank. There's rock and plastic plants in the observation tank, but he's just pressed in a corner and he's been swimming around until now. One situation leads to another....

 

[Dan_P]

Hi Dan_P, According to my indicator paper, the PH is 7. That's a little low. Do you have any suggestions for raising it? Thanks.

Water change could help. Kalkwasser suspension in RODI and sodium carbonate dissolved in RODI are commonly used chemicals in reef aquaria and either one can raise the pH of water. If there are animals in the aquaria, go slowly. I don’t know the proper rate of increasing the pH, but it might be a day to slowly nudge the pH back up. Search this site on the topic.

 

[twentyleagues]

I wouldn't mess with the pH. If your alk is 10.1 on a good kit (like the Hannah) and you are testing pH with a strip test that strip is not half as reliable. Your pH could be anywhere from 7.0 to 7.9 if it's half way accurate if not it could be in the 6 range or 8. But if your alk is 10.1 it should stabilize your pH with out adding anything. I'd focus on (because you have a tester for it) testing your alk and being ready for a water change if it suddenly drops.

 

[SeaShine]

Water change could help. Kalkwasser suspension in RODI and sodium carbonate dissolved in RODI are commonly used chemicals in reef aquaria and either one can raise the pH of water. If there are animals in the aquaria, go slowly. I don’t know the proper rate of increasing the pH, but it might be a day to slowly nudge the pH back up. Search this site on the topic.

Thanks Dan_P. I'm not sure if my pH is accurate so I think I'll take a ride back to my coral store, which is POTO. I'm sure they'll test my pH for me. When I got water from them yesterday they were also a great help in trying to brainstorm the problem before I got home, saw the container of citric acid and figured it out. If the pH is low, I'll do as you suggest and raise it slowly. It's a softie tank and the tank is still full of coral so I'll take care to raise it slowly. Some of the corals are open this morning but some toadstools shedding and my pink japanese nepthea and green nepthea don't look very good. The tank water also looks a little cloudy this morning, which is probably from the 100% water change. Thanks again for all your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[SeaShine]

I wouldn't mess with the pH. If your alk is 10.1 on a good kit (like the Hannah) and you are testing pH with a strip test that strip is not half as reliable. Your pH could be anywhere from 7.0 to 7.9 if it's half way accurate if not it could be in the 6 range or 8. But if your alk is 10.1 it should stabilize your pH with out adding anything. I'd focus on (because you have a tester for it) testing your alk and being ready for a water change if it suddenly drops.

Thanks Twentyleagues. As I just mentioned to Dan_P, I'm going to take a ride to POTO when they open and ask them to test my pH. I'll also keep a close watch on the alk as you suggest.

 

[Eric R.]

If you have an API pH test kit, can't you just lookup the color chart online?

And yes, if you're reading 7 on a piece of pH paper, that means you're in the ballpark but hard to say. You really need more accuracy and precision to be useful with a reef tank.

 

[Eric R.]

This might help get you more in the ballpark with the API kit

 

[Tired]

If you did a 100% water change, the citric acid is now gone. What you need to test for is ammonia, to check if anything's died and is decaying. Assuming no ammonia, your critters can be added back in.

 

[SeaShine]

I wouldn't mess with the pH. If your alk is 10.1 on a good kit (like the Hannah) and you are testing pH with a strip test that strip is not half as reliable. Your pH could be anywhere from 7.0 to 7.9 if it's half way accurate if not it could be in the 6 range or 8. But if your alk is 10.1 it should stabilize your pH with out adding anything. I'd focus on (because you have a tester for it) testing your alk and being ready for a water change if it suddenly drops.

Hi Twentyleagues, Sorry to interupt your Sunday. I just tested the pH and it actually rose from 10.1 to 11 this morning. Does that seem weird to you?

 

[twentyleagues]

A little but if you test at different times of the day you can get different results lights on lights off. Usually it's pH where you see the biggest swings with that though. What salt are you using?

 

[Lavey29]

Hi Twentyleagues, Sorry to interupt your Sunday. I just tested the pH and it actually rose from 10.1 to 11 this morning. Does that seem weird to you?

You mean alk rose right not PH? If so, that is correct due to all your water changes. It matches the alk on the salt mix that is being used.

 

[SeaShine]

I'm not sure what salt it is. When I mix it myself I use the Instant Ocean for reef tanks. The salt water in the tank now is from POTO (I got it yesterday during the fiasco). The water is pretty cloudy right now. My guess is it's a bacterial bloom replacing all the water. I'm not sure what kind of effect that's having. I attached a picture of my poor tank as it is right now. You can see the cloudiness and the state of the corals.

 

[SeaShine]

You mean alk rose right not PH? If so, that is correct due to all your water changes. It matches the alk on the salt mix that is being used.

Hi Lavey29, Thanks for your reply! The saltwater in the tank now was replaced with premixed saltwater from my coral store (POTO) yesterday. I'm not sure what the levels are but I'm assuming it originally matched their levels. It's just weird that the alkalinity rose from 10.1 when I first added it to 11 this morning. I don't know the pH since I don't have a tester for it.