I have a 10 gallon reef. Mostly sps and lps. It is 6 months old and i have never dosed before. My ph has always been 8.1-8.2 and alkalinity at 7-8 dkh, calcium at 450 and nitrates 10-15 before i dosed. Wanted to increase my alkalinity so i dosed red sea part b. My ph has gone up to 9.0. Help!
HELP WITH PH! 9.0!
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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Actually, unless you overdose the alkalinity to a too high value, water changes are not usually the best way to deal with pH issues.
How much alkalinity did you add (in, say, dKH)?
Aeration will bring it down if alk is not way too high (and that will happen even if you do nothing), and vinegar or soda water can bring it down even faster.
How are you measuring pH?
How much alkalinity did you add (in, say, dKH)?
Aeration will bring it down if alk is not way too high (and that will happen even if you do nothing), and vinegar or soda water can bring it down even faster.
How are you measuring pH?
JACK50REEF
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So.. Red Sea alkalinity raises 0.1 dkh at 25 gallon per 1 ml. So i did 1 ml/day figuring it would raise it at least 0.3 dkh/day due to my smaller water volume. It has been my 3rd day dosing. I am using red sea ph test kit, as well as well as a pinpoint ph tester. I do have a protein skimmer so aeration should be on check
Randy Holmes-Farley
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0.3 dKH of alkalinity using any additive did not raise the pH to 9, so I think it must be an error somewhere, either dosing or testing. Even the very highest possible pH rise from an alk additive (using limewater/kalkwasser) would not give much more than a 0.2 pH unit rise, and the additive you used is probably less than half that for 0.3 dKH.
JACK50REEF
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So my goal was 1 dkh in 3 days.. When i tested my alkalinity last night, it was at 7.5 dkh(red sea tester) so i added another 1 ml of alkalinity part b. Then i decided to test my ph to find it at 9.0 and that was 5 hours after my light were off, who knows it could be higher during the day
JACK50REEF
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So if my red sea ph tester was accurate, so was my pinpoint its kind of hard to believe it was an error in my testing. I will test one more time when i get home in 9hours -_- i do believe it is high though. Are there any other factors that can bring ph up like tht?
Diesel
ME=1, CANCER=0.
As @Randy Holmes-Farley said you made an error some way along the line of either testing or dosing.
I have seen ppl overdosing with their bottle of RS ALK in their tank and it didn't raise the PH over 9.0.
How do you test your PH?
What is your SG at?
I have seen ppl overdosing with their bottle of RS ALK in their tank and it didn't raise the PH over 9.0.
How do you test your PH?
What is your SG at?
JACK50REEF
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Can just dosing part b for alkalinity be the cause? They say you should dose equal parts of part A and part B. I figured since my calcium was good, i didn't need to. Can just dosing part B, be the cause?
JACK50REEF
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I use red sea.. I add 5 ml Of aquarium water, and 3 drops of red sea ph solution. Swirl for 10 seconds and compare on the color chart. My pinpoint was calibrated a week ago. Salinity is at 1.025 using a refractometer
Diesel
ME=1, CANCER=0.
Great, now test your newly mixed saltwater if you have any.
What salt are you using?
JACK50REEF
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The last water change i did was using coral pro by red sea. I tested the alkalinity before adding it and it was 9.5 dkh. I usually use reef crystals and its about 8.5 dkh. The water change i will be doing today will be reef crystals.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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No, it wasn't. pH is a reef tank never gets that high without rapid dosing of very high pH additives. High pH (say, above pH 8.5) in the absence of such dosing is ALWAYS testing error.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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No, unless you dosed A LOT more an you said you did.
Also, pH 9 will almost certainly be cause for rapid precipitation of magnesium hydroxide and calcium carbonate, Turing the tank into milk.
I been down this discussion road literally HUNDREDS of times. Your tank is not going to be the only one where this wasn't a testing or overdosing problem.
JACK50REEF
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Are my corals and fish going to be fine? And do you think a huge water change would be a good thing to do? I have had great success before however, i have never had this kind of issue. I really appreciate the help btw! To everyone tht replied
How long have your livestock been exposed to this high ph? If not long, then why not just do the biggest water change possible and get that water parameter fixed once for all. That's the beauty of having a 10g.
