not a noob, BUT I NEED HELP!!

[breaknrun911]

problem-my ph I have had aquariums since I was knee high to a duck. but all of a sudden my FOWLR tank has gone to the toilet. first, the H2O became cloudy, and my ph is a VERY VERY faint brown when tested. my alkalinity is through the roof, my calcium is around 400-420. here is what I have read and been told, however I know all tanks and expierences are diff. but I have added seachems marine buffer, has yet to do anything to the ph. I have taken the powerheads and agitated the H2O which is still taking place. I have also added some coral rock, and some sand for substrate. the sand and substrate was added AFTER all the cloudiness and ph drop occurred. to try and fix the cloudiness I have added some saltwater TLC additive. I don't want to do a water change due to a poss mini cycle. my test kit is not expired, I took my H2O to my LFS and they got the same readings. specs for the tank-deep blue 30gal rimless frag tank, eshopps protein skimmer, fluval 106 canister, koralia 500gph, koralia 750gph, aqueon 250gph powerheads. all my params are fine, except for ph. I have lost 3 nice fish but the less hardy fish are thriving, the hardy ones arent making it. in a nutshell...what is causing the cloudiness, ph drop, and alkalinity to be sky high? thanks!! once it is crystal clear pics will be posted

 

[reefpeeper]

what is the ph level? where is the tank located

 

[breaknrun911]

Ph is around 7.6 the tank is located in the dining room. It was reef from December of last year until about a month ago then I went FOWLR. And never had any probs until now

 

[MadBrad527]

Not so sure if this is correct, but my guess would be the similar issues that most people have around this time of year. Have you been running the AC in your house for a long time? This can cause a lot of CO2 in the air, and "airing out" your house may help by opening all the windows and turning off the AC for a day. Other than that, it's a mystery to me as well.


My 0.02

 

[breaknrun911]

Hmmm very good point if AC does that. Bc the sun rises on the front of house and stays on the same side of house and sets in back and from front to back of house there is 5 windows not including the doors that the sun is Shining thru to make the house warm. Not to mention that is where the thermostat is located. Do u guys think I can chase the ph with buffer and agitating the H2O?

 

[breaknrun911]

If and when the cloudiness goes away, would a decent sized water change help raise? Or multiple changes of smaller quantity help......?

 

[rich850]

You mentioned adding rock and sand after the cloudiness was already an existing issue what was in the tank before this ? Have you tested for ammonia in the tank with 3 fish dead its a good possibility. Those answers would help but I don't think a 20 pct water change and running some fresh carbon would hurt. How old is the media in the canister filter and how is it looking? I have never been a fan of canister filters. They are just a nitrate factory waiting to happen.

 

[breaknrun911]

The tank was reef. Mostly sps. I added fresh carbon to try and help with the cloudiness and tested everything and all was okay. I clean one stage of my canister with the dirty water I take out during water changes. I added some "saltwater tlc" and in about 2 days it is crystal clear. As for the phI did open the windows and shut the AC off and added some buffer and it is slowly climbing. Since Sunday it has gone from about 7.6 to 8.0.

 

[Jakflash]

My pH has dropped from 8.4 to 7.9 in the past couple days also. Thanks for the A/C tip - going to try that. Though, in Florida, the A/C runs half the year.

 

[glb]

I agree that it could be a co2 problem. I live in south Florida so I have the same issue. I opened the lid of my nano and agitated the surface of the water by pointing the pump outflow up which has helped. I wouldn't raise the alk too high to fix it. As far as the cloudiness I really don't know. The new live rock could've mini-cycled the tank. Seachem Prime will neutralize any ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, which will protect your fish until things stabilize. Good luck!

 

[Reefnjunkie]

not sure if this is still an issue since the thread is a nearly a week old but if this is the product you are using it says it raises alkalinity, as most PH buffers do

Seachem. Marine Buffer

Not saying that is the problem but its probably not helping IMO


There is a liquid Brightwell has that doesn't do anything but raise PH

My PH goes from 7.7-8.1 daily, I don't get any higher since I run a Ca Reactor, I'm not sure what has caused the fish to die but having a low PH just doesn't seem right to me.

Good luck getting this solved, it sucks loosing any type of livestock

 

[pickupman66]

Folks chasing the Ph is the cause if many issues. In my 15+ years of experience, its not necessarily the Ph # but its fluctuation that causes harm. For a Fowlr tank, no need to concern calcium. Keep that alk close to nsw and you should be good. For the reef, 8dKh is good with a 420 calcium. Ph will stabilize where it needs tto. Only if its below 7.6-7.7 should you have concern. If its in that or below, look to co2 being the cause.

Sent from my Galaxy S 3 with Tapatalk.

 

[glb]

Folks chasing the Ph is the cause if many issues. In my 15+ years of experience, its not necessarily the Ph # but its fluctuation that causes harm. For a Fowlr tank, no need to concern calcium. Keep that alk close to nsw and you should be good. For the reef, 8dKh is good with a 420 calcium. Ph will stabilize where it needs tto. Only if its below 7.6-7.7 should you have concern. If its in that or below, look to co2 being the cause.

Sent from my Galaxy S 3 with Tapatalk.

I agree. If you keep pushing up the alk to raise the ph you risk knocking the trio of alk, ca and mg off.