Ph spikes & ORP crash , emergency !

[Yanir34]

Hello guys , since I started dosing DIY No3 and Po4 I have huge spike at the Ph levels , and massive fall at the ORP level (it was stable at 390)
I have calibrated the Probes of my GHL prfilux 4 , 3 times.
Still the result are the same.
What would you recommend to do in that situation ?
i stopped dosing no3 and po4 ,just for now.
Tank is 4 months old , 850 liters.
What can I do in that situation?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What are you dosing?

Have you calibrated that pH meter recently? My guess is it is reading too high.


If by some chance it is not, more aeration will lower it unless alkalinity is super high.

 

[Yanir34]

I have dosed DIY sodium nitrate & potassium phosphate.
Also , I replaced active carbon (red sea) to ATI carbon.
I have calibrated the Probes 3 times.
AlK is 8.2
Mag 1320
Cal 440

I really don't know what caused this problems , but I can only refer it to No3 ,Po4 dosing

 

[Yanir34]

What are you dosing?

Have you calibrated that pH meter recently? My guess is it is reading too high.


If by some chance it is not, more aeration will lower it unless alkalinity is super high.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you have good aeration (like a skimmer) then I doubt the values are real. pH above 8.6 without large doses of very high pH alk supplements are very rare to nonexistent.

When you recalibrated, did you get new fluids? Did the probe correctly read the fluids after calibration?

 

[Yanir34]

If you have good aeration (like a skimmer) then I doubt the values are real. pH above 8.6 without large doses of very high pH alk supplements are very rare to nonexistent.

When you recalibrated, did you get new fluids? Did the probe correctly read the fluids after calibration?

after calibration, I didn't checked with the fluids solution.
I will check today

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

after calibration, I didn't checked with the fluids solution.
I will check today

Great, let us know what you find.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Did your situation resolve itself? I've been experiencing a rise in pH with an accompanying drop in ORP over the past few days and am also using my own mixes of sodium nitrate and sodium phosphate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Did your situation resolve itself? I've been experiencing a rise in pH with an accompanying drop in ORP over the past few days and am also using my own mixes of sodium nitrate and sodium phosphate.

pH and ORP are inversely related in a reef tank. If pH rises, ORP will fall even if every other possible chemical in the water is unchanged. The reasons are very complicated, and are detailed in my article below, but are not fodder for the average reefer to need to digest.

ORP and the Reef Aquarium - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Yanir34]

Did your situation resolve itself? I've been experiencing a rise in pH with an accompanying drop in ORP over the past few days and am also using my own mixes of sodium nitrate and sodium phosphate.

It's resolved alone.
I simply stopped dosing sodium nitrate and feeding my fish heavily.
corals look much healthier and much happier