How fast to raise ph

[ARGYGANG]

I have been having a few upset corals and after doing a full water test my ph is the only thing not in the acceptable range, 520 calcium, 1350 mag 11 alk 10 nitrate .01 phosphate and the issue was my ph was off by a lot at 7.5 so I purchased some reef buffer and am wondering how much I should dose and how fast to take it to a 8.3 the bottle says it won’t raise it above 8.3 even if overdosed so it can only raise by .8 so I’m planning on doing it over two days is this to short of time?

 

[Kfactor]

dont use that stuff get your self a co2 scrubber or somthing

 

[Garf]

I have been having a few upset corals and after doing a full water test my ph is the only thing not in the acceptable range, 520 calcium, 1350 mag 11 alk 10 nitrate .01 phosphate and the issue was my ph was off by a lot at 7.5 so I purchased some reef buffer and am wondering how much I should dose and how fast to take it to a 8.3 the bottle says it won’t raise it above 8.3 even if overdosed so it can only raise by .8 so I’m planning on doing it over two days is this to short of time?

Your Alk is high as it is, adding pH buffer will increase it further.

 

[Jekyl]

Agree with above, a buffer is a bad idea and not a long term solution. Open some windows, run airline for skimmer outside, grow macro in a fuge.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Your PH will mostly be affected by CO2 in the air, and Alk. Your alk is already high, the next thing is to deal with excess CO2 the ways to do this would be
CO2 scrubber (recirculating would be the only way to go imo)
Run outside airline to skimmer
Have more photosenthesys in your system.

Open windows and regularly exchange air in your home.

Switch to a higher PH dosing method for Alk IF you already dose.

The very first thing I would do is verify your PH measurement. 7 5 is veey low, mine has never dropped to that and I have a packed airtight smaller home.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I would also add, that you should verify your Alk and Salinity measurements as well.

 

[bakbay]

The very first thing I would do is verify your PH measurement. 7 5 is veey low, mine has never dropped to that and I have a packed airtight smaller home.

Agreed ^^

 

[bakbay]

Also, upset corals are likely due to your high Alk (and possibly swings) and not pH.

 

[ARGYGANG]

Also, upset corals are likely due to your high Alk (and possibly swings) and not pH.

How can you lower alk?

 

[bushdoc]

You can decrease alkalinity by adding acid, like vinegar or hydrochloric acid, but I would recommend it only in case of really excessive dKH and yours is not really that high.
Other method would be to change salt mixture to one with lower alkalinity and decrease/stop dosing if you do that.
Can you tell us what test brands are you using to test for your parameters, especially what you use to test pH?
I have a feeling that your pH value is not accurate.

 

[bakbay]

How can you lower alk?

There are various ways to lower Alk as @bushdoc already mentioned. I would stop dosing and Alk should lower on its own, assume you have SPS or coralline algae consuming it. 10 dKH is within acceptable range so I would not be stressing over it. I run all my tanks between 8.5 to 9 for some wiggle room.

That said, I think you should attempt to keep things stable and not dose too many things. You can let things coast for a week/two to let things settle. Stability is key.

 

[ARGYGANG]

You can decrease alkalinity by adding acid, like vinegar or hydrochloric acid, but I would recommend it only in case of really excessive dKH and yours is not really that high.
Other method would be to change salt mixture to one with lower alkalinity and decrease/stop dosing if you do that.
Can you tell us what test brands are you using to test for your parameters, especially what you use to test pH?
I have a feeling that your pH value is not accurate.

I use the serra master test kit and the salifert mag test.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm skeptical that the pH of 7.5 is accurate.

Try this aeration test:

pH and the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

by Randy Holmes-Farley For many aquarists, pH is not something that they have much experience with aside from their aquarium. For many, pH is almost a black box measurement: something to be considered, but whose physical meaning makes little sense to them. This article will Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Also, upset corals are likely due to your high Alk (and possibly swings) and not pH.

I've never considered this, but makes sense.

It would probably not actually affect the polyps until closer to a PH of 7 when the skeleton is near the point where it would disolve.

Maybe a large PH swing would affect them visually, but that would have to acompany a large Alk swing as well I would imagine.

Just my 2 cents on this, because I've never heard this claim before, I am not an expert.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've never considered this, but makes sense.

It would probably not actually affect the polyps until closer to a PH of 7 when the skeleton is near the point where it would disolve.

Maybe a large PH swing would affect them visually, but that would have to acompany a large Alk swing as well I would imagine.

Just my 2 cents on this, because I've never heard this claim before, I am not an expert.

Aragonite (as in coral skeletons) will begin to dissolve at a pH around 7.6, depending on the alk in the tank (higher alk means lower pH for dissolution to begin).

The lower the pH is, the faster skeletons will dissolve.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Aragonite (as in coral skeletons) will begin to dissolve at a pH around 7.6, depending on the alk in the tank (higher alk means lower pH for dissolution to begin).

The lower the pH is, the faster skeletons will dissolve.

Woah! I read 7.0, I figured what google told me was too low.

Thanks for the correction