Need advice in a bad way

TinpanVA · Dec 4, 2013

Recalibrated my pH probe on the reef keeper tonight 1) because its been moving up on me where its been stable for months and 2) because its been about a year since I calibrated it before. Now my probe reads a 6.09, thinking no messing way that right so I re-calibrate again and test the probe in both solutions and get 7.01 and 9.98. I warmed the solution in the tank to 78 deg for about an hour, it's supposed to be dead on 7.01@77deg Is it even possible that 6.08 is a true reading? Is it even possible? I AM loosing SPS corals and have crappy polyp ext right now and I thought it was high po4, I wasn't expecting to fing a pH problem. What the heck should I do? I have another hand held pH meter but the batteries are dead which I'll pickup tomorrow and might swing by and pick up another pH calibration kit. But I have a really funny feeling this is the problem I've been trying to find. How do you correct a 6ish pH?

evan.lundberg4 · Dec 4, 2013

I've been reading all these articles by Randy Holmes Farley. There's a couple that deal with pH issues on there.

http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?75999-The-Collected-Work-of-Randy-Holmes-Farley

That's about the best I can do for helping you out. Hope you can get things back on track!

Greenstreet.1 · Dec 4, 2013

Quick ? If your ph is that low what's your alk ?

TinpanVA · Dec 5, 2013

danka-cedium · Dec 5, 2013

Ime I've had probes last 2 years and some last 6 months.

TinpanVA · Dec 5, 2013

I'm hoping thats what the second probe finds. I cant imagine the readings are correct

Alabamareef · Dec 5, 2013

Guessing if your Alk is 8.6dkh then your ph is not that low.

Ward9320 · Dec 5, 2013

I would go out and get a ph test kit and test it by hand to be sure. That or take some water to a LFS to get tested.

Greenstreet.1 · Dec 5, 2013

Alabamareef said:
Guessing if your Alk is 8.6dkh then your ph is not that low.

+1.

socal619 · Dec 5, 2013

Ward9320 said:
I would go out and get a ph test kit and test it by hand to be sure. That or take some water to a LFS to get tested.

this

TinpanVA · Dec 5, 2013

Well after some reading over at digital aquatics and pinpoint forums, they suggest replacing the probe every year anyway. That and calibrate it more than what I've been doing which is never. It's not a set it and forget it device.
Now that I've calmed down more, I agree a pH of 6 is pretty unlikely. Will pick up some cheap test strips also just to check the probe against now and then.

Greenstreet.1 · Dec 5, 2013

Salifert makes a good ph test.

Coral Revolution · Dec 5, 2013

You can also put the ph probe in some tap water and it should read somewhere around 8. If not, then probe is out of calibration or had gone defective. Good luck!

Jimbo · Dec 5, 2013

Definitely a bad probe. Same thing happened to me recently after trying to re-calibrate with the Reefkeeper. Replaced the probe and all is good.

Alabamareef · Dec 5, 2013

So what about your SPS. Can you post pictures?

TinpanVA · Dec 5, 2013

Ok, picked up a new pinpoint pH meter and calibrated it. Now I'm back where I should be. 8.05

Matt888 · Dec 5, 2013

I agree that your PH is not that low with an Alk reading of 8.5. If you're losing SPS corals, I'd look into the following ASAP: double check your Alk, calibrate your refractometer BOTH with calibration fluid and then again with RO/DI water for "sanity" check (I had bad calibration fluid once), check yoir tank temperatures (you should not have elevated temps above 81-82 for long periods). Start there and report back.

Alabamareef · Dec 6, 2013

Have you added any new corals lately?

TinpanVA · Dec 6, 2013

Only thing added lately was a frag of birdnest for our club growout contest. I did add three nice pieces about 2 months ago.

I think why my SPS is upset is I've recently switched salts. I went from royal nature to red sea coral pro. The RSCP has a much higher alk than the RN so I've been adjusting my dose of alk to try and maintain a 9.5ish dkh, so far I'm still getting a pretty good swing since my last reading was 8ish. MG stays between 1280 - 1300 and cal stays at 430. So once I get the alk stable I think things will improve.

I could write a pretty long post on all the things I changed up on in the last 60 days, could be any one of them or all of them.

Changed salt.
Changed calc alk mg chemicals.
Added several large pieces of dry rock (mini cycle and diatoms bloom).
Changed filter media - removed chemipure and went with bag of carbon and a bag if rowaphos.
Added Bayer to my dip process and not just iodine.
3 frags added 2 months ago seem to have had a weird green cyano type algae pop up on them and its spreading.
Broke apart several pieces of live rock in my tank chasing down bryopsis.

I think thats about it. AFWIW, I wouldn't make that many changes again lol

Alabamareef · Dec 8, 2013

Well if I had to guess I'd say you've had a lot of changes that may be your reason for your coral loss. I'd say to try to keep your water stable and don't make any more changes. If I had a coral dying I may frag a piece from it. Sometimes if you've got tissue death a Lugols dip may be in order. Best of luck.